Village residents will now see a big jump in their water bills.
Board members voted to approve a 122% increase over the next two years.
Community members packed the village hall on Monday night to voice their concerns over the resolution.
Only two board members voted ‘no’ to the increase.
Earlier this month, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin held a public hearing on the proposed rate increase.
Emily Parent said she found out about the major increase back in May.
“That's like a car payment for a lot of people, and then you have to factor in, I have a family, I have a baby, I have a six-year-old, I have a 16-year-old, groceries, gas, and other bills,” said Parent. “I mean, it's just going to continue to add up, and that's concerning.”
She wanted to know why the village hadn’t taken action on the aging infrastructure since the last water case rate study in 1997.
According to the PSC, the water bill for an average residential customer with a ⅝-inch or ¾-inch meter who uses 8,000 gallons of water per quarter will increase from $65.40 to $145.68, or 122.75 percent.
“It was just brought to light several months ago, and it wasn't a gradual increase over the years. It was a sudden jump,” said Parent.
Watch: Village votes to more than double water rates:
She said her quarterly bill will now increase from $300 to $600.
Village President Jody Steger said the village needed to upgrade its water infrastructure, which he said was about 70 years old. He was also unsure as to why former village boards did not act sooner.
“We knew the utility was losing money for the past number of years, but we had surplus money there, and we were always taking the loss and making up for it with our surplus money,” said Steger.
He said those reserves are now tapped, which is why they were looking at a water rate increase.
Rising water bills are becoming more common in Southeast Wisconsin, with several area communities voting to increase those rates in the past few years.
Steger said the money from this water rate increase will go toward repaying loans on village projects and toward future projects, like improving the water infrastructure system.
Those projects with loans mentioned in the meeting included upgrading utilities under part of Highway 28, painting the village water tower, rehab on one of the wells, and upgrades to Church Street utilities.
On Monday night, residents also questioned the safety of the water they were being provided.
Parent told TMJ4 News she had been using bottled water for drinking and cooking over the past year for her family.
“There was third-party testing that was completed through the EWG, and the main levels that were concerning for me were the arsenic was 118 times over the guidelines, as well as the radium, which was 59 times over the guidelines,” said Parent. “That's a huge thing for us.”
Steger said during the meeting that he wasn’t sure where people were getting these numbers on dangerous levels of drinking water.
He acknowledged that one of the two wells taken offline did have high levels of radium, but that is only being used in an emergency.
Residents would be notified if they turned on the second well.
“The water is fine,” said Steger. “We have it tested once a year. We put out a Consumer Confidence Report once a year with all the parameters that the DNR wants to test on it.”
These issues are items that Emily believes the board should’ve looked at sooner before such a drastic rate was undertaken by the village.
“That's concerning for my children, and concerning, I think, for the future of Theresa in general,” said Parent. "It's terrible."
Phase I of the increase will go into effect on Thursday, August 1. The Phase II increase will go into effect next year.
During the meeting it was made known that the village will have to work with residents who cannot afford the major changes.
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