When the Village Board of Lake In The Hills formally authorized an agreement with the Lake In The Hills Sanitary District, during its Feb. 27 work session, it was meant to put some teeth into collection activities for delinquent sewer service bills.

The village can now discontinue water service to premises within Lake In The Hills that have back due amounts and flagrant non-payment accounts with the sanitary district. Reconnection fees and applicable fines can also be assessed.

The district made the request to the village, which led to a unanimous 6-0 vote for the measure’s approval. The disconnection alternative immediately took precedence over existing collection methods. The sanitary district has estimated that approximately $300,000 in outstanding sewer service billings remains on the accounts ledgers.

“The district requested that our water department shut off service to a property, if the sewer bill is delinquent,” said Lake In The Hills’ village administrator Gerald Sagona. “By state law, they can request that action, and we are bound by state law…meaning we need to effectuate that directive.”

The district has boundary agreements with Algonquin, Huntley, and Lakewood with a service area extending west to Route 47, and north to Conley Road. Arrangements for the shutoff option were approved between the district and Crystal Lake last Jan., while Huntley also authorized the measure in a mid-Mar. session.

“Our service area includes about 700 properties in Crystal Lake, and around the same number in Huntley,” said Rick former, the sanitary district’s Manager. “The shutoff agreements let us utilize the state law to catch up on delinquent amounts, and keep people from getting to that point again.”

Forner acknowledged that previous efforts at recompense involving back notices for owed amounts sent to the property owner, forwarding to a collection agency, and lastly, the filing of liens has not met with much success. “With a lien, you have to wait for the property to sell, or have some other activity before funds are available,” he said.

“We hope that we don’t have to disconnect the service, and that the turn-off notice will get the attention of the homeowners. At that point, we can work out a payment plan or come to some other resolution…as it stands, we have to exercise state law and this method.”

The district’s service area was expanded nearly two decades ago, after originally encompassing the Lake In The Hills area exclusively. Its Federal Planning Area was approved by the Northern Illinois Planning Commission, and the treatment facility handles effluent water intake at a level of 4.5 million gallons per day.