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Politics & Government

No Relief for Niles in Glenview Water Dispute

Glenview and Niles to continue argument over water charges in court.

Cook County Judge Rita Novak has denied Niles’ request to force Glenview to pay more than

Instead, she set an Aug. 25 status hearing to start coming up with a calendar for the case, in which Niles is seeking payment for water bills stretching back to April. Glenview is seeking the right to examine a variety of Niles’ records to determine whether Niles has been overcharging for water for several years, and, if so, to force Niles to refund the money.

“It’s going to take more time for her to conclude that we’re right,” said Niles Village Manager George Van Geem.

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But Eric Patt, Glenview’s village attorney, said that the judge’s Aug. 5 decision means that Niles “did not establish that they would have a likelihood of success.”

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Both villages have asked Novak to expedite the case. Still, any resolution will not come in the immediate future.

“I’m hoping its months rather than years,” Van Geem said.

The issues

At issue is how much Glenview has paid for water from Niles since 1997, when Glenview bought North Maine Utilities, which provides water and sewer service for 44,000 customers in the mostly unincorporated area southwest of Glenview. Niles signed a 30-year agreement to provide water–which it purchases from Chicago–to the utility company in 1990, an agreement that Glenview took over when it bought the utility.

Glenview stopped paying its water bill in May, after learning that Niles had started offering a rebate to about 75 Niles residents who receive services from North Maine Utililities. The rebate was meant to reimburse them for sewer service – something North Maine Utilities charges separately for. No other Niles residents pay a separate sewer fee, and those who are served by North Maine Utilities thought ity was unfair that they had to pay a fee that no one else did. The Niles village board voted to stop offering the rebate earlier this summer.

Glenview officials, however, figured that if Niles is not charging separately for sewer service, it is probably including sewer costs in its water fees. That would mean that North Maine Utilities is effectively paying for Niles sewer service, even though it provides its own sewer service.

Taking it to court

When Glenview stopped paying the water bills in May, it asked to audit Niles books to determine whether it had been overcharged under the terms of the agreement. The audit was set for July 8, but Niles cancelled, saying Glenview wanted too much information.

Van Geem said at the time that Glenview’s request is overly burdensome, including “volumes of unrelated information.” The 1990 agreement calls only for an audit of specific monthly invoices, he said.

Glenview responded by filing a countersuit, asking Novak to force Niles to turn over all the requested documents and to refund any overcharges since 1997.

Patt said Monday that conducting the audit now would make the case go faster for both sides.

“We know we’ve been overcharged,” he said. “But we don’t know how much. Let us do the audit and come up with a number and then Niles can agree with it or disagree with it or agree but say they shouldn’t have to pay all of it back, and we can argue that in front of the judge.”

That won’t happen as long as Glenview’s petition to force the audit is pending in the court, Van Geem said.

“I thought we were working towards an agreement” on what to include in the audit, Van Geem said. “But then they filed their countersuit. Our hands are tied.”

Glenview generally pays about $4.5 million to Niles for water every year, Van Geem said. Niles can’t afford to let Glenview get that far behind on its bill, he said.

“We’ll run out of money,” he said.

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