West Dundee won't charge residents to replace lead water lines

The West Dundee Village Board has reversed course and will not be charging property owners who need to have their lead water service lines replaced.

At the urging of Trustee Tom Price, the board voted 4-1 last week to nullify its August plan under which the village had planned to charge residents and business owners $5,000 of the $13,000 price tag to switch out lead lines for new ones made of copper.

Under that plan, property owners would have been billed about $27 bimonthly for a period of 30 years to pay the $5,000 debt. Should a home be sold, the remainder of the bill would have stayed with the property.

Instead, the board has decided it will take other measures to cover the line replacement cost.

“There will always be infrastructural repairs that will be needed across the village,”