FREEBURG — Freeburg trustees discussed raising the base sewer rate charge from $18.14 to $60 per month at their meeting on Monday, Feb. 9. Bartlett & West Project Manager Kyle Landwehr explained that the village has two options, noting that trustees could have a single rate increase going into effect when the project is finished, which is estimated for January 2028. Alternatively, they could put into place a tiered option that would raise the rate gradually, but those rate increases would start sooner, and the final rate increase would go into effect when the project is completed.

“Essentially, what it all boils down to is we went to DNR (Missouri Department of Natural Resources) and asked them for $3.7 million (for the sewer project),” Landwehr explained. “We’re expecting prices to come in well below that number, but we won’t know until we actually bid it out. What DNR wants you to do is pass a rate ordinance to generate enough money to repay that loan.”

Freeburg received $2.25 million in grants and will have a $1.5 million loan to repay.

“If the cost comes down below that $3.75 million, then we’ll go back to the drawing board and redo the whole financial structure, and we’ll set the rates where they need to be,” Landwehr said. “I feel pretty good about the fact that the total cost will be lower, but I can’t make any promises.”

“So, DNR comes in and tells us we have to build a new sewer system and that we have to raise the sewer rates,” Trustee Scott Knoll said. “They are forcing our hand.”

“Yes,” Landwehr said. “They are telling you that you have to do this project for environmental reasons, and they are also the debt issuer, so they have to make sure they are going to get repaid.”

Landwehr added that the village is fortunate to have received a lot of grant money.

“Without the grant money, this would be significantly worse,” Landwehr said.

The village of Freeburg will hold a public hearing on March 16 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall to discuss the sewer rates.

Mayor Darryl Haller said that he was approached by a concerned citizen who said that since President Donald Trump is pushing back on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, the village might not need to upgrade its facility.

“I won’t say that it’s not possible, but right now, the way the regulations are written, it’s not looking like that is the case,” Landwehr explained. “The way the permits are being written now, they are continuing down the same path. The EPA has released more guidance, and the ammonia levels have gotten more stringent. I personally don’t see this reversing course.”

Trustees also consider a change to the surcharges that they charge for customers outside the village limits. Currently, the surcharge is the same for water and sewer, and the billing may need to change to reflect the additional cost of the sewer rates. Haller said that to date, a customer outside the village limits pays over $9,000 per year in surcharges to use the city’s water and sewer services.

“That is above the regular rates,” Haller said. “They’ve been paying that for 20 years. No one is getting anything for free.”

Haller estimates that half of the city’s residents are not hooked up to the village’s sewer system.

Landwehr explained that he, Haller, and Village Clerk Danielle Holterman had to make several phone calls to DNR to keep the project on schedule.

“For a second, they were saying that we wouldn’t be able to put the project out for bid until February of 2027,” Landwehr explained. “We pushed back pretty hard on that, and we got it back on track now where we can hopefully go out to bid this summer.”

Trustees will not make any decisions on the rate increase until after the public hearing.

In other business, trustees passed a deficit budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The new budget estimates revenues, including interest income, of $509,582, and total expenses at $513,525 for a deficit of $3,943.

Trustees estimated the line items for revenues as follows: business license ($660), business liquor license ($1,247), Ameren franchise tax ($22,000), Three Rivers franchise tax ($5,500), motor vehicle tax fee ($1,700), motor vehicle tax fuel ($17,000), motor vehicle tax sales ($4,500), one percent sales tax revenue ($155,000), miscellaneous ($200), sewer ($50,000), trash ($35,000), deposit for water accounts ($34,775), general revenue money market interest ($15,000), sewer money market interest ($15,000), and water and sewer bond revenue interest ($2,000).

Expenses were estimated as follows: administration ($50,900), other to include park expenses ($79,350), sewer ($195,600), street ($162,900), and water payroll ($24,775).

The main change to the new budget was that the village does not have any money allocated to put new asphalt on any streets for the upcoming year.

“We have to have a balanced budget,” Haller said. “We can’t keep pulling money out of savings. I would like to have as close to a balanced budget as we can. We have gone over budget for the last two years to asphalt the streets. We can’t continue to overspend; if it is not there, it’s not there.”

Trustees praised Holterman for the good job she did presenting the new budget at the meeting.

“I thought Danielle did a really good job getting the preliminary numbers ready,” Haller said.

The new budget will go into effect on March 1.

• Trustees chose Carmen Falter to clean the Village Hall at a rate of $35 per hour with a maximum time of two hours per month. The board decided to request bids for cleaning the Village Hall after Squeaky Clean decided to increase its rates to $100 per month. Falter will provide her own cleaning supplies, and Holterman noted that she had informed her that she would need to purchase a Village Business License.

Easy Clean also presented a bid of $100 per month.

Trustees based their decision solely on cost.

“We might as well go with the cheapest one,” Trustee Jamie Kaesik said.

“We need to save money where we can,” Trustee Glenn Haller added.

• The board approved Utilities Supervisor Doug Hamacher’s attendance at a conference from March 3-5. DNR vouchers will cover the cost of the conference, and Freeburg will pay for food and accommodations.

“I think he needs to get as much training as he can,” Haller said.

• Republic Services will offer bulk trash pickup on May 4. Holterman will have the details posted on the village’s Facebook page.

• Trustees approved outstanding bills for February: general ($6,439), sewer ($564.15), and water ($503.46).

• Freeburg had the following ending account balances: purchasing ($253.86), sewer checking ($18,655) general revenue checking ($9,483.19), sewer money market ($409,142.78), general revenue money market ($507,177.30), wastewater and sewer project ($63,449.49), water ($4,268.33), water replacement ($245.97), and water money market ($1,052,160.31).

• Freeburg had a 4% water loss in December. The village pumped a total of 1,383,389 gallons of water and billed 1,203,900 gallons.

• The village had a 3% water loss for the entire year. The village pumped a total of 17,378,915 gallons and billed 14,977,712 gallons.

• The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 9, at 6:30 p.m.