STURTEVANT - The village will pass on to residents and businesses the increased cost of transporting sewage to the Racine treatment plant.

The Village Board Tuesday approved a $10 increase in the quarterly sewage charge.

Residences will now be charged a flat rate of $100 per quarter.

Local industries and business will also see a $10-per-quarter increase, but their rates are based on flow rates, said Mark Janiuk, Sturtevant's village administrator.

The last sanitary sewer rate increase in the village came a year and a half ago, Janiuk said.

"The (village) trustees realize that any price increase will be unpopular, but the utility's costs are driven by the fees charged to Sturtevant by both the City of Racine Sewer Utility and the Village of Mount Pleasant," Janiuk said in a release.

"These costs have gone up. In addition, the (Sturtevant Sewer) utility's costs for fuel and other services have increased."

Sturtevant does not own a sewer treatment plant.

According to the village's Web site, all of the sewage from Sturtevant flows through Mount Pleasant's sewer lines to Racine's treatment plant.

Janiuk on Friday noted that the village's annual residential rate for sewer service is lower than several communities in the southeastern Wisconsin area, including Union Grove's annual rate of $496.90 and the Waterford Sanitary District's annual rate of $658.30.

Water rates for Sturtevant are set by the Racine Water Utility, which has owned the Sturtevant water system since 2006 when the village authorized selling the system.

Sturtevant customers received a 30 percent decrease in water rates upon becoming retail customers of the Racine Utility, according to the Web site of Waukesha-based Municipal Economics and Planning, a subsidiary of the Ruekert-Mielke civil engineering firm.