DECATUR - Even as city officials continue to adjust to the resignation last month of Mayor Paul Osborne, the Decatur City Council plans to tackle major issues such as a potential water rate increase at a meeting today.

The first order of business for the council will be a resolution appointing Councilman Michael Carrigan as mayor until a municipal election in April.

The appointment of a new mayor is necessary after Osborne shocked council members by submitting his resignation, citing a desire to focus on his weekly newspaper and health concerns.

If the resolution is approved, Carrigan would resign his regular council seat and serve as mayor until a municipal election. The council would then have 60 days to find someone to fill Carrigan's council seat for the next 10½ months.

Carrigan has been a member of the council for 13 years and works in Springfield as the president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.

The council also is slated to choose a new member to serve as mayor pro tem.

In other business, the new mayor and the rest of the council are set to consider a potential water rate increase.

The four proposals before the board each call for a 25 percent rate increase in the coming year; however, subsequent increases differ.

One proposal calls for subsequent rate increases to be adjusted consistent with the consumer price index. A separate proposal increases rates by 15 percent in the second year and 10 percent in the third year, while another increases rates by 15 percent in the second and third years.

The final proposal offers a 20 percent rate increase in the second year but does not address later years.

Assistant City Manager Billy Tyus said city staff drafted multiple proposals to give the council multiple options to consider when determining how water rates might increase.

"I think the council is working to try to find a solution that works best both in the short-term and the long-term," Tyus said.

City officials say Decatur is long overdue for a rate hike, having not increased water rates in a decade. They project the city's water fund would run a deficit of about $1.8 million by the end of fiscal 2010 without a rate increase.

A 25 percent rate increase would result in water costs increasing $48 per year for a customer with a monthly water bill of about $16.

Mary Tallon can be reached at mtallon@herald-review.com or 421-7984.