Cardinal George joined archdiocesan chancellor Jimmy Lago and dozens of other clergy members at an April 30 press conference called to pressure Mayor Rahm Emanuel to consider reversing course on the city’s move to make nonprofits — including churches — pay for city water.

The cardinal got the biggest laugh of the morning when he reminded the audience that “Lake Michigan is a gift from God,” and that “sometimes I think we ought to charge the city for the water.”

But he was serious when he said the reason churches were generally given free water in the past is that they were seen, even by non-believers, as a social good, as institutions that benefited their communities. That’s changing, the cardinal said, with government at all levels unwilling to acknowledge the good that religious institutions do.

The Chicago Interfaith Coalition to Restore the Water Fee Exemption for Religious Institutions held its press conference at the St. Paul Church of God in Christ, 4526 S. Wabash Ave., two days after media reports that Emanuel floated a compromise on April 28. The reports said non-profits with assets less than $1 million would not have to pay. As their levels of assets went up, they would have to pay a larger percentage of the retail rate for water.

The pastors were not impressed, and Lago — who has been one of the point people on the issue — said he was not aware of any discussions between the mayor or his representatives and religious leaders.

For decades, aldermen routinely asked for and received water fee waivers for houses of worship in their wards, a practice that came to an end last year. Now the churches and other institutions, which wove together shoestring budgets without planning to pay for water, are faced with the need to cut ministries and programs that benefit their communities in order to meet the water bills.

“It’s a matter of life and death for many small institutions whose presence is important because without them, Chicago would be a different kind of city,” the cardinal said.

A draft ordinance languishing in the City Council budget committee would allow any non-profit with assets of less than $250 million to be exempt from water payments, provided that it can show a written water conservation plan and that it provides services that benefit the community.

As of Dec. 12, 29 aldermen had signed on to support that ordinance, but it has not been called for a vote.

The clergy pointed out that Emanuel’s compromise — free water for institutions with less than $1 million in assets — will have a detrimental effect on many churches, both Catholic and Protestant, that have large building plants that might look like assets on paper.

Those buildings are actually financial liabilities in terms of maintenance and upkeep, they said, especially if they now house smaller congregations. Operating budgets might be a better measure of whether an organization can afford to pay for water, the ministers said.

“Our institutions are seeking a reasonable accommodation, not free water,” said Elder Kevin Anthony Ford of St. Paul Church of God in Christ. “Our services improve the quality of life for all people in the city of Chicago. … We ask the City of Chicago to consider the work we do for the homeless, the work we do for the less, the work we do for those who have fallen on hard times.”

Diana Faust, executive director of Franciscan Outreach, brought a spreadsheet showing current and projected water bills for the agency’s two homeless shelters and soup kitchen. Franciscan Outreach provided 34,420 dinners and 2,102 showers and did 1,671 bags of laundry for homeless people as part of its Marquard Center outreach. Its two shelters, totaling 322 beds, provided about 114,000 shelter nights, 225,000 meals and 52,000 showers, with a total budget of less than $2.1 million.

Estimated payments for 2012 — when non-profits were expected to pay 20 percent of water costs under a phase-in plan in the original ordinance — were about $6,000, and the agency finished the year with a deficit. By 2015, with non-profits expected to pay 80 percent of water costs under the existing ordinances, water fees would eat up nearly $20,000, or 10 percent of the budget.

That would mean laying off caseworkers, reducing services or even closing one of the shelters.

“We understand the city has a budget deficit,” Faust said. “But do you have to make it up on the backs of the poor?”

Other churches offer afterschool programs, tutoring, counseling, outreach to gang members and other services, Lago said.

“We’re not talking about deadbeats,” he said. “What we’re asking for is an accommodation, a recognition of the services we provide.”

Aldermen Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), Bob Fioretti (2nd Ward) and Howard Brookins (21st Ward) were among the speakers, showing their support for the amended ordinance that is still in the budget committee.

“It’s becoming clear that the most vulnerable are bearing the burden” of the decision to charge non-profits for water,” he said. “No one is advocating giving water fee exemptions to some of the largest charities in the city, such as private, non-for-profit hospitals,” he said.