Be an Informed Citizen!

Capital Improvement Fee

There is much discussion regarding the $10 Capital Improvement fee that is part of the water bill.  This $10 fee can only be used for Water and Sewer projects and it cannot be used by any other Village department for any reason.  The Capital Improvement Fee was established in November of 2010.  Its purpose is to help fund the cost for capital improvement projects such as lining and cleaning of sewers, cleaning and maintenance of water towers, replacing water lines and needed infrastructure and other large ticket projects.  In May of 2014, an account was created that only pertains to the Capital Improvement revenue and expenditures for better transparency.  Below is a list it projects and costs that have been expended from May 1, 2014 through April 30, 2020. 

The average amount of Capital Improvement Revenue per fiscal year is $275,000.  As you can see above, we expensed almost everything brought in through this fund when comparing the last 6 years.  The list above does not include the IEPA loan payment that will start at the completion of the Riley Lane Lift Station project, but will be paid out of this fund moving forward.  The list above also does not even include any water or sewer repairs and upgrades that are paid directly out of the water & sewer accounts: for example, this year we paid $235,564 for sewer lining and $251,680 for new aeration equipment.   There will always be projects and upgrades and as you can see, just one project in one year can deplete the funds brought in for the year.  Unfortunately, the Village no longer qualifies for the water grants that we received in the past ($720,085) because the grant program states that our residents bills are too low to qualify. 

Please feel free to come to any Village Board Meetings to express your concerns and ask questions.   Meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm.  Information is valuable!