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Village board agrees to raise water fee by $2 a month  Share
Beecher village board agreed on Monday to authorize the village attorney to draft an ordinance, raising the water bill by $2 per month, $4 per billing cycle, as a flat charge on all water accounts as a water infrastructure fee. The funds will be placed in a capital improvements account for the sole purpose of replacing aging water mains and associated hydrants. Some of the water mains in town are 100 years old. The village previously worked on securing a grant to repair water mains on six streets, and the cost was estimated at $985,000. The board applied for an American Reinvestment and Recovery Grant (ARRA) through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), but it was denied last July due to the number of applications that the agency received. The village spent approximately $68,000 in engineering fees in preparation for the grant. The ARRA grant would have forgiven 25 percent of the loan and funded the remaining 75 percent at a zero percent interest rate over 20 years.
The village has been told that a second round of stimulus funds may come in 2010, but based on past experience, it is not counting on receiving the funds. Upon making the motion to increase the water fee, Water and Sewer Committee Chairman Joe Gardner said, ''It's a drop in the bucket (the fees) compared to the scope (total cost of the project), but we need to start somewhere.'' Mayor Paul Lohman reported that he and Village Administrator Bob Barber attended a seminar recently conducted by Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson's office which outlined how to obtain grant funds and the projects eligible for funding. Lohman said he and Barber will explore funding options for projects in the village. He said there may be funding available for the water main project, but that was uncertain. He did say he had been told there may be 100 percent funding on projects like wind turbines and asked the board if they'd like him and Village Administrator Bob Barber to explore these possibilities. The board agreed, and he will bring back any information he finds. Commenting on the funding the state offers, Barber said, ''It's a shame we (the state) have money for wind turbines and not our aging water mains.'' Although the board unanimously approved two indemnity agreements with the Beecher Fire Protection District and N. Lange Trucking and Excavating to store vehicles at the former public works garage, one trustee questioned the fact that the trucking company paid the village through a service estimated at $2,500 and the fire department was not charged a fee. The fire department is storing a brush truck and Lang is storing a front end loader machine. Lang's machine is used to clean the school district parking lot and to assist public works with removing snow from the community hall parking lot and the old downtown area. In addition Lang agreed to contour a swale next summer Ð at no charge Ð that the village needs on its property east of the public works garage value of such work is estimated to be $2,500. Trustee Brian Cleary said that he felt the fire protection district and Lang should be treated equally. If one paid, the other should pay, he said. Lohman said it was two totally different situations. The fire department, he said, is a taxing body. If the village charged the department, he said, taxpayers would pay for this cost in the end. He also mentioned that the village meets at the township building at no cost. What would the village do if the township decided to charge rent? He cautioned Cleary about moving in this direction. Public Works Superintendent Bud Cowger also spoke in defense of the fire department, saying that the village had used the brush truck on many occasions to water areas in the village. Barber also brought up the fact that it's a temporary situation. He said the village plans to use the public works garage as part of the sewer plant within a few years. There was no further discussion on the matter. Lynn Dill is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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