The Wilmette Village Board of Trustees is preparing to charge each homeowner $18,000 — without a popular vote.
At the October 20 Village Board meeting, most Trustees seemed to favor a $77Million proposal to sell bonds to finance a Storm Sewer project intended to alleviate flooding in homes west of Ridge Road.
Based on the 10-year storm design standard used, $77M represents a cost of $641,667 for each of the only 120 homes that would be helped – but not helped against a larger storm. Worse, the misleading table in a handout, and projected on a screen, shows $234,840 for each of 330 homes, but is based on a 100-year storm, which is NOT the standard underlying the $77Million cost.
If this 30-year bond issue is approved, each Wilmette home-owner would see an average increase of $625 per year in its sewer bill – some $18,750 over 30 years, assuming Wilmette’s bond rating is not downgraded by rating agencies (due to too large a debt load). Much worse, there is no Board plan to conduct a vote on this proposal by Wilmette citizens. Cynically speaking, for $641,667 per home, the Village could purchase many homes west of Ridge Road, tear them down and create retention ponds.
For much, much less than $77 million, the Village could take other actions to reduce the impact of a 10-year storm, such as retaining an engineering firm, which at no charge to verified-affected home owners, would determine what private property remediation measures could be taken, and the cost. Measures such as: green infrastructure improvements; adding and/or grading soil on the exterior of the home; installing interior sump pumps (AC and battery-backup); sealing windows in window wells that are at all below grade; installing check valves on sewer laterals inside a property. Depending on an owner’s Form 1040 income, the Village might even pay for some of the remediation measures. And, the Village could install high-capacity inlets, use green infrastructure on public property, and connect the west storm sewers to the Glenview system.
Richard Friedman
Wilmette
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