Carpentersville to rebuild roads and sewers in June

Carpentersville officials plan to start in June a five-year, almost $9.6 million project to rebuild roads and sewers.

The village late last year borrowed the money to fund more than five miles of improvements. Sections of Huntley Road and Besinger Drive are being totally reconstructed. Sleepy Hollow Road will be patched and resurfaced. Additionally, Rivers View Drive is being resurfaced and Newport Cove subdivision is getting a new pavement cross-section, said Kevin Gray, assistant director of public works.

Rounding out the roadwork, the intersection of Main and Washington streets is slated for an overhaul.

Also planned are culvert and pipe replacements, and stream bank stabilization with natural vegetation to purify water flow, stopping phosphorous from hitting the river. Once the stormwater project is finished, 44 property owners may no longer need to purchase flood insurance, officials said.

Generally, loans are repaid by increasing taxes or with reserve funds. This time the borrowing is being covered by funds from past layoffs and work-hour reductions, newly available money from an expiring sales tax-sharing incentive with Home Depot, and the retirement of a 2004 loan, officials said.

Carpentersville's total budget is $55.5 million and its operating budget is $28 million.

For the past two decades, officials have borrowed money about every four years. Before that the village went decades without issuing bonds to fix infrastructure and roads, Village Manager Mark Rooney said. This was reflected in the poor condition of roads in the previous decade.

In 2004, 59 percent of Carpentersville roads evaluated were rated “Poor” to “Failed,” Gray said. As of last year, more than 80 percent were rated “Good” to “Fair.”