Campton Hills must borrow money to solve Burning Tree flooding

Campton Hills won't be able to bail out Burning Tree subdivision residents with backyards filled with septic-tainted floodwaters without some borrowing and a bailout of its own.

Kane County staff announced an agreement to solve the flood problem with Campton Hills Tuesday during a county board development committee meeting. The agreement could give Burning Tree residents a happy ending to a crises that just arose in the past couple months. Flooding is a long-standing problem in the subdivision, but residents thought those days would soon be over. The last part of a three-phase flood control project was slated to start this year. However, a couple months ago the county yanked half of its funding from the project with the idea that the newly incorporated Campton Hills should pony up half the costs the county was slated to pay. That would've put the project's funding in line with flood control measures in other municipalities in the county. But Campton Hills didn't budget for the project, nor did it have the money to commit when the county passed the bill to the village's coffers.

In the new agreement, Kane County would loan the village $15,000 (roughly 25 percent of the total project cost). The village would then repay that money to the county when it starts to reap revenue from its cable franchise agreement with Comcast in 2012. That would result in the county paying 25 percent of the costs, the village paying 25 percent of the costs and the Burning Tree residents paying 50 percent of the costs.

But there's one more problem. County staff said the Burning Tree residents have all committed to paying their share, but don't have the lump sum ready to go. So to get the project moving, the village must front the Burning Tree share as well. That means creating a special taxing district in Burning Tree to collect the money from residents. In the meantime, the village must issue bonds to pay for the residents' share. The residents also want the floodwaters dried up as soon as possible. That means Campton Hills will oversee the funding for the project, not the county. If the county was responsible, it would have to competitively bid the project, creating a further delay. The village can declare the issue an emergency and issue a contract for the project without seeking competitive bids.

Campton Hills officials were expected to vote on the agreement Tuesday night. The full county board must also still vote on the agreement.