Kane County stimulus wish list will go mostly unfulfilled
With an initial wish list totaling $232 million, it's safe to say Kane County would be disappointed in its slice of the federal stimulus money for transportation even if it received all $8.68 million tabbed for Kane and Kendall counties.
Kane County Transportation staff shared the total with county board members Monday in an explanation of what Kane will receive out of the $936 million coming to Illinois for "shovel-ready" projects. While counties and local municipalities had originally hoped to receive funds directly, the federal dollars flowed to state government to allocate instead. As a result, the Illinois Department of Transportation will keep about 70 percent of the cash, some $627 million, for itself. About $281 million will go to local agencies. Almost all of that $281 million will go to areas with populations greater than 200,000 people, with the Chicago metro area receiving the lion's share. Kane County's slice will be allocated by the Kane/Kendall Council of Mayors.
The biggest feather in Kane's cap from the $8.68 million will be about $1.2 million to fund the $160 million Stearns Road Bridge project. The plan will create another bridge over the Fox River to reduce east/west traffic in the region. Transportation staff said about $27.5 million in state funds for Stearns Road that at one point seemed to only exist in the black hole of the state's budget deficit, now seem secure. All told, the money for Stearns Road will offset some of the costs the county was expected to shoulder. That will free up some money in the county transportation budget for other projects.
County board Transportation Committee members expressed dismay at the measly amount the county will receive from the stimulus. Tom Rickert, deputy director of the county's transportation department agreed, but said it could be worse.
"The money that we received was not as much as we anticipated," Rickert said. "I think a lot of people thought that the stimulus package would have a lot of money in it. When it came down to it, the State of Illinois didn't even have enough money to distribute to the six counties in northern Illinois. Cook County didn't receive any (money). DuPage County did not receive any. So, it's not a lot of money."