Carpentersville OKs $20 million for public works

Plans for Carpentersville's multimillion dollar public works facility have been drawn up for months, and now the village has a funding mechanism to pay for the building.

The village board voted 4-2 on Tuesday approving an ordinance to sell $20 million in bonds, with $12 million allocated to the public works facility and the remaining $8 million earmarked for street and utility improvements.

The village will sell a combination of tax-exempt bonds and Build America bonds, which offer a 35 percent rebate of the interest. To repay the bonds, the village would need to collect $2 million per year in taxes for 20 years.

Not all board members supported the village taking on additional debt. Trustees Paul Humpfer, chairman of the village's audit and finance commission, and Patricia Schultz voted against the bond issuance because of the affect in the village's property tax rate.

"I am concerned with the level of unemployment we have in this community and the difficulties people are having economically," Humpfer said.

The village's property tax rate would climb from $1.45 per $100 of equalized assessed value to $1.63 per $100 of assessed value, Humpfer said.

To stabilize the tax rate, a majority of the village board agreed to utilize property taxes collected next year to pay off debt services instead of bolstering the general fund.

Still, Humpfer said the village should consider scaling the project back or look at storage options in lieu of a full-fledged public works facility.

"I think this will be too much of a burden for residents," said Humpfer, who was the lone dissenter at the audit and finance commission.

The new public works facility will be built on a 24-acre lot near the intersection of Wilmette and Cleveland avenues adjacent to the village's water and sewer treatment facility. The one-story facility will include a heated garage, maintenance and service bays, as well as office space for the public works department and its divisions.

Work on the facility is expected to begin in September, with a tentative completion date in 2011.