East Dundee proposes 5-year road repair plan

East Dundee has proposed a five-year plan to fix several village streets, including one that a trustee compared to a war zone.

North Street, between Water and First streets, and Maxwelton Road, between Ashland and Greenwood avenues, originally were scheduled for surface repairs in 2013, according to a draft of the plan.

But the streets committee on Monday deemed those streets so bad that the group moved them up for completion this year.

“It's like a war zone over there,” Trustee Michael Ruffulo said of North Street.

For the first time, the streets committee discussed using money from a tax increment finance district to pay for $45,000 worth of improvements on Hill Street and North Street.

Those funds can cover street improvements made within the district, Interim Village Administrator Bob Skurla said.

Officials never had suggested going this route before because the TIF funds weren't quite as robust as they are now.

These days, however, there's $1.36 million in TIF funds — a number that's 70 percent higher than last year and is only expected to increase, Skurla said.

“The funding is there,” Skurla said.

As part of the proposed plan, the village would spend about $245,000 to resurface and replenish curbs and gutters in the first year.

Originally, $295,000 had been budgeted for that first year of work, but the plan was tweaked Monday.

In subsequent years, officials have estimated spending $292,000 in 2013, $300,000 in 2014, $313,000 in 2015 and $321,000 in 2016

If the board approves the draft, work on the 2012 part of the plan would begin in August or September, Village Engineer Joe Heinz said.