Wheeling’s proposed budget includes funds to finish flood-prevention project

Wheeling’s proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year includes cash for an already-underway flood-prevention project in the South Dunhurst neighborhood and erosion prevention in Buffalo Creek, among other efforts.

The estimated $116.5 million spending plan is about $6 million greater than the $110.5 million budget for the current fiscal year, which ends Dec. 31. That’s a roughly 5% increase.

Spending is expected to increase because of planned capital projects and equipment purchases, Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said.

A key project is the completion of the $6.1 million flood-control effort that began this past summer in South Dunhurst, which is south of Dundee Road and east of Elmhurst Road.

The neighborhood was built in the 1950s without an underground stormwater system, so water accumulates on streets and in yards during every heavy rainstorm. Houses rarely take on water, but cars driving down flooded streets can create wakes that splash up to front doors and into garages.

A large detention pond has been built, and thousands of feet of large sewer pipes — with the necessary inlets and drains — will be installed underground to carry rain water from streets and yards to the basin.

Less than two miles to the north and east, officials plan to spend more than $2.7 million next year to stabilize Buffalo Creek’s bank between Northgate Parkway and Dundee Road. Crews will repair parts of the bank that have eroded and remove some of the sediment that has accumulated on the creek bottom.

Additionally, officials are planning to commission a special census to update the village’s official population.

Since the last U.S. census in 2020, the Uptown 500 apartment complex, the London Crossing townhouse complex and the Landing on Dundee Senior Living facility have opened and the ONE Wheeling Town Center apartment complex, which opened in 2019, has taken on many residents. Village officials estimate more than 1,650 people now live at those sites.

If Wheeling’s population has increased since 2020, when 39,147 people reportedly lived in town, the village could receive a greater share of state tax revenues that are population dependent, such as income and cannabis taxes, Sfondilis said. Funding formulas will be readjusted following the 2030 census.

A special census could cost Wheeling between $375,000 and $500,000.

To pay for these and other projects, Wheeling officials expect to collect about $113.7 million in taxes, fees and other revenue in the next fiscal year. That's up about $3.2 million from the current fiscal year, an increase of nearly 3%.

The village board is expected to vote on the proposed budget Dec. 16.