West Chicago seeks $7.37 million state loan for lead service line replacement

The West Chicago City Council has agreed to pursue a $7.37 million loan through a state program for the replacement of hundreds of lead service lines in the town.

Assistant City Administrator Tia Messino said the city will apply for a 30-year, interest-free loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Money for the loan payments would come from the city’s water fund — not through its general fund or property taxes.

Public Works Director Mehul Patel said during the Feb. 17 city council meeting that the loan is intended to cover the replacement of 321 of the city’s approximately 797 lead service lines. About 100 services will be replaced as part of annual improvement projects.

The city estimates that the construction costs to replace the 321 lines will be $6.7 million. The remaining $670,000 would cover legal costs, contingencies and roughly $400,000 in engineering services.

Alderman Joe Morano said during a Feb. 17 meeting that the state directed the city to replace its lead service lines, “but didn’t necessarily give us a path to pay for that. So now we’re in a situation where we need a bunch of money to get a lot of work done.”

After completing an inventory in April 2024, the city planned a two-phase replacement project.

During the state’s 2025 fiscal year, West Chicago submitted two loan applications to the IEPA — one for the 321 lines, the other for 375 lines at an estimated cost of $7.745 million.

Vying with other communities for $260 million of annual IEPA funding, neither appeal made the list for the loan program due to tight demand.

The city now intends to apply for the loan program’s Bypass Funds for replacing the 321 lead service lines. Loans out of this fund are offered without interest.

The city will resubmit an application for the other 375 lines.

Patel said that if the first loan application is approved, the service line replacements will be subject to a 45-day bidding requirement for the work. Contracts must wait to be awarded until the loan is executed at the end of Illinois’ fiscal year on June 30.

Messino said the city looks forward to advancing this important public health and infrastructure effort.