Prospect Heights says streets in disrepair

Prospect Heights streets need serious repairs in the coming years, but the city has few resources to do needed work, according to a city report.

The recently released analysis reveals a city with crumbling arterial streets that need fixing even below street level in some cases.

Almost half are in dire need of repair, the report said.

How to repair the roads is likely to be a hot topic in November as residents vote on whether to allow the city to become home rule - a status that would allow officials to use hotel taxes for street repairs, which is forbidden now. It'd also allow the city to take out larger loans for repairs.

The vote for home rule status has failed before with its detractors saying home rule would be abused by officials, who'd raise taxes with the power.

The report might illustrate how important home rule could be to the city, said Mayor Pat Ludvigsen, who supports home rule and who's running for mayor next year.

The report says about 12 percent of side streets received a "very poor" rating, meaning the roads' surfaces and foundations below need to be replaced. These streets have a drivable life of about one to three years, said Pam Arrigoni, city manager.

Roads like Maple Street, off Willow and Elmhurst roads, and Lancaster Avenue fall into this category, officials said.

Another 37 percent of side roads are considered "poor." That means the surface needs repairs, but the grading beneath is still holding up for now. The remainder - about barely more than half - were considered excellent, good or fair.

Major roads like Elmhurst and Camp McDonald are not city streets; rather the state or county government maintain them. But the smaller side streets are the city's problem, city officials said.

The good news is some city streets were in worse shape in 2005 when 21 percent of the city streets were considered "very poor."

The bad news is the city took out a $2.2 million, five-year loan to repair them. The city won't have the money to do any more major repairs for about three years, when the loan is paid in full, Arrigoni said.

At that rate, it will take about 50 years before all the city streets are repaved, the report said.

"It will take forever to do it," Arrigoni said.

Some streets won't last that long, the report said. The "very poor" rated streets have about one to three years of drivable life left, she said. Other streets in the "poor" category have about three to six years before sliding into the "very poor" rating.

The city receives more than $800,000 from various taxes, which pays for salt, minor patch-ups and major repairs. About $506,000 of it goes for the $2.2 million debt, Arrigoni said.

With home rule, the city could collect about $700,000 annually on hotel taxes, some of which could be used on city streets, Ludvigsen said. Currently, by law, that same money is used on tourism in Prospect Heights.

But home rule might not be the bandage that it appears to be, Trustee Dolly Vole has said. She is also running for mayor next year. She's maintained home rule powers could be abused by officials to raise other taxes.

Nick Helmer, who is also running, said he'd support home rule, since repairing city streets is top on his list of priorities.