N. Aurora makes roadwork-supporting taxes permanent

What were supposed to be temporary taxes to pay for fixing roads in North Aurora became permanent Monday night.

The village board removed a sunset provision in its utility tax and abandoned a plan to cut its telecommunications tax back to 1 percent.

It did so because a study of the age and condition of village roads projects a bumpy stretch of road the next seven years in terms of bills to rebuild streets. That stretch would be followed by 13 years of repaving work.

Village Engineer Jim Bibby said the village is confronted with a “dual liability.”

The first is its 20-year effort fix drainage problems throughout town. The second, he said, “is the tidal wave of development that started in the (late) 1980s that is now coming due for mill overlay and resurfacing.”

“We saw this coming, we knew this was coming, we would urge the board just to stay with the program,” Bibby said.

In 2004, the village started collecting a 2 percent tax on utilities and increased the telecommunications tax to 2.5 percent, with the understanding that the monies were to go to roadwork. In 2007 both were extended for two years, and in 2009 they were extended for four years. In 2009, the telecommunications tax was raised to 4 percent and the utility tax to 3 percent.

Technically there was no automatic expiration of the telecommunications tax, but in 2009 the board decided that in 2013 it should be reduced to 1 percent.

“We weren't happy to make that tax permanent, but there are a lot of roads that need repaving in the next 10 years,” Trustee Vince Mancini said.

The village estimates it could cost nearly $65 million in the next 20 years to keep up with the repaving and reconstruction.

It has identified about $1.6 million in repairs and reconstruction, for eight streets, this year, while taking in almost $2 million in revenue for it. But by 2020, it expects roadwork to cost about $3.5 million, while the tax revenue will be about $2.1 million, according to a report presented by the village's finance director.

That report suggests the gap could be closed by raising the telecommunications and utility taxes to their maximum rates.