Board member wants $30 million to fight DuPage flooding

If DuPage County is going to start borrowing money, county board member Jim Zay wants flood control to be a priority.

Much of the county is still drying out from the recent string of downpours and the county board is still debating a borrowing plan for a variety of projects. Zay said stormwater improvements have not been on the top of the county's to-do list.

"The stormwater levy used to be $11.5 million a year and now it's $8.5 million," Zay said. "It's been that way for eight years and that's $24 million we used to spend on stormwater improvements that has gone elsewhere."

Zay is the head of the county board's stormwater committee. He believes that despite county sales tax revenues and state reimbursements being down about $6.2 million, now is a good time to borrow because of federal stimulus programs that cover almost half of the interest costs. He is suggesting $5 million be set aside to buy homes in flood-prone areas and another $25 million for waterway projects in western DuPage.

But other board members are cautious about borrowing money without having a funding mechanism in place to pay off the debt. Paul Fichtner, who heads the board's finance committee, said such spending practices in the past led to the county having to raise sales tax rates to cover expenses.

"We are way below budget on sales tax and way below budget on state payments," Fichtner said. "At the same time we have tens of millions of dollars of projects that need to be done."

Zay said he plans to force a vote on the issue to get his colleagues on the record about stormwater improvements.

"Board members are going to have to say this isn't important and I'm going to stress this," Zay said. "We just can't sit back and not do anything."

Some county officials worry that Zay's request makes it appear the recent spate of flooding was caused by county failures.

"All of our facilities operated in accordance with our operating plan," said Tony Charlton, head of the county's stormwater division. "There was no overbank flooding."

County board member Dirk Enger disagrees and said the county should have been more responsive to the recent flooding by dispatching equipment and emergency personnel to damaged areas. Enger was filling sandbags in Carol Stream Wednesday along with Carol Stream Mayor Frank Saverino.

"I do not agree with the chairman that everything did run as smoothly as it should last week," Enger said. "We made mistakes and we should admit it."

County officials said most flooding was due to a quick deluge that overpowered many municipal drainage systems. River banks and reservoirs did not overflow, they said.

County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom said there is a need for stormwater improvements in the western part of the county, but the county has other needs as well. He agrees that with low interest rates and the federal interest coverage programs, now is the time to borrow for such projects.

"We do believe there are some regional stormwater projects that the county should become involved in," Schillerstrom said. "I'm not sure I agree with all of Jim's requests, but there are some the county should undertake if the county does issue bonds."

Zay said he believes millions of dollars in capital improvement projects for backup generators at the county government complex and information technology improvements can wait.

"You can't just let these people sit there in the flood plain and continue to flood," Zay said. "The county board has to decide what's important."