Sewage district candidate addresses taxation without service

A North Shore Water Reclamation District board candidate says a long-running dispute that his agency is taxing some Gurnee residents without providing service to them is a village issue to solve.

Republican water reclamation district board member Thomas Swarthout of Lake Forest will face Frank "Pony" Swanton of Lake Bluff in the March primary. They are running in the sanitary district's 4th Ward, which includes some or all of Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest and North Chicago.

No Democrat is on the March 16 primary ballot, meaning either Swarthout or Swanton could be uncontested for a 4-year term in the November general election.

During a Daily Herald editorial board endorsement interview this week, Swarthout addressed the issue of the North Shore Water Reclamation District receiving taxes from property owners in a section of Gurnee east of Route 41 who can't access the agency's sanitary sewer lines. Swanton, a former Lake Bluff trustee, declined an invitation to participate in what would have been a joint interview session with Swarthout.

For about 18 years, Gurnee resident Jerry Kolar has periodically raised the issue of what he contends has been an unfair tax on him and other homeowners because they never authorized the village to annex their land into the North Shore Water Reclamation District. Kolar, who reiterated he has no interest in tapping into the district's lines, most recently addressed the topic during public comment time at Monday night's Gurnee village board meeting.

Swarthout, who filled an unexpired water reclamation district term six years ago and was elected in 2012, said he's familiar with Kolar and the issue. Gurnee became part of the district through annexation in 1998.

"Quite frankly, his concerns should be addressed by the municipality," said Swarthout, a builder and developer. "We've used the analogy in the past, those who don't have children don't really benefit from the school district, but it does enhance the value of the property. And we think that's the case with (Kolar's) property."

Swarthout, a former Lake Forest alderman, said the water reclamation district is "the good guy" in the situation and contends Gurnee could pursue an extension of the sanitary sewer lines to Kolar's neighborhood, where at least 100 homes remain on private septic systems.

North Shore Water Reclamation District is the second-largest sewage treatment agency in Illinois, behind the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. North Shore's general boundary is the Wisconsin border to the north, Lake-Cook Road on the south, Lake Michigan on the east and the Tri-State Tollway on the west.