Cost questions surround Naperville's roads pitch

A proposal for Naperville to take over maintenance of 16 miles of roads now under the jurisdiction of the Naperville Township highway commissioner is coming down to a debate over money, motivation and trust.

The city says the proposed intergovernmental agreement could save taxpayers $800,000 a year.

But Highway Commissioner Stan Wojtasiak says that claim is overblown because the city's estimates don't include the same level of services for street sweeping, brush pickup and leaf collection.

"The only way they (city officials) are saving is to slash the services," said Richard Tarulis, an attorney for the township road district.

City officials, however, say the projected savings come mainly from labor costs. Even if they provide the same amount of street sweeping, brush pickup and leaf collection, they say, the savings would be roughly $717,000.

Still, Wojtasiak and his advisers question how the city calculated the savings and how its crews can do the work cheaper with union laborers.

"City employees make a lot more than township employees," Tarulis said. "So there's no way the city can do what the township does for less."

Plus, Wojtasiak and his advisers say contracting with the city to perform all road district duties would leave township residents with no real elected representation when it comes to their roads.

"We'd have no one to go to," said Steve Grobl, a Naperville Township resident representing the Green Acres Homeowners Association. "Stan is there, but what can Stan do? You have the mayor and city council who somehow are now responsible for unincorporated residents."

City officials say that's not true. The elected position of highway commissioner would remain - as would its line on the property tax bills of both incorporated and unincorporated residents of the township. Whoever holds the highway commissioner role would oversee the road services contract with the city.

Wojtasiak said he's uncomfortable with surrendering his responsibilities, even as he prepares to retire next spring when his term ends.

"I have no intention of becoming a ghost payroller," he said.

The two sides plan to meet Wednesday and Wojtasiak promises to negotiate "in good faith." But his concerns remain.

"It's a cash grab," he said. "They're in financial straits and we're low-hanging fruit."

Cost concerns

The city's claim it can save taxpayers $800,000 on road services is based on the township's fiscal 2015 budget of $1.86 million and an estimated $1 million yearly price tag for the city to conduct the work.

According to the proposed agreement, the city would provide brush collection, emerald ash borer treatment and removal, forestry, general roadway services, leaf collection, mosquito abatement, mowing and herbicide, storm sewer maintenance, street sweeping, streetlight maintenance and winter operations. City Manager Doug Krieger said the highway commissioner could choose to add or leave off two other categories of capital work: an annual road maintenance improvement program and sidewalk improvements.

The contract could begin July 1 and would last through March 31, 2021. Costs for each of the four full years range from $1,003,141 to $1,066,291 and Krieger says the city would stick to those amounts, even if costs rise.

While those figures are roughly $800,000 below Wojtasiak's recent spending, he said it's difficult to make a fair comparison because the city and township road district operate differently.

The city has a budget of $429 million, nearly 950 employees and separate departments for specialties that play minor roles related to the cost of maintaining roads, such as legal fees, engineering work, information technology and human resources. The township road district employs seven people and its budget - proposed at $2.6 million for the fiscal year that started April 1 - lists all of those intertwined costs.

"My budget includes everything. That's why it looks so high," Wojtasiak said.

Attempts to compare expenditures based on the cost to maintain one centerline mile of road or the hourly pay per employee only have created more discrepancies.

The city told community groups its cost per mile is $20,200, while the township's is $62,422. But the city's estimate is only for capital maintenance, Krieger said. Adding regular operations and snow plowing, the total comes to $78,400 per centerline mile.

The township says its costs per mile are between $60,000 and $90,000, as determined by consultant Morris Engineering following guidelines from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. By the same formula, Al Rugienius, president of Morris Engineering, said the city's costs are between $120,000 and $180,000.

"We disagree with the township's estimate," Krieger said.

Labor costs are equally contested.

Krieger says the city's proposal saves on labor because the public works department wouldn't need all of the road district's seven employees to maintain the additional 16 centerline miles of road, which equates to 49.3 lane miles, according to IDOT figures. The lane miles figure is what a single city snowplow would have to drive to clear the township's roads.

To take on the work, the city would need to add two employees and fill one vacant position, likely by hiring three of the road district's equipment operators.

City equipment operators are union employees who make roughly $29 to $43 an hour including benefits, depending on seniority, Krieger said. But the township said its analysis found city labor costs are higher, roughly $86 an hour, while a township equipment operator makes about $38 an hour including pay and benefits.

The city could incur extra costs later, Rugienius said, because it repaves roads less frequently than the township. The township's cycle is 15 years, he said, while Krieger said the city is on a 20-year cycle for complete repaving with microsurfacing and crackfilling taking place in between. The longer a road goes between repavings, the more likely it is to suffer structural issues that are more expensive to fix.

"They're not thinking long-term on this," Rugienius said. "They're thinking very short-term, immediate."

Time to meet

All of the questions about costs raise another question among Wojtasiak's supporters: Why now?

The city last year faced an $8.2 million budget deficit, which it filled by making cuts, raising garbage fees and creating a 0.5 percent home-rule sales tax. Some township residents question why after those cuts and cost increases the city would want to take on more road work.

"Some of the residents feel it's not necessarily a cash grab, but it's more of a resume-builder or a power grab," Grobl said. "Where it doesn't make sense economically, there must be something else lurking in the background."

Krieger says the proposal surfaced because the city council asked staff members to review a report from Gov. Bruce Rauner's task force on government consolidation and unfunded mandates. Six of the ideas relate to townships, but the city's offer of road services does not exactly mirror any of the suggestions.

"The purpose of the agreement is simply to save taxpayer dollars and perform governmental functions in the most efficient manner possible," Krieger said.