Proposed Longmeadow Parkway toll drops in latest Kane County budget plan

The price for traversing the Longmeadow Parkway toll bridge might plummet to one-third of the original cost forecast for drivers, according to new projections.

The Kane County Division of Transportation's 2017 budget proposal unveiled Tuesday includes $25 million in Longmeadow Parkway expenses and a plan for the county to issue $30 million in bonds to kick in more funding for the project. Tolls collected on the Fox River bridge section of the 5.6-mile parkway would repay the bonds.

Tom Rickert, the county's deputy transportation director, said the $30 million in bonds would put the toll somewhere between 50 cents and 75 cents. The full county board must take a specific vote to issue the bonds, but that vote won't come for another six to 12 months.

"The hope is still that we won't need a toll," Rickert said.

The county already has $72.3 million in federal, state and local money for the $135 million project. The actual cost of the project may be much lower. Initial construction bids for work that began earlier this year on a non-tollway segment came in 27 percent below estimates. If the construction costs continue to be less than planned and county officials lure more outside funding, the toll could drop or vanish.

The total transportation division's budget for 2017 calls for $97.85 million in spending, which is $37.4 million more than the current year.

The KDOT budget fluctuates each year more than other departments based on what projects are ready for construction.

The Longmeadow Parkway construction fuels most of the 2017 budget increase.

The bigger budget will not cause a property tax increase.

However, if the county board approves issuing the $30 million in bonds, local taxpayers would be on the hook if the tollway fails to capture enough money to repay the debt.

Opponents of the project predicting that tollway failure partly led to the nonbinding April referendum in Dundee Township that saw more than 8,000 people vote against the project.

County officials have since denounced the results because of disparaging wording about the parkway in the ballot question.

In May, Geoffrey Petzel, a former executive director of the Friends of the Fox River group filed a federal lawsuit to block further construction of the bridge.

The Stop Longmeadow citizens group has begun raising $10,000 to file another lawsuit to stop the project.