Arlington Heights trustees favoring new sewer fee, incentives

Most Arlington Heights trustees appear receptive to plans for a new stormwater fee and increasing a village incentive to encourage more homeowners to purchase overhead sewers.

Those were among the recommendations presented to the village board Monday night by village staff members who have been studying ways to reduce flooding throughout town since a July 2011 storm left streets and parts of homes under water.

"We've come a long way and have a long way to go," Mayor Tom Hayes said of the multiple studies and discussions about the flooding issue. "We're getting to the point where we will be providing some relief."

Officials say a proposed $6.25-per-month stormwater utility fee would help provide a long-term funding source for two current stormwater control efforts: a program that provides residents new or improved access to village storm sewers, and a program that analyzes the condition of storm sewers with the goal of eventually rehabilitating or replacing them.

Those programs cost $800,000 a year, but there's $38.4 million worth of additional projects proposed to help reduce flooding that the new fee would be dedicated to.

While there's a list of 17 such projects, four of them are deemed by the village to be the most pressing and would be done first: construction of Cypress Street area improvements, relief sewers in the Campbell Street/Sigwalt Street/Vail Avenue area, and improvements in the Greenbriar/Roanoke Drive/Wilke Road area.

The fee would also help pay for the village's contribution to its overhead sewer program, now in its 10th year, that reimburses residents 50 percent of the cost, up to $7,500, to install the sewers in their homes. That incentive has grown over time, and now the village is proposing to hike it to 75 percent, up to $11,250.

Officials say the sewers help prevent basement backups during large storms and increasing the incentive will provide the highest amount of protection at the most cost-effective price - although it's up to individual homeowners if they want to participate.

Only 180 have so far, when there are nearly 800 more homes that flooded in 2011 or are highly susceptible to future flooding, according to studies the village commissioned.

An average overhead sewer system costs $12,000.

The increased reimbursement would apply to only the first 400 homes that participate, before reverting back to the current incentive.

Trustees took an informal straw poll on whether to increase the incentive, with only Trustee Bert Rosenberg voting "no," questioning whether there was a way to reimburse residents who have already participated in the program.

The village is also considering a slightly higher stormwater fee for larger commercial and industrial properties.

Additional discussion is planned before the board gives final approval. The fee could go into effect by the end of the year.