Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
November 1, 2007
On Monday’s City Council meeting agenda, there are proposals to place three ballot questions on the February 5 election. The City Council will deliberate at the meeting whether to place the items on the ballot. Here are summaries of the three proposals being considered by the City Council:
- Stormwater Utility: The City has been wrestling with stormwater issues for several years. A Stormwater Master Plan was conducted three years ago and a Stormwater Advisory Committee was appointed two years ago to look at stormwater solutions. The committee recommended that a stormwater utility be established that would provide an ongoing revenue source to address the many drainage problems throughout O’Fallon. The utility would place a $3.45/month fee on resident utility bills.
- Water Lateral Repair Program: Currently, the water line from the meter to the house is the homeowner’s responsibility and is their cost to repair if there is a leak. The proposed ballot question would place a $1 charge per month per home and if there is ever a water leak, then the City will repair the line for no additional charge.
- Sewer Lateral Repair Program: This program would operate the same as the water lateral program, but the cost would be $2.40 per month per home.
Why three ballot issues?
These are three services that O’Fallon residents have requested that the City provide and there are not any surplus funds to operate any of these programs without additional revenue. The ballot proposals give O’Fallon citizens the opportunity to decide whether they are willing to pay for these extra services. If all three programs are passed by the voters, it would be an additional $6.85 per month per household. Of course, the City Council must approve the resolutions first, and they may decide to place one, all, or none of the questions on the ballot.
What happens if the ballot issues are not implemented?
For the two lateral repair programs, it just means we will not implement the program and homeowners will continue to be responsible for maintain their lateral service lines.
If the stormwater utility is not established, then the situation is more complex. There have been drainage problems in O’Fallon for as long as the city has existed. It is not cheap or easy to fix decades of stormwater problems. The City has been able to accomplish stormwater projects on a piecemeal basis, but there is not nearly enough current revenue to tackle the all of the projects identified in the Stormwater Master Plan.
In addition, we expect the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to place more restrictive clean water regulations that will necessitate the City to investigate treatment options for stormwater. The bottom line is that stormwater will only get more expensive and more regulated, so additional funding will have to come from somewhere – either from a utility, Proposition S, or the General Fund. If the stormwater utility is not established, it is possible that other City services would have to be cut to pay for stormwater requirements.
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