Raise water rates? OK restaurant tax? Keep infrastructure fees? Yorkville City Council to decide this month

YORKVILLE – When households receive their utility bills from the city of Yorkville every other month, a series of fees is attached in addition to the consumption rates paid for water and sewer service.

Included are three infrastructure fees, one each for maintaining the water, sewer and roadway systems in the city. The fees are a flat monthly per household charge of $8.25 for water, $4 for sewer and $8 for roadways, so those numbers double when residents see their bi-monthly bills.

Those fees will sunset at the end of this month unless the Yorkville City Council takes action.

It’s one of two key decisions aldermen will make when they are expected to approve the city’s $23 million general fund budget plan for fiscal 2024, which starts May 1.

The other big question in front of aldermen is whether to increase water rates again this year or to impose a restaurant food and beverage tax.

The city needs to generate cash flow in order to bring Lake Michigan water flowing into the community. Now estimated to cost more than $120 million, the water project will have the city repaying bond money for years to come.

City officials are considering a 1% “places of eating” tax on food and beverages, including deliveries.

It is estimated that the new tax will bring in $700,000 a year, about the same amount that a second water rate increase is expected to produce.

The city administration is budgeting for only half that amount for the coming fiscal year, so aldermen may have time to delay making a choice on adding restaurant and bar tax or making another round of water rate increases.

The $23 million general fund budget is down slightly from last year’s spending plan.

But true expenditures for the city, including a $21 million capital budget along with utility enterprise funds, are slightly more than $55 million.

The City Council conducted a public hearing on the budget at its March 28 meeting. No one from the public asked to speak. Aldermen are expected to take a vote on the spending plan April 11.

The city is planning to spend about $10 million on water-related projects as part of the budget. These include about $4 million to replace leaky water mains, about $3.5 million to rehabilitate a well and almost $2 million for other work directly related to the plan to connect the city will the DuPage Water Commission’s pipeline.

The goal of the water main replacement project is to get the city’s water loss rate down to less than 10%, which is a requirement for communities sourcing their water supply from Lake Michigan. Currently the city loses about 14% of its treated water supply through aging pipes that date from the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the city is appropriating $3 million to get the public works garage project underway. The city already has acquired property in an industrial park just west of Route 47 on the far north side of the community.

Here too, aldermen face a policy decision. It comes down to the size of the facility and how much council members are willing to pay for the project, which is now estimated at between $23 million and $30 million.

The budget also includes money for the city’s ongoing “Road to Better Roads” program to repave city streets.

The spending plan includes $1 million in motor fuel tax revenues and another $1.15 million from the citywide capital development fund.

The city will spend $1.1 million on the Kennedy Road-Freedom Place intersection project, but this money will be reimbursed through grant funds.

The city currently has 87 employees, including the 33 sworn officers of the Yorkville Police Department. The police force only recently reached that authorized level, so there are no additional patrol officers included in this year’s budget.

However, the city’s five-year plan calls for an additional officer in each of fiscal 2025, 2027 and 2028.

For the coming budget year, the spending plan includes $50,000 for a new police training coordinator, a post to be shared with the Oswego Police Department.

The training coordinator will handle the scheduling and monitor training activities for both departments. The new post will help free up both of Yorkville’s two deputy chiefs and a sergeant who currently handle this responsibility.

The city is budgeting $65,000 for a new planner in the Community Development Department.

The proposed budget also includes $55,000 for an accountant in the city’s Utility Billing Department. The city has been sharing a facilities manager post with the village of Oswego. With both municipalities growing at a rapid pace, each of the communities will have its own manager. Yorkville is budgeting $100,000 for a full-time manager for the city’s building and grounds.

The budget also includes two part-time seasonal Street Department employees, at 1,000 hours per year each.

Also included is $2 million for operations and capital improvements at the Yorkville Public Library.