DuPage eyes bond plan that’s trimmed down

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The DuPage County Board on Tuesday will weigh in once more on a controversial plan to take out a 30-year loan to cover $70 million worth of sales tax-funded infrastructure work and other upgrades.

Pitched by outgoing County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, the proposal divided the board when the group met in a specially called meeting Sept. 7 to vote on a slightly more ambitious undertaking. Even after the sum was pared down by more than $6 million when Naperville board member John Zediker suggested editing out some projects, seven of the 17 representatives there voted against the idea.

Also on record opposing the low-interest federal Recovery Zone loan was state Sen. Dan Cronin, the GOP contender to succeed Schillerstrom on Nov. 2, who estimated the cost of debt service would hike the final price tag to around $125 million. Democratic chairman candidate Carole Cheney gave conditional approval to the plan, which county staff say will generate some 2,000 jobs.

Cronin argued against the measure in tandem with the conservative Americans for Prosperity-Illinois organization. The small-government advocacy group ran a comprehensive phone campaign opposing the bond issue the weekend before the initial vote, and encouraged residents to turn out in opposition to the bond issue. Cronin conferred with AFP before addressing the board, but did not provide any funds for the effort, according to his campaign.

If the plan is implemented, about $10.5 million will be spent to address flooding woes on the West Branch of the DuPage River upstream of Naperville and in the Klein Creek watershed, near Carol Stream. The kitchen in the county-run Convalescent Center will be overhauled, at an estimated cost of $6 million. The Wheaton courthouse will have its heating and air conditioning network upgraded, and the campus backup electrical generator system will be updated, for another $16.5 million. Upgrading the county’s information systems accounts for an additional $18.8 million of the outlay.

The County Board will meet at 10 a.m. in the board room at the Jack T. Knuepfer Administration Building, 421 N. County Farm Road, Wheaton.