While the wording for Brookfield’s November referendum question — which, if approved, would generate $2 million per year for road improvements and other municipal projects at no added cost to taxpayers — has been approved, uncertainty remains on the details of a possible program to repave gravel alleys.
Following their third discussion of the details of the potential program, Brookfield trustees are planning on Aug. 10 to settle once and for all whether the village should cover 100% of the costs to repave those alleys or if it should split construction costs halfway with block residents.
If approved, the referendum will allow Brookfield to establish a 25-year street improvement program at a cost of $1.2 million per year, leaving $800,000 to go toward an alley program or some other municipal initiative. If the referendum is voted down, village officials will have to find another funding mechanism to ensure Brookfield’s streets do not fall into disrepair over time.
The $2 million will be collected without raising the experienced cost to taxpayers for Brookfield’s portion of the tax bill — about 15% — as it will go into effect at the same time that previous bond debt to repair roads is paid off. The external costs of issuing debt, like attorneys’ fees, will instead be funneled into the village’s roads.
At the village board’s July 27 committee of the whole meeting, trustees did not reach a consensus on which funding model the village should use for the alley program, which could be funded by that extra $800,000 per year as well as about $350,000 in funding from the village’s tax increment financing districts and annual grants from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
If the village covered 100% of the costs, it would, over time, save about $19 million — $114 million compared to $133 million — overall due to the costs associated with the special assessment process that is required when residents on a block come together to fund improvements to their alley. That process involves contacting the village, circulating a petition to residents on the block, holding multiple public hearings and, finally, awarding each alley’s bid individually to a construction firm.
According to agenda documents prepared by Finance Director Doug Cooper, since 2017, only two blocks have come together to repave their alley, covering all of the construction costs among themselves, about 80% of the total cost.
But the village-funded program could take up to 100 years to cycle through all the alleys if Brookfield does not solicit additional external funding. But, if costs were split with residents, Brookfield would reduce that maximum timeframe to about 60 years. In both scenarios, village staffers have said they plan to seek external funding that could significantly reduce either timeframe, making it hard to predict just how long the program would take.
During the 75-minute discussion, officials agreed repaving gravel and stone alleys, which make up about 80% of Brookfield’s alleys, will widely benefit residents in town. Assistant Village Manager Stevie Ferrari said about 70% of housing units in the village butt up against an alley.
“Often times, we have people say, ‘I don’t use the alleys in town. I don’t want to pay for alleys.’ Everyone is a beneficiary of the alleys, even if it’s not the alley on their block,” Village President Michael Garvey said. “Garbage pickup and also police and fire use alleys to get through for various purposes. In all scenarios, everyone benefits.”
Some trustees advocated for the village covering all of the alley costs in order to simplify the education materials related to the referendum question and avoid infighting among block residents should they disagree on whether to pony up to repave their alley sooner than later.
Trustee Jennifer Hendricks seemed to oppose the cost-sharing program, which would nullify the village’s selling point of the referendum’s cost-neutrality to taxpayers. She said asking residents to cover half of the costs to repave alleys would make it even harder down the line to get a future referendum approved to issue bond debt to construct a community recreation center. The issue of funding street and alley improvements first arose during discussions about the rec center last fall.
The board also discussed how to educate residents about this very issue without reaching much consensus due to the unanswerable questions residents may pose about when their nearby alley may be repaved.
As the village is working with a consultant, Metro Strategies Group, on educating the public over the next three months about the consequences of approving or rejecting the referendum, trustees agreed to have one more discussion about the alley program and its funding mechanism where they would reach a consensus.
