Sent from Mark Knigge to Trustees and Administrator: Questions concerning Lake Michigan Water (LMW) October 22, 2014 Again I would like to thank the Board for their hard work and perseverance moving the stalled LMW negotiations to the current level! More importantly we cannot over look the courage displayed by the Wauconda voters passing the LMW referendum under extremely difficult economic conditions, a vote many of our local leaders never thought would happen! But, as we all know, time is of the essence, costs continue to escalate from the 2013 negotiations! Questions: Is the Board and Staff plan on having a public power point presentation and discussion concerning the projected financial impact of LMW, showing both tax and rate? Currently costs have been shown not to exceed $43/month which includes both tax (for a $200K house) and water rate. What are the future cost scenarios? The Village must have projections for several years in the future. Does the LMW water rate currently stated also include the rate JAWA charges, and what is that rate? What is the charge per VOW household for the current JAWA outstanding bond? When does it expire? The Board has been given a Drop out option by the Administrator. What are the cost impacts? Must the $2.5M escrow money be forfeited? Is there flexibility in the internal improvement design to accommodate another LMW source? How many of the internal improvements are only for LMW, and what are the costs? If LMW only improvements are being made, how can referendum financing be used when there is not a final agreement JAWA and there is still a VOW drop out option. The current LMW agreement does not allow for Volo to sell (wheel) LMW unless there is an emergency to a requesting entity, if this happens will Wauconda receive financial compensation? Is JAWA applying for the VOW IEPA LMW loan, if so will this be charged against the Village’s debit limit? Does the current Volo LMW agreement exceed the VOW debit limit? If so how is this being rectified? The $900K JAWA connection fees the VOW water users are being asked to absorb for the 400 unincorporated area homes seems extremely unreasonable. The current additional 25% additional charge to these homes was added to defray construction/maintenance of the treatment plant and corresponding water/sewer infrastructure. This has been the VOW water user’s responsibility and financial commitment for years! The following is a solution that could be reasonably negotiated: 1. Go back to the County and demand a North Water Project IGA restructuring that would make partial payment a responsibility of the homeowners in the unincorporated area. 2. Other than the VOW, the next biggest beneficiary of LMW is the PRP’s (Task Group) of the Wauconda Land Fill super fund site! Without the worry of the Land Fill contaminating ground water and aquifer sources many of those concerns are eliminated! What are the possibilities of looking into a cost sharing agreement with the PRPs? 3. The VOW as part of the negotiated settlement could be included in the cost sharing The VOW has been asked to treat an additional 4K gallons of leachate/day from the Land Fill bringing the total to 8K/day, has a surcharge been determined? Please include an explanation of the Mayor’s statement that the Water/Sewer Budget has been in the red for the last 3 years. Thank you in advance, Mark F. KniggeFrom
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 16:29:41 +0000
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