Cost $3,171,381 (cumulative total for 3 year project)
minus $525,000 ($150,000 - $175,000 allocated annually for sewer repairs)
minus $662,073 (outright grant WPCLP, ARRA)
new balance $1,984,308
($1,986,220 zero interest 20 year loan granted from WPCLP, ARRA)
Sewer upgrades on tap for Olympia Fields
SouthtownStar January 6, 2008 By Steve Metsch
Sewer improvements, a new grocery store, and attempts at more economic development are on tap for Olympia Fields in 2008. While it may not sound exciting - unless you're a public works buff - homeowners should benefit from a three-year $7.7 million project to repair and reline sanitary sewer lines in the village. The program will start as soon as possible, Mayor Linzey Jones said Wednesday. "When it's all said and done, we will have examined 60 percent of the lines and relined 60 percent of them," Jones said. “The program is absolutely necessary,
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Government wants another Bogus Referendum for Sewer Repairs that were supposed to be paid for by the 2007 Referendum
Olympia Fields may ask voters to OK sewer upgrade
Southtown Star By Sarah Zylstra Correspondent May 11, 2011
Olympia Fields voters may be asked to decide if the village should borrow an estimated $2.7 million to finish upgrading the municipality’s sewer system.
The village board this week discussed placing the matter on the ballot next year.
“We’re doing a comprehensive sanitary rehabilitation sewer project village-wide,” village administrator David Mekarski said. “It’s just an expensive endeavor.”
So far, 50 percent of the sewer system has been overhauled in order to prevent rainwater from leeching in and overtaxing the system, which could lead to sanitary sewer backup, he said.
The village has spent close to $5 million financed by bonds and federal stimulus grants to tighten up manholes, slipline the sewer mains and enforce plumbing codes that prohibit illegal connections to the sewers, such as sump pumps and gutter drains.
“We still have a lot to do even though we’ve eliminated all the rainfall that’s getting into the mains and the manholes,” Mekarski said. “What appears to be still leeching a lot of rainwater into the system are laterals — pipes that essentially connect the house to the mainline.”
The village board Monday approved borrowing $500,000 internally for now to rod, smoke and televise the lateral sewers in the Graymoor subdivision, a section of 150 homes where rainwater during storms can exceed the pump capacity.
“Graymoor is a serious situation because otherwise we could have sanitary sewer backups,” Mekarski said. “We’re trying to prevent that.”
Investigations into Graymoor will allow for a more precise dollar number on the bond next year, he said. The final number could range from $1.5 million to $4 million.
“We’ll formalize an entire budget then go out on essentially a backdoor referendum question to finance this last component,” Mekarski said.
Olympia Fields is one of the few villages in the state that is working to update its system to comply with federal and state standards, he said, something many villages are setting aside in the face of more pressing financial difficulties.
But Olympia Fields is financially strong, and ended last year with a surplus of funds, Mekarski said.
Now ask yourself, why would any “sane citizen” vote YES to such a plan that was supposed to have been paid off by the last referendum ? The same referendum that tripled our Municipal Tax Rate !!!
Millions of dollars were wasted on the "building out" of the new Village Hall. To add further insult to injury the government's representatives autocratically voted to spend over $62,000 on a sculpture to honor the former mayor that tripled our municipal tax rate. Never forget the following:
-VILLAGE REFERENDUM NEWSLETTER OF 2007
-VILLAGE SALARIES AFTER 2007 REFERENDUM
-VILLAGE RECIEVES 2.6 MILLION GRANT
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Sewer bills go up for the second time since referendum
“Why would anyone vote against having their sewers fixed, that’s stupid… That’s what the referendum’s for, The referendum is for SEWERS !!!”
(village staff member in response to residents opposed to referendum)
We are now well past Linzey Jones 3 year mass sewer project…
- Where is the majority of the referendum money really going?
- How many decades will the village spend paying back annual installments on bonds that were supposed to be used to pay for the sewers ?
- Why did our sewer bills go up twice, right after the referendum?