After back-to-back meetings reviewing the city’s five-year plan for capital improvement projects this week, Naperville City Council members urged city departments to cut back.
The $344 million plan, which outlines a variety of proposed construction projects to take place through 2009, includes big ticket items such as an estimated $82 million in construction and repairs for the city’s electrical system and a new 189,000-square-foot public works building on 23 acres at the northeast corner of Ft. Hill Drive and Jefferson Avenue with an estimated price of $27 million.
“We’ve got a city that is very affluent,” Councilman James Boyajian said. “We’ve got the money. We spend the money. I’d like to see you pull $10 million out of this [capital improvement] program.”
The Electrical Department wants $5 million for a new substation on Jefferson that would act as a switching station that could divert power to the south side of the city and route power from other substations back to the north. Other projects include redevelopment of aging infrastructure in neighborhoods such as Saybrook and Indian Hill.
But many council members wanted to know how the proposed projects would affect utility rates.
Allan Poole, director of public utilities, said the city has not increased rates in 12 years and that much of the budget could be funded by growth. The remainder could be paid for by issuing revenue bonds, he said.
Councilman Darlene Senger insisted on keeping rates competitive with Commonwealth Edison, because she said that is what keeps businesses in Naperville.
City Manager Peter Burchard said staff would look at cutting 5 to 20 percent from the capital improvement program and report back to the council in the near future.