The Aurora City Council is set to vote on a $16.5 million bond issue to pay for capital projects during the next four years.
Aldermen are likely to vote on the issue at the regular City Council meeting at 6 p.m. May 23 in the council chambers, City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place.
This week, aldermen sent the proposal onto the full council with little discussion.
"This was discussed as part of the budget preparations," said Alderman Robert O'Connor, at large, the Finance Committee chairman.
Officials do not know yet what the interest rate will be, because the bids come in the day of the sale, which would be on the Tuesday of the meeting.
"We deal with information that's about two hours old," said Alderman Rick Mervine, 8th Ward.
The bond issue would pay for about $10 million in capital projects during 2017, another $2 million worth in 2018, about $2.75 million scheduled in 2019 and $487,700 planned in 2020. It was anticipated during budget discussions because the tight budget left little or no money available for capital projects.
In some cases, the capital projects are connected to work that is also getting federal or state grants, and a local match is needed to leverage the funding.
For example, the city is planning about $1.6 million from the issue this year to put toward a pedestrian bridge over the Fox River near RiverEdge Park.
But that is a small part of an overall $14 million regional transportation project that includes developing more parking at the Aurora Transportation Center, relocating the bus pulse point there, and improving the entrance and exit onto North Broadway through changing two traffic signals. The pedestrian bridge is part of the project because it makes parking on the west side of the river usable for people who are going to the Transportation Center to ride a train.
The city received a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant of $10.6 million, plus a grant from Kane County, to put toward that project.
Another project the city has planned for 2017 is putting $500,000 toward a $900,000 project to develop Mastodon Lake and Island at Phillips Park into an interactive playground and information center. The city has received a $400,000 Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant for that project.
Other projects the bond issue would go toward are: Construction of Fire Station 7 in Lincoln Park on the West Side; purchase of a new aerial truck; construction of a new entrance to the Route 59 train station; additions to the city's optical fiber network; the two-way conversion of Galena Boulevard and New York Street downtown, the last step in the one-way street conversions the city has been doing for several years now; a traffic signal at Galena Boulevard and Smith Street, as part of the two-way conversion; and some property acquisitions.
slord@tribpub.com
