MWRD Holds Public Hearing on 2017 Proposed Capital Budget

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting
Afternoon study session focused on the MWRD’s Capital Improvements budget for 2017.  
October 20, 2016

President Spyropoulos called the meeting to order at 10:30 am, and ended proceedings at noon. A PUBLIC HEARING on the MWRD’s proposed Capital Budget for 2017 was held following the Board meeting.

Highlights from the Board meeting:  

• There were 59 items on the consent agenda for Board approval. Few of these were singled out by Commissioners for public discussion or roll call vote.  
• Items 50 and 51, having to do with land agreements between the MWRD and Commonwealth Edison, were pulled for roll call votes by Commissioner Alverez, who abstained from voting on both items.  Item 51 involved an easement on the District’s Main Channel in Will County that will allow ComEd to upgrade and fortify electric service to the US Army Corps of Engineers’ fish barrier in the Sanitary and Ship Canal in Romeoville, IL. The barrier is designed to limit the movement of invasive fish species into the Lake Michigan watershed, and upgrades are required, according to the agenda summary.  Items 50 and 51 were both passed in a role call vote.
• After a brief meeting closure for Executive Session, the Board reconvened, approved the remaining consent agenda, and adjourned.

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE MWRD’s POPOSED CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN for 2017:

The MWRD released its draft 2017 Budget on October 11, 2016, and this study session was the first opportunity Commissioners had to question staff on the capital improvement plan described in the budget draft.  Staff is proposing a $1.131 billion budget, which translates into roughly $117.27 per $100,000 of assessed value for real property tax payers in Cook County. The taxpayer burden is unchanged from 2016, but the full budget appropriation is $112 million (9%) less than in 2016, largely because of a decrease in the Capital Improvements Bond Fund.
To view a copy of the MWRD 2017 Budget click HERE

Dr. Catherine O’Connor, Director of Engineering, presented the MWRD’s $348 Capital Improvement Program, based on the MWRD’s strategic business plan, which strives to add value, achieve excellence, recover resources, and lead partnerships.   She noted the $348 million in capital appropriations requested will support “2,500 good union jobs in our service area.”

Add value: Ms. O’Connor noted that the indoor sludge thickening plant at Stickney “smells like roses” (cost: $162.2 million) has added value by reducing neighborhood odors and concentrates bio solids. She detailed dozens of similar improvements, including a $35 million project to improve the pump station in Calumet, a $43 million project to rehab the Salt Creek Intercepting Sewer, and the $107 million investment in the McCook Reservoir Des Plaines inflow tunnel, slated to be completed in fall of 2019.

The MWRD only very recently gained legislative authority to participate in voluntary buyouts of repeatedly-flooded residential properties as a flood control measure.  Director O’Connor detailed a plan to buy out 163 homes in flood prone areas between 2017 and 2019 at an estimated cost of $43 million.  The MWRD’s portion of these buyouts is less than 100%, with federal and local dollars supplementing the Agency’s contributions.  Ms. O’Connor said the buyouts are less expensive than engineered flood-control solutions.  DesPlaines will see the largest number of buyouts – about 42 homes in two different phases.  The MWRD will pay only 24% of the cost of the DesPlaines residential property acquisitions. Riverside Lawn, Stone Park, and Franklin Park will also see more than 30 flood prone homes purchased and torn down through agency partnerships.

Leveraging Partnerships: The MWRD seeks to leverage its stormwater dollars using strategic partnerships.  The largest of these is a $25 million contribution to the City of Chicago’s $57 million tunnel project that will divert stormwater overflow from the North Branch of the Chicago River in the city’s Albany Park neighborhood to the North Shore Channel near Lincolnwood.  This is a flood control project that does not address water quality improvement.

Resource recovery: The MWRD has recently focused more intently on profiting from resource recovery at its treatment plants. 

• The MWRD recently completed construction of its $32 million Phosphorous recovery plant at Stickney.  Ms. O’Connor said 70 tons of Phosphorous have been harvested to date. While it appears inputs to the phosphorous removal process are more expensive than the District anticipated, it still is budgeting income of about $3 million from the sale of this product next year.  
• The District is also planning to bring on-line a system that will harvest gas from its digesters for vehicle use next year.  The digester gas facilities will cost 14.2 million, with construction awards slated for 2017. The MWRD does not yet have a customer the digester gas.The MWRD plans to spend $24 million next year for a covered composting project in Spring of 2017 that will combine landscape waste with bio solids to create agricultural compost. This project is linked to a new organic waste receiving facility ($7.4 million) that will be built to receive the landscape waste at the composting site.
• ​The District will award $3.5 million dollars to start a tree planting and harvesting project at the Fischer Farms Horticultural Center, part of the Bensenville Park District. The MWRD already spreads sludge from its Hanover Park Wastewater treatment plant at the farm. 

Observer: Laurie Morse