The Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District [BNWRD] will fix the longstanding bad water situation in the Colonial Meadows subdivision on the east side of Bloomington.
The water reclamation district will also spend $2 million on a new exhibit at the Children's Discovery Museum. The district board has approved borrowing up to $65 million. And BNWRD will probably raise its property tax rate to the maximum allowed.
Here are the takeaways from Tuesday's BNWRD board meeting and an interview afterwards with BNWRD Director Tim Ervin.
Colonial Meadows
The unincorporated Colonial Meadows subdivision is nestled between Bloomington and the Central Illinois Regional Airport. Included in the issuance of $65 million in debt certificates approved by the district board Tuesday is $6 million for new water and sewer infrastructure. New sewers had been long planned to address 82 aging and occasionally failing septic systems in Colonial Meadows. The water system is an add-on that will bypass a leak-prone private system and facilitate connection to the City of Bloomington water supply just feet away in the next subdivision.
“We thought it would be more cost beneficial for the general taxpayer just to have to pay to dig one hole and put both systems in, and then replace the road one time, rather than put a sewer system in, then a year or two years later come in and put a new water system in,” said Ervin.
The city of Bloomington earlier demurred annexing the subdivision surrounded by the city and airport because of the expense of providing road, sewer, and water infrastructure, though it was willing to sell water to Colonial Meadows residents if the leaky pipes could be fixed.
Taxation
The BNWRD board approved putting a truth-in-taxation hearing on a future agenda. State law requires such hearings when a taxing body raises the property tax rate more than 5%.
The district plans to add $1.5 million to its tax levy, which is currently about $6.2 million, said Ervin.
Ervin said the district has a history of relying on naturally increasing property values to avoid significant jumps in the tax rate. He said a $300 million overhaul of BNWRD facilities prevents a continuation of that practice.
“We're seeing our borrowing cost go up. Throughout the history of the district, we've been able to borrow very cheaply through the Illinois State Revolving Loan Fund. Unfortunately, we're seeing the door close on that opportunity. We're just seeing funding not available,” said Ervin.
Upcoming federal mandates have forced changes for many sewer districts. The rise in demand has depleted state funds available for borrowing. Ervin said there is no sign the government will defer deadlines to comply with new limits on phosphorus and other emissions from treatment systems.
After two decades of no increases in user fees, BNWRD in recent years set up a program of regular user fee increases to pay for large parts of the system upgrade. Ervin said they are choosing to turn to property taxes in this instance instead of continuing that approach.
“We're trying to spread out the cost of this borrowing not only through the operating fees but through property owners,” said Ervin.
Borrowing
BNWRD board members signed off on issuing up to $65 million in short-term borrowing called certificates of debt. They will eventually convert that to longer term bonded debt. Ervin said the interest rates on two chunks of that borrowing are 4.2% and 4.5%. Although not guaranteed, Ervin expressed the hope that interest rates for bonds will become more favorable by the time the certificates of debt come due in three years.
Most of the borrowing will pay for two large phases of the west sewage treatment plant modernization project.
“We're paying for our renovation of our digesters, which are the types of infrastructure that actually take solids in wastewater and removes the pathogens. We're also paying for a couple process facilities at our treatment plant that helps remove organic and non-organic materials as they enter the wastewater plant,” said Ervin.
The borrowing will also fund Colonial Meadows infrastructure and $2 million for a new exhibit at the Children’s Discovery Museum in Normal.
Children's Discovery Museum
The water table exhibit at CDM is expected to be done in late 2027, Town of Normal Cultural Arts Director Beth Whisman told the BNWRD board. It will educate children about the water cycle and water treatment. Whisman said the museum will have a “splashy” grand opening, probably in early 2028.
Ervin said spending money on the exhibit does not stray from BNWRD’s core mission of wastewater treatment. He said the U.S. EPA recently offered guidance on what makes a utility successful which includes a public education component.
“One of the big issues we have is attracting people in our line of work. We struggle getting applicants, and we struggle just overall getting interest. But more than that, water is going to become a major issue within McLean County over the next 100 years. By providing education not only to our future children but to their parents, and to teachers, hopefully we can get interest in individuals seeking water careers,” said Ervin.
He said the amount of $2 million comes from an estimate of the number of children who will use the water exhibit over the next two decades. He said that works out to about $1 per child. The money will also fund a slight expansion of the museum by enclosing existing patio space.
