DuPage: $70 Million in Borrowing

by Kate Piercy DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom has unveiled a $70 million capital plan with bond projects ranging from improvements to roads and campus grounds, creating bike trails and planting trees. The 30-year plan will cost taxpayers nearly $125 million. Although the projects may sound nice, is this fiscally responsible or fair to...

by Kate Piercy

DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom has unveiled a $70 million capital plan with bond projects ranging from improvements to roads and campus grounds, creating bike trails and planting trees. The 30-year plan will cost taxpayers nearly $125 million.

Although the projects may sound nice, is this fiscally responsible or fair to taxpayers?

Some don’t think so. State Senator Dan Cronin, who is running for DuPage County Board Chairman, released a press release with his reactions to the plan, stating that “Only five projects will fund road improvements and more than half of the total amount – $38 million – will pay for various needs at the County government campus.”

Cronin continued, “Upgrading county buildings will not improve our infrastructure or help the economy. While some of these projects may be desirable, we must make due under these strenuous economic circumstances. For example, this is not the time to borrow $1 million to pay for shrub and tree replanting along the Illinois Prairie Path.”

Good point, and putting an additional $125 million of debt on the backs of taxpayers sounds like anything but fiscally responsible spending.

The Chicago Tribune reported today that although the plan is expected to go through, Cronin will keep fighting it, “We fought it in Springfield. I’ve seen this movie before, and we’ve all seen it in Washington, D.C. — it’s just ‘kick the can down the road, cut the deal now and fix it with taxpayers later.’ We’re not supposed to do that in DuPage County. That’s not the way I do it.”