Forest officials to seek more money?

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

JOLIET — Voters have been generous with the Will County Forest Preserve District in the past couple of decades.

Two referendum approvals, one in 1999 and another in 2005, netted the district $165 million, allowing it to expand from 6,500 to 21,000 acres and to improve many preserves and extend trails. Another $50 million came from a 2007 bond sale that did not require voter approval.

But the money is almost gone, and the district may have to consider new funding sources to keep growing, said land acquisition committee Chairwoman Ann Dralle, at Thursday’s meeting.

Dralle, R-Lemont, asked if money from the district’s regular budget could be diverted to land acquisition in the future.

Marcy DeMauro, the district’s executive director, said that was unlikely due to the infrastructure work that needs to be paid for from the budget.

The Kane County Forest Preserve District is seeking approval from voters in the April election for a $30 million bond issue to acquire land, DeMauro said. She added that she will be watching what happens there to judge the mood of voters in this economic climate.

Board member Jim Moustis, R-Frankfort, said the district has made many strides in the past 20 years to expand and cultivate natural resources. But it wouldn’t “be the most devastating thing” if the district waited a couple of years to seek another referendum.

“We’ll get a little breather,” he said.

Moustis said eventually he’d like to see the district at 35,000 to 40,000 acres to be closer to recommended open space levels for the county’s predicted population.

“That’s clearly a shared goal among the board (members),” agreed board President Cory Singer, R-Frankfort.

Singer reminded committee members that the actual amount of open space in the county is much larger if Department of Natural Resource acreage and federal holdings such as Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie are included. Midewin is about 15,000 acres.

$15.6 million left

The district has about $15.6 million left in its land acquisition fund, said Ralph Schultz, director of planning and operations. Of that amount, only about $2 million isn’t obligated for a particular project. Another $16 million is left to fund about four years of preserve improvements, he added.

Moustis said the district may want to consider some “creative financing” in the interim. For instance, the district will receive about $350,000 a year from a Build America federal tax abatement. That revenue source could be leveraged to pay for a $5 million to $8 million bond issue, he said.

Also Thursday:

The board’s operations committee approved a $549,755 bid from Robinson Engineering of Frankfort to provide preliminary engineering for Veterans Memorial Trail, which will stretch 14 miles from 127th Street to Route 6.

The district will have to come up with only $40,000 of the amount. The rest is coming from a federal grant and money from the Active Transportation Alliance.