The Village Board has approved a refund to residents of most of a $525,000 rebate from the DuPage Water Commission.
The board voted last week to return $490,000 to water users and to spend the balance on an engineering study to help determine if the three sludge lagoons at 47th Street just west of the Tri-State Tollway could be reclaimed for recreational space. Board members said that they approved allocating some funds for the study because the sludge lagoons, which store the byproduct of the well-water softening process, relate to water use.
But the board did not approve an earlier proposal to put $50,000 of the Water Commission refund toward the ongoing $5 million street improvement project south of 55th Street.
Trustee Kevin Connor said that the water refund is the “wrong source” to tap to meet the $50,000 need for the project.
“It has nothing to do with the rebate from the Water Commission,” he said.
How the money will be returned to water users, such as through a reduction on water bills or through a tax break by reducing water-related debt, and the timetable for the refund will be discussed next month by the Environment and Public Services Committee.
