Published: June 09, 2009 10:10 pm      

County board tables road, tax deal

Members concerned about expense

DANVILLE — Vermilion County Board member Steve Fourez lives along Sidell-Fairmount Road, and admits he’d like nothing better than to see the half-century-old road finally in good shape again.

However, he and other board members weren’t ready to accept the road and the expenses that came with it.

“It’s the wrong time, wrong year and the wrong amount of dollars we’re talking about today,” he said during discussions at Tuesday’s county board meeting.

Fourez of District 3 was among 18 board members who voted to indefinitely table a resolution calling for the county to take over jurisdiction of the roadway, also known as County Road 600E. With the resolution was promised $4.5 million from the Illinois Department of Transportation to repair the road, but also a 14 percent increase in the County Highway Tax Levy to raise as much as $100,000 for future maintenance.

Questions were raised during the two-hour, 20-minute meeting as to whether the $100,000 would be enough for maintenance or if the $4.5 million would truly cover the full cost of the road improvement work.

“I’m not sure I want to saddle the taxpayers of Vermilion County with absorbing that much more county highway so I can have a nice road go by my house,” Fourez said. “It’s not worth it for the rest of the county.”

Fellow District 3 representative Bill Grubb also voted for tabling the resolution indefinitely. The other District 3 representative, Rick Knight, did not attend Tuesday’s meeting. An earlier vote to send the resolution back to the county’s transportation committee failed, 22-2.

No taxes were raised when the county took over Catlin-Homer Road from the state transportation department in recent years. But the increased work resulted in the need to hire an additional worker and purchase another truck.

County Board Chairman Jim McMahon said the board was simply trying to be honest with residents, making sure they know up front about the necessary tax increase.

“There’s no free lunch here,” he said after the meeting.

McMahon said he remains unconvinced there is enough money to cover the plan, noting that such a project would not have been bid out for another year, allowing for the possibility of cost increases to creep in.

“I would support this if the state of Illinois would make this an 80-ton road, do their due diligence, do their job right, then I would be glad to encourage the county board to take the road over with a minor tax increase to cover the maintenance of it.”

A couple of Sidell area residents stood before the board in the opening minutes of the meeting, offering their own push to get the resolution passed. Joe Eakle, road commissioner for Sidell Township, said the roadway, despite its poor condition, is a major thoroughfare affecting not only Sidell and Fairmount but also Catlin because of the location of Jamaica school.

“I wish I could bring 1,000 signatures to tell you how many people are in favor of it,” he said. “But I can’t.”

Longtime state Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, spoke to the board about the resolution on Tuesday. Black, who was at one time chairman of the Vermilion County Board, has been in negotiations with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Following the vote, Black said he continues to negotiate with the department to find a suitable deal for the county. While Tuesday’s resolution was tabled indefinitely, another resolution on the same topic but with different language could be brought before the board at a later date.

The road, like many in the area, took a beating during freezing and thawing during the most recent winter. Residents complained of large potholes and damage to their vehicles as a result of the poor road conditions. State transportation crews were out on Fairmount-Sidell Road, among others, filling potholes during the winter.