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With Arlington Heights poised to spend about $11.5 million removing and replacing emerald ash borer-infected trees, residents wondered why they can’t spare a dime for treatment options.
About a dozen residents representing various neighborhoods across the village asked the board one more time to funnel money into its People’s Choice program, which provides support for residents who want to spend their own money treating village-owned parkway ash trees.
But the village can’t use that $11.5 million, which it would secure through a bond, toward treatment because treatment is a maintenance cost, not a one-time capital cost like chopping them down. Bonds cannot be used for maintenance costs, Finance Director Thomas Kuehne said.
Despite the objections, the board voted Monday to set up an EAB fund with $2 million from its reserves and fund a temporary forestry employee that would handle EAB issues in the village. They also agreed, in concept only, to eventually issue the $11.5 million bond, possibly in 2013.
Residents wondered if the $2 million from reserves could be used to fund treatment, but Keuhne said that would require many more millions. The village has also planned on refunding the $2 million from the bond payments.
Tom McDonald, who is organizing neighbors in Surrey Ridge to treat their trees, said he researched other towns’ response to EAB and noted that Naperville, Schaumburg, Roselle, Downer’s Grove and West Chicago all fund some kind of treatment plan.
Others suggested ways to encourage treatment among residents besides directly funding the treatment, such as allowing those that treat parkway trees to have a free vehicle sticker for 2013.
“We have to have an incentive to get people who are somewhat adamant about not spending money on a tree,” said Bill Greaney, who is helping to organize efforts to treat trees in Cedar Glen. “They don’t realize the value of that tree.”
Officials agreed to continue looking at options, but did not change course on the bond to remove and replace the trees.
The bond would increase the village’s debt by about $960,000 annually, however, the village anticipates its debt will drop by $1.5 million in 2014.
Because of the debt trade-off, the village is not anticipating any increase in the tax levy to fund the program.
