Story by Kevin Woodard
Heyworth didn’t raise taxes to complete a Capital Improvement project that’s going to cost about $4 million and Heyworth government and village staff are proud of it.
The fiscal year for the Village of Heyworth ends today. After calculating the final balance of accounts and looking at what outstanding bills are left from the fiscal 2022 year end that need to be accounted for Geoffrey Dodds, Village Attorney and Executive Assistant to the mayor, plans to be ready to present the proposed fiscal 2023 budget to the Mayor and Village Board for approval at a special meeting of the Board scheduled for April the 28.
Dodds said he is most proud of the fact that the proposed budget includes $4 million worth of Capital Improvement Projects that are all funded without any need for tax increases or rate increases.
The largest project is the $2 million 2020 Water main Project.
The project will replace 11,000 feet (approximately 2 miles) of old water mains that have been in place since the 1930’s and 1950’s.
Upon completion there will be no mains left in Heyworth in use that were installed previous to the 1970’s. Given the expected life of water mains is 75 years this means all mains in Heyworth will be up to date.
“The project has been a long time coming,” said mayor Todd Zalucha. Zalucha credited Village Engineer David Schafer, who has done most of the legwork providing information required for grants and working with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).
Zalucha also thanked the Village Board for understanding the issues around this project, providing direction and supporting the policy they put in place.
“We are doing the work to reduce the number of future maintenance issues while at the same time adding capacity and improving water quality,” said Schafer.
Anyone interested in Heyworth’s 2023 budget should feel free to contact the Village and/or attend the Special Council meeting next Thursday.
