Rising fuel costs are forcing a flood-protection group to seek more money from the landowners it benefits.
The Sny Island Levee Drainage District on Thursday will ask a Pike County, Ill. judge to approve its request to raise an annual assessment charge.
The state-required approval would clear the way for raising the average fee to as much as $18.50 per acre. The typical fee now is around $8.50 an acre and hasn’t been raised since 1994.
The three-member commission that oversees the district would make set the final rate in November.
Sny Superintendent Mike Reed said the request was prompted by the increasing cost of diesel fuel to run the district’s three pump stations.
“Our diesel fuel costs have skyrocketed,” Reed said. “It’s gone up very quickly and we just can’t keep up.”
The increase would effect 550 to 600 property owners in the 110,000 acres the district covers along a 54-mile stretch of the river in Adams, Pike and Calhoun counties in Illinois.
The current fee brings in around $785,000 a year. If commissioners get approval and decide to levy the proposed maximum rate, the district would collect more than $2 million a year.
Reed said the pump stations use an average of 220,000 to 225,000 gallons of diesel fuel each year.
Because this year has been so wet, Reed expects the total to top 550,000 gallons.
Recent rains have further hampered pumping efforts. Since river levels have remained high, aqueducts can’t be opened to allow the rainwater to drain naturally.
“We’re running the pumps 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Reed said. “We anticipate running at least that same amount for at least a week.”
The district recently received $2.7 million in federal flood-reimbursement funding, but Reed expects the final cost to total more than $5 million.
He expects the district will have to pick up at least $500,000 off the bill itself. Meanwhile, the cleanup continues.
Reed estimates about half of the 41 miles of plastic put on levees during the flood has been removed, and sandbags continue to be taken down.
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Rising fuel costs are forcing a flood-protection group to seek more money from the landowners it benefits.
The Sny Island Levee Drainage District on Thursday will ask a Pike County, Ill. judge to approve its request to raise an annual assessment charge.
The state-required approval would clear the way for raising the average fee to as much as $18.50 per acre. The typical fee now is around $8.50 an acre and hasn’t been raised since 1994.
The three-member commission that oversees the district would make set the final rate in November.
Sny Superintendent Mike Reed said the request was prompted by the increasing cost of diesel fuel to run the district’s three pump stations.
“Our diesel fuel costs have skyrocketed,” Reed said. “It’s gone up very quickly and we just can’t keep up.”
The increase would effect 550 to 600 property owners in the 110,000 acres the district covers along a 54-mile stretch of the river in Adams, Pike and Calhoun counties in Illinois.
The current fee brings in around $785,000 a year. If commissioners get approval and decide to levy the proposed maximum rate, the district would collect more than $2 million a year.
Reed said the pump stations use an average of 220,000 to 225,000 gallons of diesel fuel each year.
Because this year has been so wet, Reed expects the total to top 550,000 gallons.
Recent rains have further hampered pumping efforts. Since river levels have remained high, aqueducts can’t be opened to allow the rainwater to drain naturally.
“We’re running the pumps 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Reed said. “We anticipate running at least that same amount for at least a week.”
The district recently received $2.7 million in federal flood-reimbursement funding, but Reed expects the final cost to total more than $5 million.
He expects the district will have to pick up at least $500,000 off the bill itself. Meanwhile, the cleanup continues.
Reed estimates about half of the 41 miles of plastic put on levees during the flood has been removed, and sandbags continue to be taken down.
