Posted on May 26, 2025
A study done for the City of Bloomington estimates the cost to dredge Lake Bloomington at more than $35 million.
“And that doesn’t include the drying beds. We would need to acquire land to lay out that silt and whatnot to dry so we can dispose of it,” said Deputy City Manager Sue McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said it is unclear what other measures the city might have to take to safely dispose of potentially toxic materials in soil dredged from the lake.
“I’m sure there has to be. Absolutely. When you think about the chemicals that are coming off the farm fields. That’s another concern,” she said.
McLaughlin, speaking on WGLT’s Sound Ideas, said the study recommends dredging Lake Bloomington instead of Evergreen Lake, the other source of the city’s drinking water.
“The size. I also think the sedimentation. You have more runoff from the farm fields into Lake Bloomington and of course it has never been dredged. We also use Lake Bloomington more than we use Lake Evergreen,” said McLaughlin.
The lakes are slowly adding silt even as water use is expected to rise in coming decades.
The dredging study is part of a larger look at the city’s long-term water needs. McLaughlin said another engineering study is due early this summer on potential alternate sources of water such as wells.
“We’re going to be borrowing money, and we have to make some decisions, and we don’t want to spend money down one route and then decide we’re going to go in the opposite direction,” said McLaughlin.
A two-decade-old city water plan had proposed deep wells and a second treatment plan west of Bloomington, but it faltered when smaller municipalities could not reach agreement with the city on water and cost allocation for the wells and facility.
Bid inaccuracies
Many municipalities have had sticker shock in the last year plus when project bids have come in a lot higher than expected. Bloomington is one of them.
The latest “mis-underestimation,” as former President George W. Bush once termed it, is the $18 million bid for phase one of downtown streetscape infrastructure work. That amount is $7 million or nearly 39% higher than the city staff estimate. The city will look at why so many bids have come in substantially over staff estimates in the last year.
McLaughlin said one problem is a lack of competition. Often, there aren’t many businesses that bid.
“Are we reaching enough firms and locations to get more bids coming in? Why are we only getting one or two?” said McLaughlin.
On the streetscape project, the city decided to work with the bidder to reduce costs by “value engineering” rather than lose momentum. That will take time that could have been used to begin construction.
McLaughlin said part of the problem in generating accurate estimates is the continuing escalation in costs of materials and workers, though she acknowledges some factors have been known for a couple years now.
“I actually had that conversation with Engineering a month or two ago that we have to start increasing our estimates and our hourly rates, supply rates so that we’re better and closer,” she said.
Bond rating affirmed
Moody’s has assigned a Aa1 rating to the city’s upcoming general obligation bond issuance that is expected to total around $33 million. That borrowing will fund water department work.
Once the bond sale is complete, the city will have about $81.5 million in outstanding general obligation bond debt.
“We’re grateful for this strong rating, which helps us secure funding for necessary improvements to our water infrastructure,” said Mayor Dan Brady. “It’s an important step in making long-term investments that protect public health and improve quality of life for Bloomington residents.”
City Manager Jeff Jurgens added, “This reaffirmation reflects the hard work of staff across the organization and our shared commitment to sound financial management that allows us to invest in critical infrastructure like our water system.”
The rating agency cited Bloomington’s solid financial footing and a growing local economy. One caveat is continued unfunded pension obligations, though the city is on a ramp to meet 100% adequacy on a state-mandated time frame.
The city said in a news release it projects it fund balance will stay around 50% in fiscal 2025, even with planned use of reserves to cover project costs that will be reimbursed through bond proceeds. Moody’s also pointed to growing investment from large employers and a stable economic outlook.
The city anticipates issuing roughly $140 million in future bonds over the next several years for major water system upgrades. The debt service on these bonds will be sourced from Water Fund revenues.
Cultural District
Bloomington’s downtown has received a state designation as a cultural district, one of five new districts named this year by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity [DCEO].
“Each designee is eligible to apply for $3 million in funding that will be tailored to fit their individual needs and support the goals of their program to foster economic development and help communities preserve their unique cultural identities,” said a DCEO statement.
McLaughlin said the label honors work done by many people in the city.
“It’s not just the city council. It’s the Historic Preservation Commission, all the events and people involved in making downtown so vibrant … and I also think it ties in with all the other things that are going on downtown: the streetscape, the revitalization, all the historic buildings that are being turned over, the UEP project coming into the old State Farm building,” said McLaughlin.
Soul City in northeast Chicago, the Heritage District in Rockford, Ukrainian Village in Chicago, and the Historic District in the southern Illinois community of Vienna also earned the designation.
