Dem candidates for Kane chairman say Longmeadow toll is permanent, project poorly managed

Both Democrats seeking to become the next Kane County Board chairman believe the toll on Longmeadow Parkway bridge will never go away. But they have different ideas about the process the county should have used to create a new Fox River crossing.

The toll bridge is nearly 30 years in the making. It's the final piece of a 5.6-mile parkway near the Kane and McHenry County border. The 95-cent toll for most users of the bridge will repay a $28 million loan the county needs for construction and future maintenance.

County Board members have suggested the toll will sunset once the debt is paid and an endowment is in place to fund the maintenance.

Chairman candidate Greg Elsbree said anyone who has used a tollway in Illinois knows that promise won't be kept.

"Once we have a toll, I don't see that ever stopping," Elsbree said in an interview with the Daily Herald editorial board. "History has proven that. Tolls are here to stay."

Elsbree said the initial push for a bridge seemed reasonable when Kane County's population exploded. But the idea got mixed up with private interests looking to profit off that growth even after the boom slowed in more recent years.

Even worse, he said, most of the county was never given a reason to pay attention to the project.

"The county, as a whole, should have had to buy into that bridge," Elsbree said. "Instead of a toll, maybe they should have been talking about we're going to have to raise your taxes as a whole county. I think Aurora would have said, 'Wait a minute. You're not raising my taxes for no bridge up in Dundee.' The discussion would have been different."

Elsbree said it's unfair for residents in the northern part of the county to pay a toll to get around their community while others escape any financial burden for the county project.

"The growth has been stagnant now," Elsbree said. "There are some areas that seemed to prosper without that bridge. I think it was business owners that really wanted to get more business. I respect that, but here we are with a bridge, and it's going to be a toll."

Candidate Corinne Pierog agreed the toll will be in place forever.

"When you've got revenue coming in, people will say, 'Why should you cut it off once you have it?'" Pierog said.

She believes another bridge over the Fox River was needed. However, the county failed to mitigate concerns demonstrated in two nonbinding referendums showing opposition to the project. Pierog pointed to the Red Gate Bridge in St. Charles as an example of a bridge that faced public opposition but resulted in a free river crossing most people feel good about.

"I went against my party, and I advocated for (the Red Gate) bridge," Pierog said. "It did disrupt the community, but it was done with great sensitivity. This bridge (Longmeadow) was not done that way at all. It's a huge monster of a bridge. A lot of people are very upset because it's going to permanently change their community. Other people said, 'Well, we've got other powers in play. So we're going to build the bridge,' and that's including the forest preserve district."

Pierog said the project went forward to appease owners of undeveloped land near the parkway as well as people interested in seeing redevelopment of the commercial areas near the bridge.