Aurora has the best
water in the county!
2014 CITY BUDGET:
Serious about
Cutting Costs
After months of discussions, calculations,
and meetings to comb through the
numbers, the Aurora City Council
unanimously approved a budget for
2014 that is lower than the 2013 budget.
Attempting to hold the line on spending
across every department, the City’s
$362 million budget for 2014 is just about
$7 million less than the 2013 budget of
$369 million — a 1.8% decrease!
During a recent City Council meeting, members of the Aurora City Council agree that Aurora’s water is superb.
Judges have tested the waters, and it’s
official – Aurora wins again.
In December, Aurora won the Kane County
Water Association taste competition, beating
out eight other municipalities in Kane
County for bragging rights to the best water
in the county.
A panel of three judges tasted samples
of water from Aurora, Batavia, Geneva,
St. Charles, North Aurora, Sugar Grove,
Montgomery, Yorkville, and Elgin.
This year marks the sixth win for Aurora’s
water since the competition began in 1997.
Aurora has taken home the title more than
any other municipality.
Aurora’s tasty water
supply is sourced from
a combination of the
Fox River and deep
and shallow wells, and
Kane County Water
Association Award
2013 • 2008 • 2006
2000 • 1998
is treated by several processes, including
softening, reverse osmosis and nanofiltration
before it is sent to the tap.
“None of this is possible without the daily
effort of each member of our team,” said
Water Production Division Superintendent
David Schumacher. “Whether it is
maintaining equipment, operating systems,
general upkeep of our sites, processing
samples and performing analyses, budgeting
for our required supplies, or any of the other
necessary tasks to keep the Water Production
Division going strong, without all their work,
this recognition would not be possible.”
In addition to bragging rights, Thursday’s
win advances Aurora
to a state water
tasting competition in
Springfield this spring
where it will compete for
the title of Best Water
in Illinois.
Wat e r
in
Ka n e
Count y
Illinois State Section American
Water Works Association Award
2009 • 2008 • 2007
2000 • 1999
“There’s an incredible amount of belttightening that’s going on,” said Brian
Caputo, Aurora’s Chief Financial Officer.
“We looked for efficiencies at every turn to
make this work.”
Those efficiencies include realigning
departments to provide better customer
service to residents, investing in new
technology practices that enable
departments to run more efficiently, secure
more competitive bids, and seek additional
grants to fund necessary bridge and road
projects. In 2014, the Indian Trail Bridges
will be replaced in a project that costs
$8 million, but the City’s portion is only
20% of the total. A grant from the state
covers 80% of the project.
Although nearly flat, the City’s total tax
levy is expected to increase by about 0.5%.
The slight increase can be attributed to
rising pension costs that increased by
$1.5 million – a 9.5% increase over 2013
pension costs.
“On our end, it is evident that we have
been very serious about cost-cutting
measures,” said Mayor Weisner. “We must
call on our state leaders to deal with
pension reform at the state level in order
to help balance out this equation.”
369
$
million
362
$
million
In a continued effort to save money and conserve resources, the annual
City of Aurora Water Quality Report will be available to ɕͥ