Wonder Lake residents speak out against SSA
By CRYSTAL LINDELL – clindell@nwherald.com
WONDER LAKE – Tensions were high among the approximately 700 people who attended the lake dredging public hearing Wednesday night.
The Wonder Lake Village Board hosted the meeting on the proposed special service area at Greenwood Elementary school. However, officials provided chairs for only about 150 people, which set the tone for the night.
Residents booed, hissed and yelled throughout the meeting, while holding up yellow signs that read “No SSA!”
“Thank you very much ... for providing seating for yourself,” Sharon Duggan told Village Board members seated at the front during the comment portion of the hearing. Later adding, “It’s just ridiculous they don’t have seats.”
She said she was against the SSA because she was on a fixed income and could not afford any more taxes. She added that the dredging was a want, not a need.
“I ask God, ‘How long can I keep my house?’ ” she said. “I cannot pay for your boat ride.”
Terry Hill, another resident who spoke at the hearing, agreed.
“This is dire economic times,” she said. “We cannot afford to do this.”
But, some residents, such as Jane Musel, said the SSA should move forward.
“We bought into a lake community, which we should pay for,” she said.
Under the proposed agreement, all residents with lake rights would be included, or about 3,900 property owners.
The village would facilitate the funding through bonds of up to $5.93 million to dredge the first million cubic yards of sediment from the lake. Those residents then would repay the bonds through a special fee on their property taxes for the next 20 years.
Randy Stowe, lake manager for the Master Property Owner’s Association, said a homeowner with property worth $160,000 would pay up to $150 a year for 20 years to pay off the SSA.
Two million cubic yards still would need to be dredged, and Stowe said officials hope to sell some of the sediment to soil contractors to fund that.
The lake dredging is needed because sediment has built up during the years to the point that boats cannot pass through some areas. Stowe said if something isn’t done now, it will just be more costly to fix the problem in the future.
“This is a major tune-up just before the engine block cracks,” he said.
Affected residents have 60 days to file petitions against the proposal. If they do not, plans for the dredging will move forward. Some of the residents already were passing around petitions during Wednesday night’s meeting.
What’s next
Officials will host an open house on the SSA from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 10 at the MPOA office, 7602 Hancock Drive, Wonder Lake.
Residents have 60 days to file petitions against the proposal. If they do not, plans for the dredging will move forward.
