Lincolnwood to continue 2025 lead service line replacement program; average full-service cost cited near $19,000

The Village of Lincolnwood Committee of the Whole on March 3 discussed the village'9s lead service line replacement program and heard staff recommendations to continue the 2025 program into 2026 where necessary. Public Works Director John Welch gave detailed counts, funding context and cost averages and said staff will continue loan-application work and program implementation.

Welch explained the public/private distinction for service lines: the public side runs from the main to the b-box (shutoff), and the private side runs from the b-box into the house. He said the village prefers to replace private-side lines in conjunction with water-main projects to avoid duplicate disruption, but is also pursuing private-side replacements where the public side is already copper.

For reporting to the Illinois EPA, Welch said the village counted 86 service locations in 2025 (a mix of public, private and complete-service cases). Of those, he said 34 were complete-service replacements and about 42 were private-side only replacements after removing full-service counts from the total. The committee discussed how those numbers were calculated and asked staff to clarify the breakdown in future materials.

Welch described funding approaches used around the region and for Lincolnwood: six neighbors use capital/water-rate funding, five including Lincolnwood are pursuing Illinois EPA state revolving fund loans, and one community used bonds. He noted Lincolnwood received a $6.2 million loan allocation and said the Village may reapply or request extensions as the program proceeds.

On program finance, Welch told the committee that the State Revolving Fund loan cannot be used to pay resident cost-share for interior restoration work. "The funding does not apply to the $5,000 incentive. That $5,000 incentive is corporate cost that is... coming out of our water rates and our water and sewer capital fund," Welch said. Trustees discussed whether to set a cap on interior restoration payments; Welch said the 2025 program had not set such a cap but the village would consider establishing one.

Committee members pressed staff on per-service cost estimates and peer comparisons. Welch and staff presented averages for recent years and the committee noted variability across projects. For the 2025 dataset of 86 services, staff presented an average per-case figure near $17,007; Welch explained an approach to combine b-box-to-home and main-to-b-box line items to estimate an all-in full-service per-unit figure "about 19,000" in current dollars. Restoration averages were reported under $800 per residence in the sampled work.

Trustees asked Welch to compare Lincolnwood'9s per-unit pricing to Evanston and other peer municipalities; Welch said Evanston and Skokie either did not respond to the village'9s survey or staff had not completed review, and he said he would follow up with Evanston staff to explain any differences in scope or included costs.

Staff recommended "status quo" continuation of the 2025 program with the expectation of completion in late spring 2026 and to proceed with the '26 program as well; the committee concurred. Trustees also discussed trade-offs if the village slowed replacement pace to stretch to later deadlines (for example, reducing water-main replacement work in years when work is deferred), and staff said slowing would have infrastructure and scheduling consequences.

No formal ordinance or new funding commitment was adopted at the meeting; staff will return with clarifying materials and peer comparisons to inform future budget decisions.