Now that the first storm water utility bills have been mailed in Downers Grove, church leaders want local officials to reconsider whether churches and nonprofits should have to pay.

Revs Scott Oberle, Kirk Moore and Dan Martinson asked the mayor and commissioners at a recent meeting for a sit-down to talk about how it impacts the churches' ability to provide vital community services.

"We respect that we are part of Downers Grove and we want to contribute to the infrastructure," said Moore, of St. Paul's United Church of Christ. "But we want to be recognized for the role that we play in the community that a private home doesn't."

Storm water projects used to be funded by property taxes, which churches and nonprofits do not pay. Downers Grove recently imposed the fee, which applies to all property owners, regardless of tax-exempt status. Church leaders bristled at that notion, asserting that the village had simply found a way to levy a tax without calling it a tax.

"It's a municipality charging money to pay for infrastructure," said Martinson, of Hobson Road Community Church. "That doesn't sit well with us."

The bills, which range from $1,200 and just under $3,000 for the churches represented at the Jan. 15 council meeting, have made a dent in church budgets and could affect services.

"We feel we're there to serve the same community they are," said Martinson of Hobson Road Community Church. "We've put gas in people's cars, we've bought groceries for folks, we've put people up in hotels when they were homeless. To take our budget to accomplish their goals, it's a net loss, not a net gain."

Moore said shouldering a $2,000 yearly fee could mean buying less music for the choir or putting off buying curriculum materials for Sunday school. Martinson said his bill is more than half of what the church spent in benevolence outreach for all of 2012.

"We had a dinner last month where 200 people came and had dinner," Martinson told the council. "About 100 of those people came by way of local food pantries and PADS homeless shelters. Those are folks that, if it weren't for the faith community in Downers Grove, would be looking to municipal structures for help."

None of the costs are so prohibitive that they would close a church's doors, they said, but the pastors anticipate the fee will get more costly in coming years.

"If they diminish our ability to support the marginalized and the working poor in Downers Grove, who's going to take that on?" said Oberle, who said his First Congregational United Church of Christ ministers to more than 4,000 "walk-ins" seeking assistance. "Who's going to fill that void? It might look good on the bottom line but there's a real cost in terms of people."

Mayor Martin T. Tully said he and the council empathized with their position and reiterated that one reason for imposing the utility was so that residents would not bear a disproportionate amount of storm water expenses.

"It is moving forward, and we've only just started it," Tully said. "Whether there may be adjustments, tweaks and modifications is premature to say. But that doesn't mean that there aren't possibilities where that might occur."

The pastors said they were encouraged by the mayor's response and added that they are hopeful they will get support from the community and from other nonprofits to help further their side of the issue.

"We're not going to be conscientious objectors. We're going to pay our bills," Moore said. "We're hoping that Downers Grove will recognize that partnership we have with them and find a way to make this work for us and for the village."

cdrhodes@tribune.com

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