Illinois Native Landscaping Rebates

The five collar counties around Chicago each have a Soil and Water Conservation District and/or a stormwater management agency that periodically offers homeowner programs. DuPage County Stormwater runs a Rain Ready DuPage program. Lake County Stormwater Management provides homeowner stormwater resources and has offered cost-share for native plantings and impervious cover removal. Kane and McHenry SWCDs offer periodic native plant cost-share and rain barrel programs.

DuPage County Stormwater Management: dupagecounty.gov/government/departments/stormwater_management (Rain Ready DuPage program - rebates for impervious surface removal and rain gardens). Lake County Stormwater: lakecountyil.gov/1083/Stormwater-Management-Commission. Kane County SWCD: kcscd.org. McHenry County Conservation: mccdistrict.org. Will County SWCD: willcountysoilandwater.com.

Reimburses property owners $250 for a rain garden with a minimum surface area of 100 square feet receiving at least 500 square feet of impervious drainage (minimum eligible garden 50 sq ft). The combined lifetime incentive per property across all categories is $1,000. Available to any property in the City of Champaign (City of Champaign Public Works; last verified June 2026).

One-time cash incentive (single-family homes are eligible for this incentive; they are NOT eligible for the separate recurring stormwater-fee credit).

The City of Urbana reimburses 25% of construction cost, up to $350, for a rain garden of at least 100 square feet (prorated down to a 50-square-foot minimum) that treats runoff from at least 500 square feet of impervious area, once every 10 years per property. Twin-city counterpart to the existing Champaign entry (City of Urbana Stormwater Utility Fee Credit and Incentive Manual, January 2024; last verified July 2026).

Sourced via a search-index capture of the official January 2024 manual (urbanail.gov blocks direct fetch/curl/Chrome MCP with a Cloudflare challenge for every tool available in this pass); independently corroborated by directly reading the predecessor October 2012 manual (hosted on a separate icap.sustainability.illinois.edu mirror), which confirms identical program mechanics (100 sq ft minimum, 500 sq ft contributing area, single-family residential eligibility, 10-year reuse limit) at the prior $250 cap, since raised to $350. Found during the 2026-07-29 discovery sweep.

An ongoing credit on the ERU portion of the stormwater fee (not a one-time rebate): 10% per stormwater control measure, up to a 20% cap, for practices including rain gardens (a rain garden needs at least 25% of roof/impervious area draining to it). Open to owners of developed properties within the city; credit applies to the applicant only (City of Decatur; last verified June 2026).

Recurring stormwater-fee credit, not a one-time cash rebate.

Reimburses residents 50% of eligible costs, up to $5,000 per project, for water-quality solutions including rain gardens, bioswales, and bioretention. All properties in DuPage County are eligible (DuPage County Stormwater Management; last verified June 2026).

Distinct, confirmable DuPage program (our broader "Illinois Collar County" entry only referenced the older Rain Ready DuPage URL).

The City of Elgin reimburses 50 percent of labor and material costs for eligible drainage projects, up to $5,000 per project for contractor-installed work, or 50 percent of materials-only cost up to $3,000 for DIY projects. If a rain garden is built, the City matches 75 percent of project costs at the same $5,000/$3,000 ceilings. The city determines eligibility within 14 days of application and requires a signed reimbursement agreement; work must be completed within 60 days of signing. Priority is given to documented standing-water/drainage problems (elginil.gov/2466/Private-Property-Drainage-Assistance, verified August 2026).

Rain gardens are a listed eligible project type under this broader drainage-assistance program.

The Village of Glenview grants 50% of the project cost, up to $1,000, for a rain garden with a drainage benefit and a native planting plan reviewed and approved by the Village before installation (Village of Glenview Rain Garden Program; last verified July 2026).

Found during the 2026-07-29 discovery sweep.

The Village of Northbrook covers up to 70% or $5,000 of the cost of acquiring and installing a rain garden, whichever is less, for residents who qualify for the Village’s cost-sharing stormwater improvement program. There is no dedicated online application; residents apply by contacting the Public Works Department directly (Village of Northbrook; last verified July 2026).

No dedicated online application page; process is call-in initiated via Public Works.

A grant for 50% of the total cost of eligible landscaping improvements, up to a maximum grant of $2,000, for Oak Park homeowners. Rain gardens and bioswales are explicitly eligible (the program also covers dry wells/cisterns and permeable pavers, which fall outside our in-scope categories). Includes a professional home assessment, a vetted contractor list, and engineering/landscape design. As of July 2026 the program is not accepting new applications; the village budgeted $400,000 for roughly 200 grants in a future 2026 funding round (Village of Oak Park; last verified July 2026).

Currently not accepting applications ("Applications for the Rainscapes program are no longer being accepted. This page will be updated when information is available for the next funding round."). A future funding round is expected; flagged for a status recheck on the next refresh cycle.

Rebate of half the cost of the plants and compost used to build a rain garden, up to $500. The village provides a reference list of native Illinois rain-garden species; plants must tolerate both dry and extremely wet conditions. Apply via the online form or a printed application to the Sustainability Office (Village of Park Forest; last verified June 2026).

An ongoing recurring discount on the stormwater utility fee (not a one-time rebate): a 15% maximum credit for storing 1.00 inch of rainfall or 30% for storing 1.60 inches, via a volume-reduction BMP such as a rain garden. Submit Form E with the volume-reduction calculation; the BMP must be maintained and functioning throughout the credit term (City of Peoria; last verified June 2026).

Recurring stormwater-fee credit, not a one-time cash rebate.

Shares 50% of the resident cost, up to $2,000 or $4,000 depending on the qualifying program, to plant native species, install rain gardens, and manage rainwater. In-scope programs include the Native Tree & Shrub Planting Program, Native Seeding Program, and Rain Garden Program. Begins with a required in-person Ecological Consultation with the Village Ecologist ($75); each program permit application is $100, and a registered contractor must do the work. Limited to Village of Riverwoods residents (Village of Riverwoods; last verified June 2026).

Per-program cap ($2,000 vs $4,000) is set by the Village Ecologist per property at the consultation. Some programs (invasive removal, prescribed burn) are out of native-planting scope.

A one-time incentive of 50% of construction cost, up to $3,500, for installing an eligible rain garden, bioretention system, or other permitted stormwater management practice (Group A). Any Wilmette property owner may apply, first-come, first-served against the annual program budget ($40,000 for 2026). A permit must be issued before installation begins (Village of Wilmette; confirmed by program staff, last verified August 2026).

Group B ($5,000) is sewer disconnection (sump-pump/downspout/yard-drain), not native planting, so the rain-garden figure is the Group A $3,500. Wilmette also has a separate recurring stormwater credit, not included here.

The City of Elmhurst reimburses homeowners who voluntarily add stormwater storage on their own property, paying $8.00 per cubic foot of rain garden storage up to 400 cubic feet and $8.80 per cubic foot above that, capped at $5,000. Rain gardens are built to a 6 inch inundation depth and are a named practice in the Incentive Payment Table in Elmhurst Municipal Code Sec. 14.09; permeable pavers, dry wells, underground storage and rainwater harvesting are separately rated alternatives. Two things commonly misread: this is a full reimbursement rather than a 50/50 match, paid at the table rate or your actual project cost, whichever is lower, and the rate is the same $8.00 and $8.80 whether you do the work yourself or hire a contractor. It is a one-time only reimbursement per property. A rain garden installed to satisfy the stormwater requirements of another permit does not qualify, and a rain garden that receives this reimbursement cannot later be used to meet a future permit requirement. Permits, the Stormwater Management 1 and 2 inspections and a final inspection are all required, and the City funds the program annually on a first-come basis until that year allocation is exhausted (Elmhurst Municipal Code Sec. 14.09; last verified August 2026).

Resolves a carry-forward lead open since 2026-07-29. The prior blocker was that the rate table could not be located and appeared to rest only on an October 2014 Public Works committee memo, which under the settled currency rule (WI Pewaukee, WI Whitefish Bay) would have meant a hold rather than an add. Independent verification overturned that: the same table is codified verbatim as the Incentive Payment Table in Municipal Code Sec. 14.09, enacted by Ord. 04-2018 and Ord. 11-2019 and still in force in the code codified through Ord. MCO-13-2025 of October 2025, so the rates are current law and are cited to the Code rather than to the memo. Funding independently confirmed live in the City 2026 Proposed Annual Operating Budget (project PW24026, $180,000 a year through 2030, shared with the Storm Sewer Extension program). Three deliberate copy decisions: the $22 per cubic foot contractor figure in the table is an average-cost column, not a reimbursement rate, so it is never published; the 2014 memo $50,000 a year funding figure is superseded and not published; and Sec. 14.09(a) narrative list omits rain gardens while the binding table includes them, with Sec. 14.05(f) and 14.06(e) naming rain gardens explicitly, so the table governs. Categorised rain-garden only. Elmhurst also runs a Private Tree Incentive that was REJECTED this run on primary purpose after the approved planting list was retrieved and found to be a general shade and ornamental list, not native-only.