Armed with nearly 24,000 brochures, newsletters and yard signs, volunteers calling themselves Citizens for the Arlington Heights Park District are urging residents to approve a tax request that would help the district upgrade aging facilities.
The committee met this week to establish a strategic plan to spread the word about the March 21 referendum. The district is seeking voter permission to maintain its tax rate.
In 2001, the district’s general debt will largely be paid off and its tax rate will automatically drop by 15 cents per $100 in equalized assessed valuation–an expected drop of $2.5 million a year in taxes for the district.
District supporters want residents to leave the rate as is so the money can be used to repair district facilities–many of which date to the 1950s.
If the request is rejected, the district’s portion of the tax bill on an average home valued at $200,000 will drop about $44.
“This is not a tax increase. We’re not asking people to spend more money,” said committee member Jim Radlein. “It’s not that anything has slipped past the district. It’s just that now the district wants to take care of its future needs. That can be done in other ways, but those would be a lot more expensive than this.”
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The group has established a World Wide Web site, www.citizens4ahpd.homestead.com. The group’s eight-member steering committee, backed by about 40 other volunteers and district officials, is planning to post signs, make phone calls, distribute fliers and meet with local civic groups to push maintaining the tax rate.