The homebuilders whose new subdivisions are sending more students to local schools every year will be asked to pay more for the classrooms that house them, village officials said this week.
“It’s a one-time fee that can be used to help them with school construction,” Mayor Robert Chiszar said.
A letter from the superintendents of five local school districts– Mokena School District 159, Summit Hill School District 161, Frankfort School District 157C, New Lenox School District 122 and Lincoln-Way High School District 210–requested Mokena trustees consider imposing the additional charge, Assistant Village Administrator Kirk Zoellner said.
The crush created by a rapidly growing school population and limited school resources has been a continuing problem in the southwest suburbs.
Joliet, Lockport, Lemont and New Lenox have already added a surcharge to the developer fee schedule to help pay for school construction, Zoellner said.
Local builders have gone along with the program, Chiszar said.
Like the New Lenox ordinance, the one proposed for Mokena assesses the fee based on size and type of dwelling,
For detached single-family homes, the cost would range from $2,777 for a two-bedroom home to $6,789 for a five-bedroom home.
For town homes and apartments, which traditionally house fewer children, the fees would be lower.
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The calculations are based on an estimated land value of $65,500 an acre.
Builders working on land already annexed into the village will not be subject to the new fees, Village Administrator John Downs said.
The Village Board could vote on the matter Sept. 27, officials said.