Burr Ridge residents will pay less in taxes to the village next year, but that will likely come at a price.
Defeat of the village’s roads and infrastructure referendum likely means less money will be spent on road maintenance going forward. The village had sought to increase its corporate tax levy an amount equal to the annual debt payment for the bonds used to bring Lake Michigan water to residents.
More Top Picks Telescopes
Those bonds will be paid off at the end of this year so, in essence, the village was looking to have residents pay the same in taxes to the municipality that they do now. However, that annual $520,000 that now goes to paying off the water bonds would have gone into the village’s corporate fund for roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure needs.
The village begins the budgeting process for the next fiscal year in January so nothing is set in stone, but it seems very unlikely that the village will maintain its current level of road maintenance.
“The road program is going to need to be cut,” village administrator Steve Stricker said. “We are not going to be able to do all the streets we do now. We will continue to do all we can do, but at the end of the day the money is not there to continue the road program at its current level.”
The village has been spending about $1 million per year to keep roads in top condition. Village leaders have continually noted the high quality of Burr Ridge streets compared to neighboring towns, some of which wait until a street is in total disrepair and then create a special assessment area which has homeowners in that area pay for the work.
Burr Ridge is asking for $1.18 million in its tax levy request for fiscal year 2017, a 4.7 percent increase over this year’s request. The village does not expect to get all of the extra $53,348 it is seeking in the levy request, but under state law if you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it.
“We always aim high. We add 2 percent for property value (increases) and 4 percent for new construction,” Stricker said in presenting the village’s tax levy request.
The village administrator noted that the village got $1.13 million this year, $25,565 less than its levy request. The difference between the levy request and the dollars received needs to be made up through general fund reductions, Stricker said.
The lion’s share of the requested village levy, $780,713, or 65 percent, will go to the police pension fund. That is the minimum the village can put into the fund and stay on track to reach the state mandate of all police pension funds being at 90 percent funding by 2040. The village’s police pension payment for next year is a $98,000 increase from what the village paid into the fund this year.
Stricker noted that part of the problem of residents feeling overburdened with taxes is that the assessed valuation of homes declined from 2009-14. When property values decline, residents have to pay more to meet taxing bodies’ levies.
A public hearing will be held Dec. 12 on the village’s proposed tax levy. With the village’s tax levy request being less than 5 percent, the municipality is not required by law to conduct a public hearing, but it has been standard operating procedure for the village to conduct the hearing, Stricker said.
Should the village finish the fiscal year with untapped funds, the Village Board can put that extra money wherever it sees fit.
“Any surplus, in April, can be put into capital projects; it’s available for the police pension fund,” Stricker noted.
In the past, the village has put budget surpluses into roads and other capital projects.
Stricker noted that the village does have $4 million in its rainy day fund that it could tap for road repairs or an additional allocation to the police pension fund.
“You could transfer some of that into (the police pension fund’s) bank account,” Stricker told Village Board members.
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press