The Naperville Park Board has approved a small tax increase that will add about 45 cents to the property tax bill of someone who owns a $356,000 house.
The move comes less than a month after the board authorized a tax increase to add about $8.50 to the property taxes of the same value house. Both increases will be seen in the portion of the tax bill residents pay this year to fund the park district.
Funds generated by the newly approved tax increases will go toward paying off about $28,000 in interest on bonds the district sold to pay for new parks and playgrounds and the development of Nike Park.
District Finance Director Sue Stanish said officials had to wait until the Consumer Price Index percentage was available this month before they knew how much the district would pay in bond interest.
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The district anticipates it will $40,887 in bond interest in 2018 and $45,191 in 2019, but neither will require a tax increase, Stanish said.
Although the dollar amount coming from the new tax is relatively small, board member Bill Eagan voted “no” on the request.
“Our reserves are too high, in my opinion, and we keep taxing people when we don’t need the money,” Eagan said.
Stanish said reserve money in the debt service fund could not have absorbed the additional $28,127 while still maintaining the district’s overall capital funding plan.
The park board adopted a $39.6 million 2018 budget in January that in addition to the tax increase also includes a new fee to cover the cost of registration and credit card transactions.
Gary Gibula is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.