Mundelein’s Village Board voted 5-2 to approve its property tax levy for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which is estimated to raise the average $240,000 home’s tax bill by $40 total.
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Like other municipalities, officials have said an increase to the levy was necessary to help keep up with the growing obligation the village has to its first responder pensions.
The new levy total will be a 3.7% increase from last year, bringing the total from $13.78 million to $14.29 million, village documents state. This is a total increase of about $511,000.
During the meeting, Mayor Steve Lentz explained the entire increase will go to first responder pensions. He also specified the other line of a resident’s property tax bill, specifying Mundelein’s take-home of the bill, will not see an increase.
“The impetus is on us as a village, as trustees and myself and staff to come up with a way to provide sustainable revenue, so every year we can pay that bill,” he said at the meeting. “I think it’s important as a community we don’t get behind and we stay up on this.”
In response, Trustee Dawn Abernathy brought up the cannabis sales funds, saying originally it had been discussed that they could help offset increasing pension costs. This is similar to what she said in last month’s committee of the whole meeting.
Trustee Ray Semple noted that discussion was before the pandemic, and said it was necessary to increase the levy “for our valuable employees, our first responders.”
Trustee Robin Meier, who voted against the measure along with Abernathy, said the village could take a one-year decrease on the road and bridge tax to avoid putting this burden on the residents as a form of assistance for the pandemic. Lentz had said earlier that doing this would be unsustainable, as these increases will probably keep coming.
“Instead (of lowering the road and bridge tax), the village has placed the whole burden of the pension onto the residents, the property owners,” Meier said at the meeting.