In the damned if you do, damned if you don’t world of local government, any plan that involves any tax hike for any purpose is usually met with hand-wringing cries of alarm from elected officials.
Taxes are toxic, especially in Park Forest, a community with one of the highest property tax rates in the state. Not one penny more is a familiar battle cry when it comes to extracting money from residents.
Yet the Village Board voted 6-1 March 23 to add another 1% to the local sales tax, raising the total sales tax from 9% to 10% most of the village, and from 7% to 8% in the Will County portion. The tax is the same charged by almost all surrounding communities, except for Richton Park, which has an 11% total sales tax.
Food and prescription drugs as well as some over-the-counter products are exempt from the additional 1% tax.
Village Manager Jon Kindseth said about 73% of all taxable purchases in the village are made by out-of-towners, who will bear the burden of the penny-on-the-dollar increase. The end result, he says, will hopefully result in an $800,000 boost in the village’s revenue, although he cautioned that the “ebb and flow” of commerce was always the big elephant in the small room.
Kindseth said during his hiring process last year, he realized by questions asked that the village needed more money because high property taxes account for 50% to 55% of the village’s revenue stream. That 1% added to the sales tax “jumped out at me.”
The ordinance, which goes into effect on July 1, first came up in a board meeting the previous week, but with Mayor Joe Woods attending a conference in Washington and with the absence of Trustees Erin Slone and John Moore, the 3-1 vote to approve the ordinance was in Kindseth’s mind, not strong enough to merit approval,
Quickly, the sales tax hike became the sole issue at a special meeting the following week but this time before the full board.
It is always easier to raise the tax rates than reduce the property tax, especially when Kindseth admits that potential businesses look dubiously at the village’s property tax rate, currently 26%.
Kindseth’s shopping list of village needs involved both immediate and long-term repairs including a $10 million plan to overhaul the Aqua Center, which has been closed for critical repairs for more than two years.
His shopping list of needed fixes includes some 13 miles of road improvements and more than 2 miles of both sewer and water line repairs and replacements. He also told the board that improvements were needed to both the Police Department office and the “cinder block” Public Works buildings, both of which are more than 60 years old.
This new influx of money could signal the end of the alarm registration fee. Most other board members, as well as Mayor Joe Woods had no misgivings about the 1% tax.
“I encourage every board member to vote yes,” said Trustee John Moore. “Don’t be afraid. We’re here to make hard decisions.”
Fellow board members Maya Hardy and Erin Slone agreed with Moore, and Slone said she supports local businesses claiming she does not shop west of Interstate 57, thus eliminating any trips to commercial centers of Orland Park, Tinley Park and Frankfort.
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Trustee Randall White cast the only no vote in both meetings. When later asked for his reasons, he said there were better ways to improve the village’s financial picture and hinted a reduction of department personnel in the village was in his sights.
“My heart will always be for Park Forest,” he said at the meeting. “But there are some positions here that we can trim the fat.”
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columinst for the Daily Southtown.