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player ready...The old familiar cycle for many Chicagoans goes: spend your 20s in the city, get married, maybe have a kid or two and then top that off with a move to the suburbs.
And while plenty of the fancier burbs have always been out of reach for those of more modest means, plenty of pleasant corners of Chicagoland, near and far, have historically been places where young families could afford to plant roots.
We fear the winds are changing.
On top of home prices that skyrocketed in the COVID era, many of the places where affordability was still the order of the day are crowding out would-be new neighbors with property taxes that are also going through the roof.
These seem to rise on their own every year (for 32 years straight, if you’re in Cook County), but a new force continues to bump them further still: the dreaded school district referendum.
Several are cropping up on ballots this Nov. 3. We urge voters not to ignore them, especially if they’re among those feeling the pinch of property taxes
District 214, which covers much of Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, Mount Prospect and other northwest suburbs, wants to borrow $295 million.
The cost? A hundred bucks extra per year for someone whose home is worth $250,000; $170 more for homes worth about $396,000; $218 more for a home worth $500,000; and $335 for a $750,000 home, according to the district. That’s on top of another local referendum for District 57 in Mount Prospect, where homeowners just were hit with an estimated $714 per year for a home with a market value of $375,000.
The people in this area aren’t living in the wealthiest enclaves of the North Shore. They’re mostly regular folks working regular jobs, being asked to absorb hundreds and hundreds more per year.
District 45 in DuPage County, which covers parts of Elmhurst, Lombard, Villa Park and Oakbrook Terrace, is seeking $4.4 million more in property taxes annually, which may seem less daunting except for the fact that even this amount is projected to add $299 per year for a home with about $350,000.
St. Charles District 303 is asking to borrow $282.5 million for facility improvements. For a home worth $500,000, that’ll mean an extra $645 a year.
This is a lot of money. Not only that, but it’s a lot of money on top of a lot of other expensive demands placed upon homeowners.
Every year is painful, but when homeowners opened bills this year, there has been a more palpable sense of urgency. We won’t call it panic, exactly, although some households may surely feel that way, but rather a creeping anxiety calling into question their future here, in their home, in their community, with the neighbors they’ve grown to know well. Can they afford this much longer?
Most people will stay put and make do, it’s true, but choosing to call the suburbs home is requiring much more sacrifice.
Enough is enough, but when will it end? How much more do the officials running these districts think people can afford to take?
And why is the sense of sacrifice so one-sided? Shouldn’t both share the burden?
The deal people make when they move outward from the city center is that they’re trading proximity to Chicago for safer neighborhoods and better schools. We want to keep that end of the bargain. But the question increasingly becomes how do we do so without breaking the bank?
What can give on the spending side that can serve both taxpayers and government services equally?
Because right now, one side is getting a much more raw deal than the other.
We’ve heard tell of eyes nearly popping out in recent weeks as property tax bills for modest homes in some parts of the suburbs jump over $1,000. Still, those same property taxpayers face even higher bills if the District 214 referendum passes.
Before districts ask for another dime, a homeowner needs assurances: Where are you cutting on your end before asking me to take a hit on mine?
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