Residents of parts of northern Waukegan, Beach Park and the portion of unincorporated Lake County bordering those areas will see one less entry on their next property tax bill — the Beach Park Drainage District.
Waukegan, Beach Park and the county agreed to dissolve the drainage district effective immediately, according to a news release issued Friday, reducing property taxes while not increasing costs to the impacted governments.
Matthew Meyers, the assistant Lake County administrator, said in an email the district levied approximately $8,200 a year in taxes to the residents in the area, which broke down to about $3 per household.
Located about 75% in Beach Park, 24.85% in northern Waukegan and 0.15% in an unincorporated portion of the county, the district was roughly bounded by Wadsworth Road to the north, Sheridan Road to the east, York House Road to the south and Waukegan National Airport to the west.
Meyers said drainage districts build, maintain and repair drains and levees, managing stormwater and flooding issues.
“This particular district was not very active, and a majority of the work was already being completed by the city of Waukegan and the village of Beach Park with support of the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission,” Meyers said in the email.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said the dissolution of the district eliminates administrative costs associated with it, while not adding any expense to the city’s budget. No additional personnel will need to be hired.
“This was an unnecessary unit of government, and it was senseless to keep it,” he said. “We will maintain our expected level of service.”
Beach Park Village Administrator Marc Huber also said his municipality will not need to hire additional people, or incur added expense performing services it was already doing for much of the village.
“We’re already doing most of the work for the district,” he said. “We won’t need to hire additional people.”
Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart said she hopes this is the beginning of eliminating unnecessary governmental entities throughout the county.
“We look forward to working with more municipalities to create future opportunities to consolidate outdated districts, while providing more efficient and effective services to our communities,” Hart said in the release.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter.