$5,481,687.66 was the amount the McHenry County Treasurer requested from property taxpayers to finance the Village of Lake in the Hills this year.
The LITH Village Board is scheduled to ask for the same amount, $5,481,688, according to its agenda packet.
Included in the tax levy analysis are the amounts that will be sought for each fund.
Real estate taxes to be requested by the Lake in the Hills Village Board Tuesday, November 14, 2017, to be collected in 2018.
Compare those with the requests for real estate taxes collected this year:
Lake in the Hills 2016 property tax levy, which was billed in 2017.
The paperwork being presented to Village Trustees shows property tax levies going back to 1991:
History of property taxation in Lake in the Hills.
A memo points to the drawing down of surpluses to keep the tax levy flat:
Deficits have occurred in four of the last five years.
An alternative revenue source is suggested:
Taxes on natural gas and electricity,
repealed in 2000 and 2004, respectively.
$1.2 million in new taxes would be collected.
Information is supplied for other communities:
- Comparable Communities – 11 out of 15 (with 8 out of 15 having both): Algonquin, Carpentersville, South Elgin, Streamwood, Lake Zurich, Hanover Park, Roselle, Round Lake Beach, Cary (electricity only), Rolling Meadows (electricity only), and Grayslake (electricity only)
- Surrounding Neighbors – 8 have both a gas and an electricity tax: Lakewood, East Dundee, West Dundee, Pingree Grove, Gilberts, Hampshire, Marengo, and Barrington
Village staff recommends that proceeds be used for
- Playground replacements, basketball, tennis court, and skate park resurfacing and engineering for Phase 1 of the Lakewood Road bike path,
- Police and Public Works vehicles and equipment to provide public safety and snow removal operations including 4 police patrol squad replacements and 2 half-ton dump trucks with plows,
- Village property replacements of parking lots, carpet, roofing, siding and gutters, and,
- Technology hardware and software investments which will ensure the safeguarding and reliability of Village systems and provide for improvements and efficiencies in service delivery.
The result of the two new taxes, after taking into account the elimination of the water main replacement fee, as well as a 0% increase in water rates follow:
No extension increase is of no long term use if there’s a deficit for the same year.