Politics & Government

Town Meeting to Focus on Sales Tax Referendum

Residents invited to to learn about proposed 0.50% sales tax increase on Tuesday, Nov. 2, ballot.

An informational town meeting about the sales tax referendum will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 7, at Village Hall, lower level board room, 70 E. Main St.

Roads are crumbling and village officials hope to avoid residents' grumbling if they can get the money needed to get the village road repair program back on track.

Voters are being asked to approve a 0.5 percent sales tax referendum on the Tuesday, Nov. 2, ballot. The sales tax increase would bring in about $2.2 million in annual revenue to the village and help get road improvement work back on track, according to village officials.

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The road improvement plan was last fully successfully completed in 2008 and costs about $1.5 million annually, according to Bob Vitas, village administrator. For the past two years, only $350,000 has been available from various funding sources to maintain the roads. At the same time, cost of materials to complete road work has risen.

The sales tax increase would cost each resident about $50 per year, estimates Vitas. The Lincolnshire Village Board recently approved a 0.50 percent sales tax increase without a referendum because it is a home rule community. Deer Park has an 0.25 percent sales tax increase proposed on its November 2, ballot.

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Village officials have been working hard to spread the word about the sales tax referendum. However, two previous public forums attracted less than a dozen residents. They also held a meeting at the Lion's Den and with several homeowners associations in town. Several sets of flyers, the village newsletter and posts on the village website address the issue.

If the referendum fails, village officials would have to look to other measures to fund the road repairs, which they say are more expensive per resident.

 

 


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