PROPERTY TAXPAYERS GOING TO PAY MORE

By Joseph Wiszowaty

SAUK VILLAGE |  Village officials took action at their meeting Tuesday to ensure the Village will receive their property tax revenues in 2014.  The board voted 5 to 0 for the 2013/14 Property Tax Levy.  No residents or Village officials asked any questions about the Tax Levy Ordinance.

The amount of property taxes requested in the levy was $3.2 million according to Mohan Rao after the meeting.  “The Village can levy the lesser of 5% higher or the CPI (Consumer Price Index) which is at 1.7%” Rao said.  This year the Village’s levy is 1.7% greater than last year according to Rao.

Mayor David Hanks now faced the same predicament as his predecessor former Mayor Lewis Towers faced by taxing Sauk Village property taxpayers even higher.  The cash strapped Village has been borrowing from other funds just to make payroll and pay bills and once again is raising property taxes even higher than the tax-capped Village is usually allowed.  Once again, the Village has had to levy higher than the 1.7% tax cap allows to cover the bond payments for the Village Hall which officials had to borrow millions to build without seeking voter approval.

The Average struggling homeowner was billed an extra $136 to cover the Village Hall bonds.

Longtime Village resident Edward Sullivan said earlier this year, in published reports, “I don’t think it was right.  If anything has to do with my money, my taxes, my home – yes, I should have a right to vote on whether I want it or not” Sullivan said.

Originally the impact fees  from the Logisticenter were projected to pay for the Village Hall 2007 Series A bonds, however, the revenues fell way off their mark.  The problem is that the projections were dead wrong and property taxes are automatically raised to make the bond payments as the Village’s “full faith and credit” is used to cover the debt service on the bond’s repayment.

Taxpayers are also on the hook for a total of $46 million in these “Alternate Revenue Bonds” some of which were used to fund improvement in the Village’s Logistic Center.  The Tax Increment Financing Districts revenue thus far have been more than adequate to cover the debt service on these bonds.

Alternate Revenue Bonds make two promises.  The first promise to is to the residents that the payments likely won't end up on the property tax rolls, with the money instead coming from another source, such as impact fees, utility or sales taxes. The second promise is to the lenders that if the town's initial plan falls apart, as has been the case in Sauk Village, property taxes will go up to make payments and they have been.

 
Original material copyright 2013 Sauk Villager News; all rights reserved.

Village Hall costing property taxpayers $5 million as Village sidesteps the property tax caps