Referendums ask for property tax increase

Thinly stretched budgets are prompting two Lee County townships to ask voters for extra cash to pay for road improvements and maintenance.

Two referendums on the Tuesday ballot seek to raise the extension limitation on property tax levies in the Brooklyn Township Road District and Harmon Township.

According to the state Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, townships can’t raise taxes more than 5 percent a year without voter approval.

The Brooklyn Township Road District wants to raise its extension limitation 25 percent a year for 4 years.

If voters approve the referendum, the owner of a $100,000 home in Brooklyn Township will pay $39 more in 2009, and up to $104 more in 2012.

A similar referendum in February 2008 failed 122-69.

It was a difficult decision to bring the referendum before voters again, Township Supervisor Christina Barnickel said, but with the state of the economy and the need to fix roads, the township had “no other choice.”

“We are desperate for money to take care of and maintain the roads we have,” she said.

If voters approve the referendum, it will more than double the district’s $80,000 budget, which is used to repair and maintain 54 miles of township roads.

Harmon Township officials are asking voters to raise their extension limitation to 109 percent.

That means the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $113 more every year until the township board votes to decrease the limitation, Supervisor David Schulte said.

The money raised would go to the township’s road and bridge budget, which has about $19,000 a year on average – the lowest in Lee County – and is used to maintain 42 miles of roads, Schulte said.

If the referendum is approved, the budget could nearly double, he said.

In November, township voters nixed a 124 percent increase, 128-89.

“Nobody wants to see taxes raised with the way the economy is going,” Schulte said. “It’s ugly out there.”