Two referendums fail, two succeed in Lee
By Tara Becker tbecker@svnmail.com 800-798-4085, ext. 570
Lee County voters Tuesday shot down two township referendums seeking to increase the extension limitation on property taxes to help pay for road maintenance, and approved a tax increase and special levy for the 6-month-old Walnut Fire Protection District.
Brooklyn Township voters rejected a request to raise the extension limitation on property taxes from 5 percent to 25 percent a year for 4 years by a vote of 131-75.
If the referendum had passed, the owner of a $100,000 would have paid $39 more on their property tax bill in 2009, up to $104 in 2012.
Township Supervisor Christina Barnickel said she was disappointed but not surprised. Voters rejected a similar referendum in February.
“Basically, we’re in the same boat the last time we tried to pass this referendum,” she said. “Right now, we’re out of options.”
The extra revenue would have nearly doubled the road district’s $80,000 budget, which pays to maintain the township’s 54 miles of road.
Harmon Township voters voted 118-51 not to raise its extension limitation to 109 percent.
If it had passed, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $113 more a year until the township board decreased the limitation.
Voters there also rejected a similar referendum in November.
“Nobody wants to see taxes raised with the way the economy is going,” Township Supervisor David Schulte said Thursday. “It’s ugly out there.”
Schulte could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The Walnut Fire Protection District, which covers 150 square miles in Lee, Whiteside and Bureau counties, won over its voters, though.
They agreed to increase the district’s allowable tax rate from 0.125 percent to 0.40 percent – 40 cents per $100 equalized assessed value – to fund the fire department’s operational budget and fire truck maintenance.
Voters also approved a special 0.30 percent tax levy – 30 cents per $100 equalized assessed value – to help pay for the district’s ambulance service.
Whiteside County approved the ambulance levy 19-6, but rejected the tax increase 20-15. Bureau County voters approved the levy 346-142 and the tax increase 332-166, and Lee County voters passed both, 19-3.
The final tally: 384-151 for the ambulance levy, and 371-184 for the tax increase.
Don DeWaele, president of the new district, was pleased.
“A lot of voters out there were not aware that this was a two-step process,” he said. “Our community has always been supportive of what we’re trying to do, and we’re very pleased that they’ve chosen to support us again.”
Voters approved the formation of the fire protection district in November.
Although the district can levy up to 40 cents for its operations fund, officials have said they will levy only 27 cents, which will raise about $90,000. And although it can levy up to 30 cents for the ambulance tax, officials have pledged to levy only 13 cents, DeWaele said.
That means the owners of a $100,000 house will pay about $132 more on their property tax bill – $89 for the operations budget and $43 for the ambulance service.
The district’s two ambulances run to CGH Medical Center in Sterling, KSB Hospital in Dixon and Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton, and answers roughly 20 calls a month, DeWaele said.
The district will not receive money generated from either increase until 2010.
