Burr Ridge Not As Rare As Mayor Thinks

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge's mayor often touts the fact that the village is debt-free, which has been the case for the last couple of years.

To be sure, it's rare for a public body to be without bond debt. But it's not as rare as Mayor Gary Grasso apparently thinks.

During a budget discussion Monday, Grasso said he wanted to emphasize the village's debt-free position.

"Find me another municipality north of I-80 that's debt-free, and I'll suggest that maybe your information is incorrect," Grasso told the Village Board.

Patch found eight.

For about 20 minutes, Patch checked various towns' annual financial reports on the state comptroller's office's website.

Patch looked at the reports of two dozen towns north of Interstate 80, which is often referred to as the divider between the Chicago area and the rest of the state.

Specifically, the focus was on towns that are wealthy, retail-heavy or both. Burr Ridge is one of the state's richest towns, with high retail sales per capita compared to most towns.

The other towns listed as debt-free are Oak Brook, Lake Forest, Gurnee, Barrington Hills, South Barrington, Oakwood Hills, Banockburn and Old Mill Creek.

Oak Brook, Gurnee and South Barrington are retail-heavy. They can largely rely on sales taxes to pay for local government. Most of the other towns have high median household incomes.

Grasso did not return a message for comment Tuesday.

Burr Ridge became debt-free when it paid off the debt for its new police station. It borrowed the money in 2009.

Grasso has made the I-80 comparison before. At a December 2021 meeting, he said he would take a "wild guess" that Burr Ridge was probably the only Illinois town to pay off all of its bond debt, certainly in the last couple of decades.