Elmhurst Officials Debate Ways To Hike Taxes

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst aldermen on Monday agreed on the need for a property tax hike to cover debt for stormwater projects. But they differed on how much of an increase.

Under current tax levels, the city would see an estimated $670,000 shortfall next year in money reserved for paying the debt, officials said.

At a meeting, members of the City Council's Finance Committee looked at ways to increase taxes. They identified a sales tax increase and a stormwater fee as possible long-term solutions. In the short run, they preferred a hike in the property tax levy.

City officials noted they could increase the property tax levy by $1.3 million. That's the amount by which the public library's tax levy is dropping. So a similar increase by the city would mean no impact to property taxpayers, officials said.

Alderwoman Noel Talluto suggested the city increase the tax levy enough to cover the debt payments — $670,000 — not the entire $1.3 million. In so doing, she said, the property tax levy would drop by 3 percent.

"I am a proponent of not taking people's money when we don't have to," Talluto told the committee. "I would rather explain to residents that we didn't take any more of their tax money than we needed to this year."

However, Mayor Scott Levin favored increasing the levy by the full $1.3 million.

"That would allow us to look at other options for stormwater projects going forward," Levin said. "We have other capital projects that we are struggling to fund."

Aldermen Jennifer Veremis and Chris Jensen agreed with Levin.

The committee plans to revisit a short-term solution at its Nov. 8 meeting.

During the meeting, members discussed the pros and cons of long-term solutions such as a sales tax increase and a stormwater fee.

Under the law, the city could increase its home rule sales tax in 0.25 percent increments. It is now 1 percent.

Talluto said the problem with the sales tax is that it is regressive, meaning it hits lower-income residents harder. But she noted the sales tax is often seen as "politically expedient" because out-of-town shoppers also pay it.

Veremis expressed an interest in the sales tax, but said she wanted to see how businesses felt about it.

In Illinois, 29 towns, including 16 in the suburbs, charge stormwater fees. They are assessed in different ways. Some are flat. Others are based on the amount of impervious surfaces such as concrete on a property. Properties with more impervious surfaces generally contribute more to flooding.

Aldermen agreed that it was more expensive to implement a stormwater fee than other measures.

Jensen said such a fee would probably have little effect in driving property owners to reduce the amount of impervious surfaces. Such a fee, he said, would hurt owners of older homes, which were built when flooding was a lesser concern. And he said the city is requiring new development to follow stricter stormwater regulations.

Talluto said the advantage of a stormwater fee is that it assesses higher charges to properties contributing more to flooding.

The aldermen agreed they needed to spend a number of months to look at long-term ways to cover debt for stormwater projects.