Western Springs Ranks High In Many Categories

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs residents rated the village highly for such things as a sense of community, public safety and fire prevention, according to a recent survey.

The village hired a Wisconsin-based firm, Polco, to survey residents over six weeks. A total of 836 surveys were returned, a response rate of 24 percent, which the firm said was higher than usual.

The firm compared the results in Western Springs with more than 300 other towns in its national survey database.

Western Springs ranked first among those towns for a sense of community, preservation of the historical and cultural character of the town, neighborliness, and fire prevention and education.

The village ranked second as a place to raise children, for a feeling of safety in downtown and other commercial areas during the day, and a sense of civic and community pride.

Of the responses, 99 percent rated Western Springs as an excellent or good place to live. Local public schools were rated as good or excellent by 95 percent, as did local parks.

Satisfaction with police was at 93 percent, the fire department at 97 percent and the ambulance service at 98 percent.

But the survey's respondents saw drawbacks in Western Springs. The overall quality of utility infrastructure was rated positively by only 38 percent of respondents.

Half of the respondents gave a positive rating for drinking water and stormwater management. Two neighborhoods – Springdale and Ridgewood – are particularly flood-prone.

Village officials have recognized that much work needs to be done in the areas of water, sewer and stormwater. For example, the village reports frequent main breaks.

Officials say they need more money to deal with the problems. In 2022, 54 percent of local voters rejected hiking the sales tax by 1 percentage point to pay for local infrastructure.

Recently, Village President Heidi Rudolph said the village may put a property tax hike on the April 1 ballot for infrastructure. Compared to other towns, Western Springs has little commercial property from which to tax. That results in a bigger tax burden on homeowners.

The survey results were presented at Monday's Village Board meeting.

In a later statement, Rudolph said that as a longtime resident, she was "extremely proud" that the village was ranked first and second in many quality-of-life measures.

She also said infrastructure continues to be the Village Board's priority.

In its presentation, Polco's consultant did not indicate which types of communities were among the more than 300 ranked.

Western Springs is wealthier than most towns. Its median household income is $198,836, which is 2½ times the state's.

In 2022, Western Springs School District 101 had no students coming from low-income families, according to the Illinois Report Card. Statewide, nearly half of students fall in that category.