Western Springs Status A Warning: La Grange Official

LA GRANGE, IL – A La Grange official on Monday used Western Springs' financial situation as a warning to La Grange.

During a Village Board meeting, La Grange Trustee Glenn Thompson referred to a recent Patch story about Western Springs revealing that its road fund was depleted, so no major projects were planned for next year.

That story noted Western Springs' last successful referendum for roads passed seven years ago.

Last year, Western Springs voters rejected a 1 percentage point increase to the sales tax to pay for infrastructure.

Thompson argued La Grange should vote for the maximum property tax hike for next year. Under state law, public bodies can increase their levies with the rate of inflation, up to 5 percent.

As of December 2022 – when the inflation rate is gauged for tax purposes – it was 6.5 percent, so that allows public bodies to go up by 5 percent.

Thompson told his colleagues it would be "very wrong" not to tax to the maximum.

"Anytime we're turning down quote-unquote free money, where money can be taken in taxes, that just leaves us to where we'll have to go to referendum to pay for these things," he said. "If the referendum fails, then we're going to have to explain to the citizens that we didn't take the taxes we could have in the past and that we left ourselves open."

The La Grange Village Board voted 4-2 to go with a 4.5 percent increase. Thompson was in the minority.