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June 9,2006
Villages of Bradley& Bourbonnais Targeting Current Homeowners For Huge Property Tax Increases, Just Like Manteno!
The test of government effectiveness comes when those governments are faced with extraordinary circumstances. Consequently, before growth madness came to the villages of Manteno, Bradley and Bourbonnais the governments performed the usual tasks of the day to day operations very well.
Unfortunately, those same governments have proven that they are incapable of handling growth in a systematic manner which places the cost of growth on the developers, builders and move-ins. Instead all three have chosen to finance growth on the backs of present homeowners. The recipe for systematic growth was developed many years ago by the city of Naperville. They were the tail blazers with the first impact fees which placed the cost of new infrastructure including schools on residential developers.
This recipe has been borrowed throughout the Chicago area. The seven fastest growing communities in Illinois all have impact fees ranging from $19,000 to $35,000 per home.
After being pushed for many years, all three villages and Kankakee County passed impact fee ordinances. However the fees are woefully inadequate. BBCHS for instance receives only an average of $1200 impact fee per new house for classroom construction. However only a few developers are paying this fee. The majority of builders came to the villages and got their subdivisions passed without any impact fees to cover the costs of new classrooms that will be needed for their developments. The current homeowners are now expected to pick up the cost of new schools and other amenities and to subsidize the builders and move-ins.
All three villages have compounded the growth tax inequity by creating new TIF and Enterprise Zone districts. These districts are made up of hundreds of acres of land in which commercial or industrial businesses who locate there will not have to pay any property taxes to schools or any other taxing bodies because the respective village government has declared it a blighted area. What this means is current home owners will have all the costs of growth forced on them through huge property tax increases while those profiting from the growth are being left off the hook.
It is time to stop this growth mania. The public’s trust and financial welfare have been violated by the present village governments. It is time to demand that they stop issuing building permits in all subdivisions until the builders agree to pay school impact fees of at least $10,000 for a three bedroom home and higher fees for larger homes. Further, we must demand that new business development pay regular property taxes to schools and other taxing bodies. They can not be allowed to weasel out of their responsibility through the creation of TIF districts or any other scheme. Until this takes place, voters are urged to turn down any and all school referendum.