Campton Hills seeks input on power, fire service

Campton Hills leaders will seek the opinion of residents on two issues this coming April.

Trustees this week voted to place advisory, nonbinding questions on the April 5 ballot.

The first will ask whether the village should explore buying electricity in bulk and passing the savings along to homeowners and businesses.

The second will ask whether the village should explore creating its own fire department.

The village currently is covered by five different fire protection districts, each of which charges homeowners different rates on yearly property tax bills.

“We really haven’t done an in-depth study,” said Village President Patsy Smith. “We don’t even know if they want us to.”

Trustee Al Lenkaitis was the lone no vote on the fire department question, but did support the electricity study.

“In this downturn, I don’t want to burden the residents of the village any more than they already are,” he said about the fire department study.

Smith said if voters favor the electricity study, the trustees could eventually opt to put a binding question for the spring 2012 election.

“If it’s going to cost us $30,000 a year to save our residents $30,000, it might not be worth it,” Smith said. “We have to look at what’s feasible.”

Trustee Jim Kopec also believes it’s a good idea to get the pulse of the people. “That’s what it is, a quantity discount (for electricity),” he said. “We have to see whether it could be economical once you take into account the administrative costs.”