Sleepy Hollow voters asked for 82 percent property tax increase

Are voters in the tiny bedroom community of Sleepy Hollow ready for an 82 percent increase in the property taxes they pay?

They'll decide Nov. 4 whether to approve a property tax increase nearly doubling what they now pay. The village is seeking to collect an additional $478,571 yearly from its more than 3,300 residents.

If approved, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay roughly $310 more in property taxes in 2015, according to Mike Tennis, a member of the village's finance committee.

Village officials say the money is needed to meet long-term capital expenses.

"In about three to four years, our five-year capital fund will be pretty much depleted," Village President Stephan Pickett said.

That fund is used to purchase big-ticket items, such as police squad cars and equipment, dump trucks, snow plows, and for building maintenance. Any general fund surpluses are usually transferred into the five-year capital fund to keep it going, Pickett said.

"Snow plows we replace every 10 years," Pickett said. "Squad cars, we try to replace one per year."

The village operates on a $1.3 million yearly budget, and typically maintains a fund balance.

"We've got approximately $2.1 million in cash and investments as of the beginning of this fiscal year," Pickett said. "There is not enough money to transfer over to maintain that five-year capital fund account. By the fiscal year 2018, we're going to be down to about $65,000 in that account."

In the next five years, officials anticipate costs going up for various departments: administration, $10,000; police, $180,000; parks and recreation, $50,000; village property maintenance, $202,000; streets and highways, $199,000, Pickett said.

"We are going to be way short if we go beyond 2019 without an increase," he said.

Pickett added, the village also could be in a prickly position, if the state shorts its due share of income tax revenues of about $350,000 yearly.

The village's sales tax revenue is expected to decline starting in 2016 after a sales tax-sharing agreement with Elgin for Randall Road businesses expires.

In a letter to the Daily Herald, Tennis said he doesn't believe the village's current finances are inadequate with $2.1 million in cash and investments.

Village employees also get generous health care benefits and only contribute 7.3 percent toward their health insurance, he wrote.

Tennis, who cast the lone vote against the finance committee's recommendation for a referendum, has said the village should curtailing personnel costs to reduce expenses.