Voter-backed tax hike will end deficit spending for Palatine Rural Fire District

The Palatine Rural Fire Protection District will have about $180,000 in additional funds late next year, thanks to voters who backed a 0.05 percent tax hike Tuesday, Chief Hank Clemmensen said Wednesday.

Clemmensen said the district needs the money to avoid having to cut staff and training. Property values in the district have dropped 34 percent over the last five years, he said, leaving the district with less money to operate.

"For the past several years we have been running a deficit," Clemmensen said. "We've went into our reserves."

The district will begin receiving revenue from the tax increase in late 2015. Until then, officials will continue to pull money from reserves, Clemmensen said.

It took the district two tries to pass the tax increase, under which property owners will pay about $50 more a year for every $100,000 in equalized assessed value.

In the spring, voters rejected it by a 611 to 517 margin, with only slightly more than 6 percent of registered voters in the district casting ballots. On Tuesday, 1,609 voters supported the tax hike and 1,206 opposed it, according to unofficial results.

Although the proposal didn't change, Clemmensen the district did a better job getting its message out to voters.

It was the second time in the past 10 years the district has had a tax increase approved via referendum. In 2005, voters approved an increase in the corporate rate. That referendum was on the ballot six times.

"I hope there's never any more referendums," Clemmensen said. "It's a lot of work on the district's part, but also we don't want to ask for tax increases."

The fire district has long been trying to help their bottom line. In March, Clemmensen announced it was working with an Arizona-based company to make money selling ad space on the sides of the Inverness-based district's only fire truck and on the back of the district's lone ambulance.

Clemmensen said Wednesday that the district wasn't able to sell ad space, although they remain open to the idea.

"It's such a new thing," he said. "We're hoping to do business, but know that it is not a high dollar revenue generator."

The district covers 17 square miles, including parts of Inverness and unincorporated Palatine Township.