Elburn considering special referendum for police tax
Elburn officials will discuss Monday whether to pursue having a special election this year to ask permission to charge property taxes to pay for police officers' pensions.
The village board meets at 6:45 p.m. at the village hall, 301 E. North St. The discussion will come during the committee of the whole meeting, which starts when the regular business meeting ends.
Last month, dozens of residents turned up at a board meeting after hearing that President Dave Anderson had asked the Kane County sheriff to consider taking over policing the village.
Anderson suggested it because of increased costs for officers' pensions once the village was required to have its own police pension fund, instead of having officers participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. The village levies a property tax for its IMRF contributions.
In 2012, voters refused to establish a separate property tax levy for the pension fund. The village asked for 8.68 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation. The owner of a $200,000 home would have paid about $56 a year to start.
But at the Feb. 2 meeting, some residents said they would be willing to campaign for a "yes" vote. They believe the outcome would be different if voters realized that losing the police department was at stake.
If a referendum were conducted before December, and voters said "yes" to the tax, the village could start collecting the tax in the spring of 2016.
If the vote is put off until 2016, however, the village would not be able to get the tax money until 2017.
Under state law, the village would have to ask a judge for permission to have the referendum. It would have to prove that there was "imminent need for approval of additional authority in order to maintain the operations or facilities," and that the need was "due to circumstances beyond the control of the governing body."
It would also have to pay the cost of conducting the election.
Elburn had to establish a police pension fund in 2011 because its population exceeded 5,000. That change meant the village and the officers had to increase their pension contributions.
The board will also discuss the proposed 2015-16 police department budget.