Buffalo Grove to give taxpayers some relief

Buffalo Grove will abate $650,000 in property taxes to ease the pain taxpayers are feeling as they repay the debt for street improvements - even as the village needs more money for infrastructure work, officials say.

"We had a significant jump in our debt service based on our 2016 debt issue as anticipated," Finance Director Scott Anderson said Thursday, "but that principal and interest is coming online, so that drove the levy quite a bit higher."

Anderson told the village board at its committee of the whole meeting that the village's next property tax levy will still rise, but only by 2.64 percent. Next year's levy will be about $15.5 million, he said.

Village Manager Dane Bragg said it is likely Buffalo Grove will have to structure similar abatements for 2018, 2019 and 2020 until the outsized debt service for the bonds drops down. Last year's debt service was $807,000; after the tax abatement that dropped to about $607,000. Next year's debt service is $1.6 million, due to the $6.1 million issue for street repairs, Bragg said.

He added, however, that abating taxes will restrict the village's ability to pay for capital projects for the next few years just as those needs are becoming acute, much of it due to deferred maintenance to roofs and HVAC systems.

Also, Bragg said, building costs are eating into money for the village's street repair program, making it challenging to keep up with the street work schedule.

He said the village has done $19.6 million in street work over the last five years, after doing virtually no street repairs from 2006-2011.

Another worry is the need for water and sewer infrastructure improvements, just as water and sewer consumption in Buffalo Grove is flattening out, Bragg said.

"So we're not generating a lot of extra dollars in the reserve for water and sewer projects, and certainly the water and sewer infrastructure is aging just as quickly as the streets above it, particularly in Cook County Buffalo Grove," Bragg said.

A budget hearing will be held on Nov. 14. The levy and the budget will be considered for adoption on Dec. 5.