Cost of new police station leads to 12.8 percent levy hike in Bartlett
Plans to start building a new $20 million police station in Bartlett next year are behind the 12.8 percent increase in the village's annual property tax levy approved this week, officials said.
Debt from the project is expected to trigger an average property tax increase of $91.11 for the owner of a $250,000 home, Acting Finance Director Todd Dowden said. The additional payment will appear on tax bills for about 20 years before the debt is paid off.
The total amount of the levy is $10.6 million. Apart from the cost of the new station, there is no increase for general operations this year, Dowden said.
Trustees approved a bond issue of $16.2 million last month to fund construction of the police station. Because Bartlett has home rule, the village did not need voter approval to issue the bonds.
Village President Kevin Wallace said that while no one likes paying more property tax, the replacement of the police station is absolutely necessary.
Crowded conditions at the current 22,000-square-foot station make the 20-year-old facility obsolete, he said.
The department now employs 77 people, a number projected to grow to 105 in the next three decades. The new facility will be nearly twice as large but built on the same site at 228 S. Main St.
Among the amenities of the new station will be a larger evidence storage area and training room, as well as additional office space. Bartlett is working with Itasca-based Williams Architects on designs for the building.
Construction is expected to be done in two phases, the first of which will likely begin in the spring. Part of the existing building will be torn down to make room for the first phase of the new building. Operations would then move to the new section so the rest of the old building can be demolished to make way for phase two.