Hainesville mayor: No tax hike for police service
Hainesville Mayor Linda Soto vows officials will not take the easy route as the village grapples with whether to keep its police department or contract for service to save money.
"As long as I am mayor," Soto said at a special village board meeting Thursday night, "I will not put a referendum on the ballot to ask for a tax increase."
Hainesville officials are weighing whether to keep the two-year-old village police force or contract for service from Grayslake or the Lake County sheriff's office. Soto said village officials must work with budgeted money to determine the police issue.
A town-hall meeting regarding Hainesville's police coverage is set Feb. 23. Officials did not allow public comment at Thursday's special session.
It's estimated it would cost $1.3 million for the 2010-11 budget year starting May 1 for staffing and construction of a 4,000-square-foot police station. Soto contends Hainesville police can't continue operating from village hall.
By comparison, total police costs would be $711,782 with Grayslake and $791,566 through the county sheriff for 24-hour, seven-day-a-week coverage.
At Thursday's meeting, Soto and village trustees reviewed a survey regarding the police issue sent to residents and businesses in early January. Officials said 1,378 surveys were distributed and 363 were returned for a 26 percent response rate.
Soto said 111 want to keep the Hainesville police, 234 preferred contracted service from the sheriff or Grayslake and 18 did not make a selection.
"There is a strong statement here on spending and money," Soto said.
Some questions arose about the Grayslake proposal at the meeting. Trustee Kevin Barrett said it would be excessive to pay an additional fee for Grayslake cops to cover a Hainesville event at Union Square Park or a one-time $25,000 capital charge.
"If we have HainesvilleFest and we have a couple of officers walking through the park, or have a bike patrol going through there for some of the things we have going on there, they're going to charge us 75 bucks an hour?" Barrett asked.
Trustee Georgann Duberstein objected to Grayslake wanting to charge Hainesville for traffic control at Prairieview School on Route 120. She said children from both villages attend the Grayslake Elementary District 46 school.
In response, Soto said everything in neighboring Grayslake's police proposal will be up for negotiation.
Hainesville received protection from the Round Lake Park Police Department from 1999 to 2008. A dispute over service costs led Hainesville to launch its own force, which has a chief, sergeant and three officers augmented by eight part-time cops.
State requirements revised in 1999 forced Hainesville to shut its part-time police department. Instead of paying for cops to undergo more training as mandated, Hainesville opted to link with Round Lake Park.