Elgin keeps senior property tax rebate program

The senior citizen property tax rebate program in Elgin is safe for 2011, though council members did not decide Wednesday in what form it would remain.

At their committee of the whole meeting, council members directed staff members to look into restricting the program to low-income senior citizens and expanding it to include renters as well as homeowners.

The program has been in place since 1996, funded with taxes collected from the Grand Victoria Casino. In past years, qualifying senior citizen homeowners have received a $200 rebate while qualifying mobile homeowners older than 65 have received $35. In the life of the program, the city has allocated more than $9 million worth of rebates.

Because riverboat revenues are expected to be less than a program threshold set in 1996, the council discussed a change Wednesday that called for a two-phase payout to give those seniors with incomes less than $55,000 their money first. The second group of seniors would only get their money if the riverboat fund finishes the year with more than $13,275,000.

But Councilman John Prigge suggested the threshold was too high.

“I look at the $55,000 criteria and I say that’s more than $1,000 a week,” Prigge said. “That’s a lot of money in these times.”

On the suggestion of Mayor David Kaptain, council members discussed reducing the income threshold to $36,000 and aligning the program with the Illinois Department on Aging’s Circuit Breaker program for pharmaceuticals, which offers prescription drug assistance. For Kaptain, this program is a better fit because it would allow the city to reach out to low-income senior citizens who rent.

“There are a lot of people who rent and they don’t receive anything and never have,” Kaptain said.

City staff members will now be tasked with crunching numbers on the various program ideas. They will need to find out if all of the savings to the projected $825,000 program that would come from decreasing the income threshold will be canceled out by expanding the program to include renters.

“I can work with staff to bring back several alternatives that are centered on helping the neediest in our community,” said City Manager Sean Stegall.

Kane County seniors usually receive their rebate checks the first week in July. Although the checks have not been mailed, low-income seniors, at least, can rest easy knowing the council has committed to offering them assistance in some form.