Geneva council pulls $68 million referendum from ballot

The Geneva City Council and Mayor Kevin Burns have voted to remove a multimillion funding request from the April 1 ballot because of a formula error used to compute the impact on property taxes.

Geneva officials had planned to seek voter approval to allow the city to borrow $68 million to build a new police station and replace Fire Station 2.

But Burns said the proposal would cost property taxpayers more than more more than the original estimate.

Instead of costing roughly $200 for the average Geneva house valued at $392,800, Burns said the increase would be double — $400 — for the full $68 million.

Alderpersons on Tuesday debated for more than an hour over whether to allow the referendum to advance as stated, let the referendum go on the ballot but also pass a nonbinding resolution that the city would only bond $45 million required for a new police station, or rescind and take it off the ballot entirely.

Burns said if voters approved the ballot measure, even borrowing $45 million for a new police station — and not a new fire station — would be $50 to $100 more than proposed to voters during citizen surveys last year.

“The cost of selling only a tranche of bonds sufficient to design, develop and build a new police station will likely exceed the comfort level our property owners expressed,” Burns said. “We are challenged with determining the best course of action.”

Nine council members and Burns ultimately voted 10-0 — with First Ward Alderperson Anaïs Bowring absent — to file paperwork with the Kane County Clerk to take the question off the ballot entirely.

In addition to the miscalculation of the cost to taxpayers, one sticking point was that a resolution pledging not to issue bonds for more than $45 million was not binding.

“I don’t like the nonbinding pledge,” Fifth Ward Alderperson Robert Swanson said.

“What would be the negatives of rescinding … and going for a referendum in the future?” Swanson asked. “It would be a one-year delay … I don’t see super negative repercussions if we wait a year and try to do this right.”

Burns did not elaborate on how the formula error used to compute the property tax occurred.