With home rule, city would force lake water on us
Home Rule would hurt the city of Prospect Heights more than it would help it.
I feel the deal can’t be sweetened enough to benefit the citizens for many reasons. The statement that future tax increases would need the vote of four out of five aldermen is not realistic. It makes me uncomfortable putting my trust in a person whom I have never met and has no idea what my concerns are. How would they begin to arrive at a decision based on what the people in their ward want?
Once the city has Home Rule we are at the mercy of having city water forced upon us! Now that our homes have lost up to half their value the liens that would be attached to them that would have to be paid back would take a tremendous toll on what homeowners would receive after selling. Some homeowners may not even be able to sell their homes at a price that covers the repayment of these liens. Many people who live in Prospect Heights are on fixed incomes and could never afford the enormous bill that this would incur.
The property tax issue is a drop in the bucket compared to what all-city water will cost us! Saving us $5 a year on our city stickers, freezing the garbage bills and not charging us to have pets surely isn’t going to help us pay that debt!
You are correct in your Opinion that the people of Prospect Heights have been mired in mistrust of government for more than a decade with good reasons and do not want to get taken advantage of again. There are so many ways we can be hurt by losing our voice that the advantages can’t even begin to compare with the disadvantages.
Gail Porter
Prospect Heights