Rosemont to levy new tax on some property owners

Editor’s note: This story has been updated since it was first published to say that only apartment owners would be taxed, not businesses.

Anyone who owns an apartment building in a small neighborhood northwest of the Allstate Arena in Rosemont will be charged a new tax beginning next year to pay for street repaving, garbage collection and snow removal.

Those property owners already pay the village of Rosemont property taxes, but their streets and alleys in the area have always been privately owned.

Mayor Bradley Stephens said that’s led to a piecemeal approach for street maintenance, especially when it comes to paying for snow removal.

“A group has tried to organize all of the owners to try to have a cohesive plowing program,” Stephens said. “One of the problems we’ve had is the guy on the corner and the guy in middle don’t always want to pay. ... The plow starts at the end of the street and when he gets to a parcel that doesn’t pay, he picks up his plow, then continues on and puts the plow back.”

The village board this week approved an ordinance establishing a special service area for the neighborhood, roughly bounded by Touhy Avenue on the north, Chestnut Street on the east, Barry Avenue on the west, and Lunt Avenue on the south.

Apartment building owners in that area will be assessed a new tax, which will amount to $4,300 in 2014 for the average property owner, according to Village Attorney Peter Coblentz.

The tax is expected to drop to $3,100 annually in subsequent years of the taxing district, which expires after 10 years.

The higher tax in year one will be to pay off the capital cost of street repaving work, which will include repairs to pot holes and collapsed sewers, officials said.

That project is expected to start next spring.

A number of garbage pickup companies currently service the area, but pickup times vary from building to building. Stephens said that sometimes means tenants from one building will dump their trash in another building’s dumpster if their own is full.

“With the village doing it, it’s the village provider for all of the garbage,” Stephens said. “It carries a little bit more weight when the building department guy says, ‘This is Joe from the village of Rosemont. You need to come back — there’s a dumpster that’s full.’”

The village will send out a request for proposals for garbage vendors after Jan. 1.

Snowplowing in the neighborhood is expected to begin next year.

Stephens said there’s 66 apartment buildings that would be affected by the new tax.

Herb Mueller, who has owned an apartment building in the neighborhood for 25 years, said he’s willing to pay the village more to repair the crumbling streets, as well as pick up snow and collect garbage.

He spent 18 years as president of an apartment owners association, and in that time, said it was difficult to get everyone on the same page.

“We always had 10-12 freeloaders that didn’t want to pay their share. That’s what really disgusts you,” Mueller said. “(I said) we have to get together and stick together to get it done. By the village handling it, they’re going to have to pay their share.”