Voters reject road-repair plan in Fox Lake

Fox Lake voters on Tuesday rejected a plan to raise taxes for local road repairs.

With ballots in all 13 precincts counted late Tuesday, unofficial totals showed 509 voters punched "no" while 444 favored the proposal.

The Fox Lake village board decided in November to ask voters to raise taxes to fund a $6 million construction bond for the purpose of repairing 23 miles of roads.

If the measure had been approved, officials said, the village would have added $2 million to the road repair fund for a total of $8 million earmarked to fix roads in the village.

The owner of a $150,000 home would have paid an additional $86 in property taxes annually if the referendum had been approved Tuesday.

However, voters expressed displeasure that the village was seeking to raise taxes after approving a large water rate tax hike in October.

That rate hike nearly doubled the cost homeowners were paying for water each month.