Township will again ask for tax increase for road maintenance
Blackberry Township officials will again ask voters in April to raise the limit on property taxes that can be collected for road maintenance and repair.
"Roads are really starting to deteriorate in Blackberry Township," Highway Commissioner Rodney Feece said Thursday.
The referendum asks voters to increase the limit on the road district tax rate by 14 cents, to 32.5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation.
If the increase is approved, and the township road district levied the maximum amount, property tax bills on a $200,000 piece of property would rise $93.34.
On Feb. 10, Feece and the township trustees will review a report from a consultant detailing the condition of various roads, he said. That meeting is at 7 p.m. at the town hall, 43W390 Main Street Road, Elburn.
The story is about the same as it was in April 2013, March 2004 and April 2003, when voters said "no" to a tax increase. In 2013, less than 10 percent of registered voters voted, and 65 percent of them voted against the measure. So most roads have been patched, not repaved, Feece said.
"That's what we will continue to do" if the tax increase is rejected again, he said.
The township is responsible for nearly 58 miles of roadway. It costs about $100,000 per mile to put new blacktop overlay on, according to Feece. The township has been able to afford to do about 1.5 miles a year, he said. The existing six to seven miles of gravel roads will remain as is because they are lightly traveled and not a high priority for paving.
The township road district received $903,891 in property taxes in 2014, including about $35,000 that was levied for the bridge fund and $842,000 for the road fund. But it has to turn some of that over to the towns of Elburn, Sugar Grove and North Aurora for maintenance of roads in the parts of those towns that lie within Blackberry Township.
In 2013, the district also received $85,537 in motor fuel taxes from the state, according to its financial report to the state comptroller.
Besides paving and patching, the township highway department is charged with maintaining bridges and culverts, and clearing snow and ice.