Three of four Antioch trustee candidates favor sales tax increase over property tax hike to fund ambulance service

Voters in Antioch will be asked a second time to approve a new property tax category to fund ambulance service, but three of the four candidates for village trustee think there is a better alternative.

Incumbents Jay Jozwiak and Dennis B. Crosby and challenger Ed Macek say they favor a sales tax increase to pay for the service, while incumbent Mary C. Dominiak is sticking with the property tax as the way to go.

Responses are from interviews and questionnaires. Crosby was out of town and was interviewed by phone. The others attended an endorsement interview at the Daily Herald office in Libertyville.

All candidates are seeking a 4-year term. Crosby has served eight years and Dominiak four. Jozwiak served as trustee from 2009 to 2013 but lost a re-election bid and was appointed last year to fill a vacancy. This is Macek's first run for elected office.

Funding ambulance service became an issue last May when a contract with the Antioch Rescue Squad was not renewed and operations were consolidated under the Antioch Fire Department. The village splits the cost with the First Fire Protection District of Antioch. Last November, voters rejected a proposed new tax to cover the cost, and both entities are trying again. Approval would amount to about $250 in added tax for the first year for the owner of a home valued at $300,000.

So far, the district has closed a fire station and the village has cut $191,510 from the current budget to meet costs, and longer-term cuts are envisioned if the request fails.

Joswiak and Crosby were the dissenters in a 4-2 vote on Dec. 1 to put the ambulance tax question on the ballot for a second time.

"Taxpayers have spoken: They don't want property taxes," Jozwiak said. He added the cost shouldn't be borne only by residents and suggested a sales tax hike as a "more fair way" to pay for ambulance service.

Crosby agreed a sales tax increase "would have been a lot more salable" to voters. "I think there's a general resistance to property tax increases," he said. At the same meeting the tax increase referendum was approved,

Crosby and Jozwiak supported asking voters if they would back a non-home rule sales tax hike, but that failed 4-2. Should voters reject the property tax hike, the village will have to cut capital projects, he added.

"What we have left to cut will be painful," he said.

Dominiak said the village receives about 6 percent of a given tax bill.

"I believe the sales tax is a lever, a tool we have in our back pocket should we need it in the future," she said.

She said the village has "pretty much cut into the bone" regarding expenses and needs to grow its commercial and industrial bases to boost revenue from sales and property taxes.

It would make sense for Antioch, as a resort town, to get visitors to help pay the cost of ambulance service by implementing an additional sales tax, said Macek, a past member of the Antioch Rescue Squad. He said he opposes a property tax increase.

"There's got to be a control on the spending," he said.