Sleepy Hollow referendum forums start Saturday

Sleepy Hollow village officials will make their case for why they are seeking a roughly 82 percent increase in the village property tax rate on April 7 in the first of three forums Saturday.

Referendum information sessions will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, and 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at village hall, 1 Thorobred Lane.

The village seeks to collect an additional $428,571 yearly from its more than 3,300 residents ­- nearly double what they pay now. If approved, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay roughly $316 more in property taxes in 2016.

The extra revenue would be used to replenish the village's five-year capital fund - expected to be depleted by 2018 - and for road improvements, officials said.

A similar request failed last November by a 3 to 1 margin.

Officials said the village's finances are healthy at present. The 2015 operating budget includes $1.4 million in expenditures. The village has roughly $2.1 million in reserves, of which roughly $970,000 is earmarked for water and sewer upgrades, officials said.

"The forecast is for the village to deplete its savings within the next three years," Village President Stephan Pickett said. "We are drawing down our reserves and are not putting anything away for the expenses of tomorrow."

Pickett said the money is needed to meet long-term expenses, such as buying squad cars, radios and other police department equipment; dump trucks, snowplows, salt spreaders, back hoes or mowers for public works; for village hall maintenance, upgrading heating and cooling, and computer and phone systems; and road repairs, street and park improvements.

Over the next four years, officials anticipate the cost for replacing trucks at $200,000, police vehicles at $107,000, and long needed flood control projects at $75,000. The village also cannot afford to repave its 22 miles of streets with state motor fuel tax revenues alone, which in 2014 was roughly $77,000, officials said.

"The village of Sleepy Hollow has long lived hand-to-mouth," Pickett said. "We have very few retail or commercial sites that provide extra revenues to the operational funds."

Officials also are concerned about potential losses in state income tax and sales tax revenues.

Mike Tennis, a member of the village's advisory finance committee, is urging residents to vote "no" again.

"Rather than controlling spending, their budgeting solution is to increase the residents' tax bills," he said.

Tennis questioned the need for increasing spending on road repairs alone to $650,000 yearly or nearly $2.6 million over the next four years. The village has spent more than $1 million in motor fuel tax revenues in the last seven years or $150,000 yearly on roads, he added.

"Does the village really need to resurface all 22.2 miles of road in the next 10 years?" he asked. "There are sufficient reserves for the village to double annual investments in roads to $300,000 a year starting in fiscal year 2016. To keep the road program going, the board could propose a more modest tax increase for residents in 2017."

For more information on the referendum question, visit sleepyhollowil.org.