'We do not want you as our landlords': Homeowners resist Rolling Meadows annexation push

Though they can't force them, Cook County and Rolling Meadows officials say they at least want to have a conversation with homeowners in two unincorporated subdivisions to annex into the city.

But the homeowners say they've gotten that pitch before and want nothing of it.

"We love our neighborhood. We love being your neighbors," Bill Murray, president of the Forest Estates Homeowners Association, told city and county officials this week. "But we do not want you as our landlords."

County leaders have been talking for at least a decade about getting all unincorporated areas to annex into nearby municipalities, since a task force report recommended it as a way to increase efficiencies and cut costs - namely, in providing sheriff's deputies to patrol the areas.

The unincorporated homeowners near the west side of Rolling Meadows turned away the county and city's overtures after the report came out in 2012. Many of them were back in the council chambers this week, fearing a tax hike.

For each property owner in Forest Estates - about 130 houses on 90 acres south of Kirchoff Road and west of Route 53 - it would mean $71 more a month in new city taxes, stormwater and garbage collection fees and utility taxes - in addition to water and sewer charges.

For Plum Grove Estates - 350 houses on 272 acres north of Algonquin Road and west of Route 53 - it would mean $81 more per month, plus water and sewer.

The city estimates it would take nearly $62 million to add Lake Michigan water, sewers, fire hydrants, curbs and sidewalks - as well as widening roads to city standards - in Plum Grove Estates. Similar phased-in infrastructure upgrades in Forest Estates - which is fully surrounded by Rolling Meadows proper - would be more than $21 million.

Glen Cole, the city's assistant city manager and community development director, said the math has to "pencil out" both for the city and homeowners, and the costs are still estimates. But he emphasized the benefits of coming into the municipality: police, fire and public works services "equal to or better" than what residents get now, better local control on zoning and land use decisions via aldermanic representation in the city's ward system, and capital improvements that could hike home values.

Cole and Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton, the county's pointman on annexation issues, argued incorporating the properties would create economies of scale in government operations, and could eventually lead to cost reductions for all taxpayers in the city and county.

Britton, a Glenview Democrat whose 14th District includes a small portion of Rolling Meadows, didn't have an exact number on how much money the county could save through wide-scale annexations of unincorporated areas, which comprise about 15% of the county.

But he thinks it could be "millions," and even lead to a tax cut - a statement that garnered laughter from the crowd at this week's public meeting.

"Is it going to cost everybody a lot less? No," Britton responded. "Is there going to be a marginal change? Probably. Would it be a significant impact on the county's budget? Yes. Can we use that money on things we think are more productive? To fight crime, to lower poverty, to lower your taxes, in theory? - Oh, you know, I mean it can happen - I do think that that is a possibility."

Guy Karm, president of the Plum Grove Estates Property Owners Association, said besides the possibility of increased taxes, special service area charges and user fees, annexation would change the parklike nature and setting of the neighborhood.

He called the subdivision - where most 1950s-era single-family homes sit on half-acre lots - an "oasis" in the suburbs.

"The residents are happy with their neighborhood as it is, and they're not interested in being annexed into the city," Karm said.

Under state law, the city can't forcibly annex the two neighborhoods because they're both larger than 60 acres. A majority of the homeowners themselves could file a petition for annexation, and the city council could approve it. Or it could be done via referendum.

There are a dozen other smaller, scattered sites that the city could legally bring in without the owners' consent. One recently submitted a petition for annexation.