If you still don’t quite understand the tax levy referendum question on the ballot in Riverside but couldn’t make it to the village’s educational town hall at the Quincy Community Center Tuesday, Oct. 15, here’s everything you missed.
For a quick refresher, the referendum question reads as follows: “Shall the extension limitation under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law for the Village of Riverside, Cook County, Illinois, be increased from the lesser of 5% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index over the prior levy year to 9.3% per year for 2024?”
What is the point of the referendum?
At the special meeting, Village Manager Jessica Frances started by explaining the history of street repairs in Riverside and why the village is seeking a new funding mechanism for them.
In 2004 and 2014, she said, about 80% of resident voters approved the issuance of 10-year bonds in the amount of $2.5 million to improve the village’s roads. While this method allowed Riverside to set aside money for the next decade of street maintenance, village taxpayers saw about $500,000 of their taxes go toward interest and other bond fees over each decade.
If the referendum passes, it will establish a one-time increase in the amount of property taxes levied from residents; however, this increase would go into effect at the same time that Riverside no longer owes money on its bonds from 2014, making it tax-neutral for residents.
“Essentially, what the board is looking to do is levy the dollars that were previously collected for bonds. Instead of paying for bonds and all the interest that goes with that, keeping your tax levy level but utilizing those funds directly … to go to streets,” Frances said. “This new approach provides a dedicated funding source, so then the village wouldn’t have to come to taxpayers every 10 years asking to issue bonds.”
She said issuing debt to repair streets will become a less efficient use of taxpayer money as time goes on. As interest rates increase, the village will owe more on its bonds, while inflation means the $2.5 million gained won’t go as far with each successive issuance.
Tax levies rise each year by a percentage of the amount levied in the previous year — in Illinois, this rate is equal to the CPI inflation rate and capped at 5% unless voters approve a higher increase. Because of this, the one-time levy hike will have a cumulative effect in future years, meaning Riverside will be able to earmark about $256,000 per year to fix up streets.
The 9.3% figure was chosen to account for inflation and ensure tax-neutrality by offsetting the amount that each resident had been paying toward the village’s expiring bond debt, Village President Doug Pollock said.
Frances noted that the village only receives about 16% of the money residents pay toward property taxes, meaning their tax bills could go up this year due to factors unrelated to the referendum.
The cost of voting ‘no’
Without the passage of the referendum, Frances said, Riverside will not have sufficient funding to complete all of the street improvements planned for the next decade.
Between funds raised from taxes on sales in Riverside and those allocated to the village from the state’s Motor Fuel Tax on a per capita basis — the only funding sources aside from bonds or the tax levy increase — the village projects it will earn about $631,000 each year to improve streets. However, its current 10-year plan calls for about $744,000 on average each year for street repairs.
Frances noted that the budgeted price per year only includes the costs to resurface streets, curbs and some sidewalks. Other projects related to streets, like improving traffic safety, implementing traffic-calming measures or making changes for cyclists, are not included.
If Riverside cannot secure enough funding for its street improvement plan, those repairs will be delayed unless the village cuts other services instead. In an interview with the Landmark before the town hall, Frances said projects could take up to 50% longer to complete, meaning those scheduled for 2034 could take until 2039. Streets now scheduled to be repaired in 2044 could languish for an extra decade before Riverside can afford to resurface them.
Should the referendum fail, Frances said the village will prioritize which streets to improve based on their conditions and whether work needs to be done on underground infrastructure, like water mains or sewers, though the funding for that extra work comes from another source.
Resident questions and board comments
After Frances finished her presentation, she and Pollock responded to audience questions.
One resident framed the extra costs associated with issuing voter-approved bonds as “the price of democracy” — that is, residents get to have a direct say on whether Riverside issues street repair bonds. He asked whether the increased tax levy would be permanent if the referendum passes.
“It is permanent in the sense that it would require the village board to vote to approve to abate the tax if we suddenly said we don’t need it or don’t want it anymore,” Pollock said. “It’s a tax that would be levied every year unless the village board took action otherwise.”
Another resident asked if the village could get grant funding to improve streets due to its state-mandated — and now federally imposed — lead line replacement project, which will necessarily involve work on water mains that run beneath streets.
Frances explained that Riverside has different funds for street expenses and those related to water and sewers; while the village aims to resurface streets efficiently with water and sewer projects in mind, it is ineligible for federal need-based funding for the lead water service line replacements.
Trustee Jill Mateo commented on the importance of Riverside’s education campaign in the face of the referendum’s state-mandated wording that could confuse residents.
“President Pollock and I attended a community meeting last week, and somebody asked, ‘What’s the opposition to this?’ I haven’t personally seen or heard any, but it really drove home the reason we’re [sending out] postcards, the reason we’re doing the town hall, the reason we have social media posts about this is because that question sounds awful and we need to educate,” she said. “I can’t speak for my fellow trustees, but when I first saw that question, I wrote an email saying, ‘This is terrible! We have to have something simple.’”
Trustee Elizabeth Kos emphasized the need for a stable, dedicated funding mechanism for street improvements.
“It’s not like we’re ever going to be like, ‘The streets are done! We’re never going to touch them again!’” she said. “Streets take wear and tear, so they’re going to need to be resurfaced after a certain period of time, so there’s no end to the need for street repair.”
Riverside encourages you to reach out to Frances at 708-447-2700 or jfrances@riverside.il.us with any additional questions about the referendum.
