Pre-Election Elmhurst Tax Hike Vote? Unlikely

ELMHURST, IL – Politicians up for election typically don't vote for tax increases just before voters go to the polls.

Elmhurst aldermen may have supported just such a measure before the April 1 election, but an alderman's absence this week looks like such a decision may occur just afterward.

The City Council is looking at a proposal to tear down the 35-year-old police station and build anew. That plan includes a property tax hike.

Only one incumbent, Ward 2's Jacob Hill, faces competition this go-around. His opponent, Kevin Kirby, backs a new station, so Hill would not be left politically vulnerable if he voted for it.

All the other candidates for alderman support the station.

Mayor Scott Levin, a vocal backer of building anew, faces former longtime Alderman Mark Mulliner, who has made opposition to a new station a key plank in his campaign. Mulliner said local taxes and fees are too high.

In the 2021 election, Levin prevailed over Mulliner, who finished third.

Levin only votes on city issues in cases of a rare tie on the 14-member council.

For months, the council's three-member public safety committee has discussed the plan for a new station. It may have voted as early as Monday's meeting on the project.

But Alderman Guido Nardini is unable to make the meeting, so a vote is set for March 24, the panel's chairman, Alderman Mike Brennan told Patch in an email Friday.

The issue would then go to the full council, whose next meeting would be April 7.

The new aldermen are expected to take office May 5.

Late last month, Mulliner called for delaying a vote on the police station until a new council is seated. Mulliner said the election would gauge public opinion on the issue.

Both Levin and Brennan rejected that idea, with Levin saying the call for a delay "politicizes an important issue."