Western Springs Tax Hike Prevails In Election: Unofficial Results

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs voters voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in favor of a property tax increase that officials say will pay for infrastructure.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, here are the results:

• Yes: 1,909 votes (72%)
• No: 726 votes (28%)

Turnout in the election was nearly 25 percent, according to the Cook County Clerk's Office.

In a statement in January, the village said, "Referendum 2025 offers an important opportunity to provide essential funding for critical projects that are essential to the continued well-being of our community."

With the hike passing, the village would go into debt by $45 million to pay for infrastructure projects.

For the owner of a $750,000 house, the increase would amount to $345 a year over a decade, which works out to $29 a month. That's in addition to a total property tax bill of roughly $16,000, according to the village.

The village's website said the community needs more than $200 million over the next 30 or 40 years to pay for infrastructure.

Nearly half of the village's water and sewer systems is more than a century old, and almost a third of the village is without sidewalks, the website said.

The current referendum is far greater than previous ones — $6 million in 2008 and $12 million in 2016.

One of Western Springs' challenges is that its income sources are limited.

That, in part, is because 95 percent of Western Springs is residential, officials say. Compared with other suburbs, the village's commercial tax base is small. Western Springs lacks sales-tax generating businesses such as car dealerships and big-box stores.

In February, Patch asked the village why a separate tax increase is needed to pay for water and sewer projects, rather than income from water and sewer bills.

A large-scale project that includes road, curb, sidewalk, water and sewer improvements costs $2.5 million to $4.5 million, village spokeswoman Selmin Cicek said in response.

"Revenues from the water/sewer rates could only fund a project of this size and scope approximately every 6 years," Cicek said. "The Village regularly reviews fees in the context of the overall funding strategy. Current water/sewer rates cover the cost of sanitary system improvements and water production/distribution/small capital maintenance projects. The existing rates are not sufficient to fund large-scale capital projects."

The village has created a section of its website for information related to the tax increase.