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Neighbor News

๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ: ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ ๐—›๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ

Some in the village seem to believe that homeowners will accept any tax increase placed before them.

I spent considerable time reviewing Shorewoodโ€™s 220-page ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐ป๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘†๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘  ๐ด๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ฆ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ , dated February 13, 2020. Itโ€™s a data-rich document, and this postโ€”and the nextโ€”will focus on its findings.

Shorewood is often described as a wealthy community. That may be true when looking at average income, but averages can obscure the real distribution of wealth. According to the report, ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ. These are not rentersโ€”they own their homes. That represents ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿด.๐Ÿฏ% ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐˜€. The percentage among renter households is even higher.

Some in the village seem to believe that homeowners will accept any tax increase placed before them. Legally, we have little choice. But we can speak up, share our concerns, and strongly oppose increases when practical alternatives exist.

Find out what's happening in Shorewoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

One such alternative is the TIF being used to develop the parking lot. These funds could be returned to the taxing authorities. By our estimate, the refunds would be:

โ€ข ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ: $459,000
โ€ข ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜€: $935,000
โ€ข ๐— ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐˜†: $238,000
โ€ข ๐— ๐—”๐—ง๐—–: $68,000

Find out what's happening in Shorewoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

When those 520 Shorewood households receive their next property-tax bills, the increases will cause real hardship. Groceries will be cut back, thermostats turned down, and necessary car repairs delayed. Tough choices will be made.

I hope our village trustees recognize that conditions have changed since a few years ago, when our local economic outlook was far less certain than it is today. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†.

There is strength in numbers. I encourage you to ask neighbors to sign up for updates at http://affordableshorewood.org...

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