Forum Participants Lean Toward Sales Tax Increase

A majority of the 30 or so people who attended a Monday raised their hands in support of the sales tax referendum at the end of the informal discussion, although some audience members questioned whether residents could afford any new taxes.

Autumn Creek resident Christopher Gross figured the proposed one-percentage point sales tax increase would be less of a burden for most residents than the to cover its sewer bond payments in December.

Yorkville Mayor Valerie Burd to raise money for the city’s December 2012 sewer bond payments. City leaders estimate the sales tax increase would raise about $2 million a year, compared to the $1.75 million the city expects to raise through this year’s property tax hike.

The owner of a $250,000 home will pay about $320 more in property taxes this summer but would have to spend more than $30,000 a year in Yorkville to incur a similar expense in sales tax, Gross said.

Gross also figured young adults cared more about property tax rates when shopping for homes.

“They’re looking at what’s the place with the lower property taxes,” Gross said. “They’re not looking at paying $1 more at Jewel.”

But Charmaine Soukup, a senior citizen battling medical bills, questioned either tax increase on top of the $13.47 water fee the city added last year to bills issued every two months. She worried that the senior garbage discount would disappear next.

“We live month-to-month,” she said. “How long can seniors stay here in Yorkville and pay these increases? … I hate to look at the bill when it comes every month.”

Another audience member questioned why new businesses would come to Yorkville with the promise of higher property taxes or rent, as well as the city’s increasing debt obligations.

“There are a lot of reasons,” City Administrator Bart Olson replied, pointing to the whitewater chute near the Glen Palmer dam that is expected to draw paddling enthusiasts and associated businesses.

The city’s annual sewer debt payments are expected to increase, though.

The city will dish out $2.26 million in December, but the payments are expected to increase relatively steadily to $3.97 million in the fiscal year beginning May 1, 2015, according to a chart the city distributed at the forum. Then, they would taper off to $1.83 million in the following fiscal year and to $746,483 in the fiscal year starting May 1, 2018.

But Lynn Dubajic, executive director of the , said she had received two calls from businesses interested in the Route 34 and Cannonball Trail area within the last week. Business leaders pay close attention to growth figures and business activity, such as Rush-Copley seeking a permit to add an emergency room to its medical facility in that area, she said.

“There’s still activity, and that’s the most important thing,” Dubajic said. “People want to see activity.”

Yorkville resident Kathy Neddo predicted Yorkville’s housing market would boom again when the economy picked up.

“You’ve got to believe if it was once, it will be again,” she said.