A special tax which funds Downtown Oak Park promotions and marketing is set to expire in the next 60 days, and the non-profit organization wants to extend it.
Since 1972, property owners in the downtown area have paid the tax in what’s called “Special Service Area Number One.” The tax amounts to about one percent of each property owner’s equalized assessed valuation, according to Downtown Oak Park Executive Director Pat Zubak.
DTOP uses the $650,000 the village collects from owners to provide marketing, promotions, and special events in the downtown area, as well as maintenance and beautification of downtown, recruitment and leasing support.
Also known as SSA, the tax was last renewed in 1987. It was the first tax of its kind ever established in Illinois, according to Village Attorney Ray Heise.
“I believe in what [DTOP] does as strongly today as the day of its inception,” said Willis Johnson, owner of Lake Theater and DTOP board member. “DTOP does not just benefit merchants; it benefits everyone in Oak Park.”
“We do now and have always understood the value of the SSA and definitely are in favor of extending it,” said Mike Fox, president of DTOP and owner of multiple properties downtown as well as the Carleton Hotel.
Zubak says her organization wants residential property owners removed from the special service area because they aren’t part of DTOP’s focus and their contribution makes up less than 3 percent of its budget.
“For us to say we want to keep the condo and townhome owners [as part of SSA] and make accommodations in our work really doesn’t make sense,” Zubak said. “They’re really not part of our mission.”
Anthony Shaker, of Shaker & Associates property management, is one opponent of extending the SSA. Shaker owns the Barbara’s Bookstore and Cosi Restaurant buildings and 122 N. Marion St. He pays an estimated $600,000 in real estate taxes and doesn’t feel he should be burdened with a $50,000 yearly contribution to DTOP because the tax was conceived when the area was still a mall.
“The office is primarily focused on promotions for retailers, things that are very good, but that don’t benefit office building owners,” said Shaker, a former DTOP board member. He has not lobbied other building owners in DTOP to join the opposition.
Village President David Pope feels DTOP has strengthened the downtown business climate and added to its vibrancy.
“Special service areas present an opportunity for business districts to take a leadership role in strengthening their overall vibrancy,” Pope said.
The village board will vote on a revised ordinance next week, removing residential property owners from SSA. There is a 60-day “comment window,” starting last week, for property owners in the SSA to submit petitions through the village clerk’s office supporting or opposing the tax. A 51 percent majority of both property owners and registered voters in the SSA is required to discontinue the tax, Heise said.
If that doesn’t occur, the board is free to adopt the establishment ordinance extending SSA.
The SSA does not expire on an arbitrary calendar date, Heise said. Since DTOP is an ongoing service, the ordinance contemplates the service area remaining in existence as long as the service is provided. The village board has the authority to repeal the SSA ordinance when Oak Park no longer needs DTOP’s services.