Over the past handful of years, members of Oak Park’s village board have been having a foundational debate about property taxes and village government spending. That worthy discussion continues right now as the board and its staff begin to craft a budget for the next fiscal year, which launches with the new year.
A decade ago, under different leadership, the village board became more attentive to the impact of its spending on the overall amount taxpayers — residential, multifamily and commercial — were paying in property taxes. And that concern came with the stipulation that the vast majority of local property tax dollars go not to the village but to the two public school districts. Under Home Rule, village government has nearly endless and inventive ways to fill its coffers with taxes on cable and cell service — now on pot — and also property transfer taxes and permits and fees.
At that time, though, the board imposed a voluntary target, which capped annual increases in its property taxes at 3%. And they stuck to it.
More recently, that 3% cap has been debated, relaxed, and debated some more.
When the board met Sept. 3 to talk about the year ahead, there were clear points of differentiation among board members. Several members said a cap was less important than seeing village services maintained and even expanded. Trustee Susan Buchanan argued that if the village is serious about its ambitious climate goals it will have to fund various climate initiatives. Trustee Brian Straw said residents have pointed to the controversial choice to ask them to bag leaves for collection as an indicator of services being curtailed.
Trustee Ravi Parakkat said in his three years on the board he has not seen services curtailed as a money-saving effort.
And Trustee Cory Wesley, doing the summing up as he often does well, said that having a levy rise or fall from year to year, based on immediate circumstances vs. holding to a cap, is basically a “policy decision” for the board to make.
We have long argued that Oak Park has reached property tax saturation and have urged each local taxing body to find ways to contain spending through innovation and negotiating more realistic contracts with their staff members.
That said, the first days of a new budget planning cycle are the right time for these broader governance discussions.