It is the most peculiar, silent, under-the-radar tax hike referendum vote in our memory. Take our word for it River Foresters, when you get to the voting machine on Nov. 2, the village government is going to ask your approval for a one-cent increase in the local sales tax.
And we urge you to approve the hike even though, to date, absolutely no one has bothered to make the case for why you should, or why you shouldn’t, for that matter.
The village government got kudos from us early this year for getting an actual change in state law that would allow non-home-rule communities like River Forest to ask voters to raise the sales tax for a fixed number of years. The new wrinkle? They’re now allowed to use that money not just for capital improvement projects, but for general operating funds.
Since voting for the referendum in August, though, the village has gone silent. Odd, in the extreme.
River Forest is financially stressed. New revenues are essential. The sales tax hike, which would just bring River Forest into balance with Oak Park’s rate, would push this burden not onto River Forest taxpayers but onto anyone who shops locally.
That’s the case. Someone needs to make it, and no one in Sleepy Hollow seems up to the task.
