Following, in alphabetical order, are the six Barrington Hills Trustee candidates’ responses to the Daily Herald’s question regarding property taxes:
Brian Cecola: “I believe that government should operate in the same way that a family or a business does. Over the last few years most families and businesses have had to pay close attention to revenues and expenses and tighten their belts. Government entities should as well. I am a believer that the village government can operate in a more fiscally efficient manner and I have been impressed with the changes established by the new administration under President McLaughlin’s leadership, particularly in the area of reduced legal fees and general administrative expenses. I am a strong advocate for continued spending controls and will support any agenda items that improve village operations while maintaining or improving the level of services to taxpayers. I believe current tax levels can be reduced, especially with families needing some tax relief, most importantly when it comes to their property tax bills. The cost of our village government only makes up about one fifth of the total of our local property tax bill. If our village can reduce spending and show the school district, library district, fire districts, and townships that smaller government IS possible, perhaps we can establish a new pattern of behavior for all taxing bodies to emulate.”
Bryan Croll: “In Barrington Hills, property taxes are the main source of revenue, but of the amount homeowners pay in property taxes to the counties, the village itself only receives about 18 percent of the total. That 18 percent is the area trustees have influence over. My focus would be to look for areas to trim the budget. I think there is room to reduce the budget by about 7 percent from $8.4 million to $7.8 million over the next few years by saving on expenses like legal fees and 911 consolidation. Last year, the first full year under new village leadership, spending came in $448,000 under the $8.4 million budget. That’s the good news. The bad news is that these savings needed to be added into the 2015 road repair budget because the prior administration consistently underfunded its 10-year road maintenance plan, spent the money elsewhere, and created a backlog of 4.79 miles of road that will cost taxpayers $4 million-$5 million to fix. This is on top of the regular $1 million the village spends on road repairs every year. Just clearing that backlog at the same rate of $448,000/year will cost the village over 5 percent of its budget every year for the next 10 years. The village saved enough money last year to offset one-tenth of this deferred maintenance, but will need to continue to come up with extra money each year for another decade just to catch up, making it more difficult to reduce overall spending and deliver the budget reductions our taxpayers deserve.
Michelle Nagy Maison: “I think property taxes in Barrington Hills are too high. Local taxes only account for 18 percent of the total bill but the goal is always to increase efficiencies to get taxes lowered for already overburdened taxpayers. We can achieve this by continuing to work to reduce the village’s spending.”
Patty Meroni: “Barrington Hills has no sales tax. Property taxes are high. First, Barrington Hills is in four counties and two school districts, so taxes vary. The property tax portion that our village government controls is less than 20 percent of a resident’s property tax. School districts represent about 60 percent of a resident’s property tax bill. Nevertheless, our property taxes are high and need to be addressed.”
Mary Naumann: “First, we don’t have sales tax. But property taxes are very high in our village. Unfortunately, the bulk of our property taxes, schools for example, are out of our village government’s control. However, while the part of our property tax bill controlled by our village government is below 20 percent, I feel we must be willing to trim where we can without detracting from the public services our residents rely on.”
Karen Selman: “There is no sales tax in Barrington Hills. Property taxes are high in the village. First, Barrington Hills is in four counties and two school districts, so taxes vary. The property tax portion that our village government controls is less than 20 percent of a resident’s property tax bill. School districts represent almost 60 percent of residents’ tax bills. Nonetheless, our property taxes are high and need to be addressed.”