Prepare to get Darched Barrington taxpayers.
Barrington home rule:
Voters in Barrington have approved a ballot measure giving the village home rule authority, with 2,488 votes in favor and 2,102 against, unofficial results showed late Tuesday.
Village officials said home rule status would give them more local control to invest further in roads, bike paths and community spaces. One proposal is the creation of Park Avenue Plaza, a community gathering space and al fresco dining area. To ease residents’ concerns about tax hikes, village trustees approved an ordinance that would prevent them from raising the property tax levy above the current cap set on non-home rule communities.
Voters rejected a similar home rule measure in 2014.
Cook County forest preserves:
Voters across the county agreed to a property tax hike that will help the forest preserve district acquire more land, restore some existing sites, fund maintenance projects, pay down pension costs and expand programming. A portion of the funds will also go to Brookfield Zoo and Chicago Botanic Garden.
With 92% of precincts reporting, unofficial results show 731,555 favored the tax hike and 350,547 opposed it.
Approval of the ballot measure — providing a $43 million boost to the district’s annual budget — will mean paying about $20 more in property taxes a year, on top of about $36 to $48 that currently goes to the district. A coalition of more than 150 organizations supported the request for additional funds for the county’s nearly 70,000 acres of forest preserves.
More here.