By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
The village of Plainfield has approved the plan to collect taxpayer funds, but not without a fair amount of discussion and negotiation on the best way to fund its coffers.
On Dec. 5, board members approved the 2016 tax levy, seeking to maintain the current tax rate of .4669, while capturing an overall boost of 4 percent based on newly captured Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV).
The levy determines the tax rate – the amount of money per $100 of assessed valuation that property owners pay in taxes.
The village hopes that the levy will maintain the current tax rate of .4669, meaning that on the village line item of tax bills, for every dollar paid, 4.9 cents are paid to the village.
The village hopes to collect a total of $6.1 million, however, the actual amount won’t be determined until the spring.
Trustee Garrett Peck said he was initially against the terms of the levy, but felt better about its effect on the residents of Plainfield after crunching all the numbers with village staff.
“I was initially not going to be voting in favor of the levy,” Peck said. “There are other considerations that have come up.”
Peck said that after meeting with village staff on ways to save taxpayers some cash in the upcoming calendar year, he felt satisfied that there was a way to keep the tax rate at or near the same level.
“I did not want to see any raise in property taxes for residents in the village of Plainfield,” Peck said. “What we were able to come up with… is that we have a capital charge in our water fee, and in the past this has gone up, against my wishes. What I would like to see happen, and what I can see done by staff and budgeting, is hopefully the capital charge can be lowered on everyone’s water bill.”
That change would represent a 50-cent reduction in water bills, but enough to save taxpayers while keeping taxes low.
“We’re only going to take what we need. That’s my mindset, and I hope the board agrees with me on this,” Peck said.
Other village officials agreed that seeking out ways to save money for taxpayers is a major consideration as they look at the levy each year.
“This was negotiated and discussed as individuals and as a board,” said Trustee James Racich, noting that each of the elected officials took staff to task over how to keep bills down for residents.
Racich added that adding a few cents per dollar in tax dollars collected is not an outrageous amount.
“[Village staff] are doing exactly what they have to do at the lowest possible cost,” Racich said. “No one is gouging anyone… Services are commensurate with the amount of taxes that people pay.”
Trustees said the number one priority is to make sure that the village is run efficiently.
“The most important thing is that we run the village very well,” said Trustee Bill Lamb.
“The village has a lot fewer employees than we did seven or eight years ago, and we’re still running extremely well. The streets are clean, it’s very nice, we’re replacing trees, we have a water and sewer system that works fantastically for us all. It’s a well-run village. That’s the number one thing. If we have that, and can then save tax payers money, that’s great too. We’ll try to do that.”
There were no comments during the public hearing on the tax levy. The public hearing was not required by state statute since Plainfield is a home rule community, however, the village has traditionally held a public hearing in the spirit of transparency.
Over the past five years, the village has asked for a levy which will keep the tax rate the same.
Board members said the annual exercise, required under state law, is meant to keep the village running while placing the smallest burden on tax payers.
“We’re all in this together, three’s no one up here looking to raise taxes,” said Trustee Margie Bonuchi.
The levy document can be read in full on the village website, www.plainfield-il.org.