NORTHBROOK — Taxpayers may be paying less to the Northbrook Park District next year, as the Park Board of Commissioners reduced its real estate property tax levy 11.4 percent.
The commissioners unanimously voted to cut the 2016 levy due in 2017 after a public hearing December 7 at the Leisure Center cutting the levy 11.4 percent and planning ahead for the 10-year master plan, which will be ready in the first quarter of next year.
The cut means a $36 reduction per each $100,000 worth of property value, according to Mindy Munn, the park district’s director of finance. She said the cut is the result of paying off bonds first sold in 2000 and refinanced in 2003 with a lower interest rate, and a shorter term to purchase the land for Techny Prairie Park.
Munn said since the bonds are no longer an obligation for the park district, the commissioners are legally required to reduce the levy to return the savings to the taxpayers. Before proposing the cut, she said she built in the allowed increases to ensure money is available for operating expenses.
Munn said property taxes can only go up the lesser of the increase in the Consumer Price Index or five percent, which is the case with all non-home rule taxing bodies in Illinois. She said this is necessary to ensure money for expenses such as health care, which have traditionally been climbing at a significantly higher rate than inflation.
“We don’t know exactly how much we’re going to get (from the Cook County Assessor) but the money we can add is plugged in,” Munn said. “Our health care costs are not going up next year and that is unusual.”
An additional $86,000 is included in the 2017 projections based on the cost of living and another $172,000 for new property, according to Munn.
With the bonds paid off, board President Michael Schyman said there are no immediate plans to incur new debt in the immediate future. He did say the 10-year master plan, which has been in the works for more than a year, will be complete in the first quarter of 2017. It could contain projects that mandate new capital outlays.
“There could be projects at our major facilities like Meadowhill, Wood Oaks and Sportsman’s Country Club,” said Schyman. “We know improvements will be needed. East Northbrook is underserved and if something comes up we’ll take a look.”
With Lake Forest-based builder Swanson Development set to buy the 125-acre Green Acres Country Club and turn it primarily into a housing development in northeast Northbrook, according to a December 1 Pioneer Press story, Schyman said some of the acreage could become parkland.
“The builder will have to donate land or give cash to the park district,” Schyman said citing a legal requirement. “We will be looking very closely at that.”
Once Swanson closes on Green Acres, the village will have to approve any development, according to the Pioneer Press article.
Green Acres is a bonus for the park district with the master plan nearing completion, according to Schyman.
“We’re very excited about the master plan,” said Schyman. “It’s a huge undertaking.”