***UPDATE: Rumor has been confirmed. Village Manager to present Municipal Property Tax Proposal to Village Board at Committee of the Whole meeting on November 17th. Vote on property tax hike could come on November 24th or December 22nd.****

***Sign up for the  SFC’s email newsletter to receive important alerts on the potential property tax hike.***

6.7% Increase in Schaumburg’s Property Tax Bills for 2008

If you are a homeowner, you probably have gotten your property tax bill from Cook County already. If not, you are likely to be in for a big surprise. According to the Chicago Tribune, the median property tax bill for Schaumburg residents rose 6.7% to $3,492 for 2008.

The Daily Herald reported that dozens of people stormed the Schaumburg Township office Friday with their property tax bills in hand, outraged in the hike of property taxes. In addition to the 6.7% tax hikes, many homeowners did not receive their proper homeowner’s property tax exemption.

These property tax increases come at absolutely the worst possible time with the Schaumburg and national economy still smarting from the longest recession since the Great Depression. As bad as this tax news is it could be about to get much worse.

Schaumburg Plans First Ever Municipal Property Tax for Next Year?

An anonymous source has sent the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition information that outlines a plan by the Village Trustees and Mayor Larson to create a whole new municipal property tax only a few days before Christmas, with little notice and little opportunity for public input. Bah, Humbug!

This is the third time the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition has received such an anonymous tip in the past few months.

Background: Municipalities in Illinois have 3 main ways to collect property taxes: general municipal property taxes, tax increment financing districts (TIF’s), and special service areas. Currently, the Village of Schaumburg has 2 TIF’s and a half a dozen or so special service areas but no general municipal property tax. Together these two property tax types collected close to $3 million from area residents, and $2.6 million from the Olde Schaumburg Centre TIF district alone.

Already Two Tax Hikes in Last 12-Months

Twice in the last year the Village of Schaumburg has increased its property tax haul. First an $11.8 million increase in the size of the Olde Schaumburg Centre TIF district to a $49.5 total cost over 23 years, but with the district set to expire in 2012 the entire $11.8 million increase will be collected in the next 4 years. Even bigger, the Village Board & Mayor Larson passed a gigantic $120 million property tax increase to fund the new STAR line TIF district surrounding Schaumburg’s municipally owned Renaissance Convention Center & Hotel. Including $94 million in corporate welfare to tear down and replace existing developments.

In both instances Village Trustees broke a pledge not to raise property taxes.

Tax Hike Theory Follows Established Village Tax Hike Playbook

Normally, I would not put too much credence into an anonymous unmarked letter, but certain information sounds all too familiar when it comes to Village tactics when it comes to hiking property taxes.

Our anonymous source wrote:

“Why do you think they changed the November and December Board meetings to the 4th Tuesday of the month and not the 2nd Tuesday as they have done for years. It’s so they can spring this on the unsuspecting residents with no public input. No public meeting.”

This is eerily similar to what happened with the two Schaumburg TIF district property tax hikes over the last year. When Schaumburg hiked the Olde Schaumburg Centre property taxes $11.8 million late last year they did so at a “special” Village Board Meeting on December 16th, 2008. So “special” in fact that at the regularly scheduled Village Board meeting on December 9th, 2008, Village Trustee George Dunham and Mayor Al Larson went out of their way to unusually and repeatedly proclaim there would be no more Village Board meetings until January of 2009.

Surprise, surprise, Village Minutes revealed no citizens showed up to the “special” board meeting on December 16th, 2008 and the “special” property tax increase passed unanimously. It should be noted that not once did any type of announcement appear in Schaumburg’s Cracker Barrel Newsletter or the Daily Herald, nor did the Fifth Amended Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan & Project document ever appear on the Village of Schaumburg website, which details the massive expansion plan. The Schaumburg Freedom Coalition only obtained this document through a Freedom of Information Act request.

For the new $120 million STAR line TIF district property taxes that passed unanimously on April 14th, 2009 much of the same tactics appeared. Despite repeated requests by the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition, the Village Board of Schaumburg refused to put any notification on the Village website or in the Cracker Barrel publication about the details of the project including the size, scope, and eligibility of the project. The Village also refused our request to put the project up for referendum, which could have been done easily considering a non-binding referendum on Cook County sales taxes appeared on the municipal ballot only 7 days earlier.

Why didn’t they want the public to have input on a decision as big as the STAR line TIF district? Simple, because Schaumburg residents likely would have shot it down by an overwhelming margin.

A non-binding referendum to reduce Cook County Sales taxes happened 7 days before the property tax increase, and Schaumburg voters overwhelmingly voiced by a 91%-9% margin an opinion that we want lower taxes, not the higher taxes that the Village board gave us.

Should Schaumburg residents be worried about a tax increase?

Yes. The past history of the Village Board and Mayor Larson’s dubious tactics in raising TIF property taxes give our anonymous  source every reason to be suspicious of a new municipal property tax coming before Christmas at the December 22nd board meeting. Our source wrote:

“Worry about the new “property tax” that they are planning on springing on the public at the last December Board meeting. That is the last date they can pull this off this year and have any impact in the 2010 budget. By passing it in December, it will allow them to see the millions of dollars in the fall of 2010. If they wait until spring 2010, they won’t see any of the millions until spring of 2011. Too late for the 2010/11 budget.”

Continues…

“The problem is there is such a huge hole in the current budget. Mayor Larson has done nothing to curtail spending. He refuses to cut any of his pet projects so the Village continues to burn through money like there is no tomorrow. With all the major revenue sources (sales, etc) reporting at least a 20% drop, the Mayor should be spending time going through the budget and recommending cuts. Instead he continues to do nothing. It is time for a change.”

“Something that is as major as this should be on the ballot as a referendum in the spring so the public can decide if they want this. That’s not going to happen.”

I absolutely agree with our anonymous tipster that the Village has done nothing in the way of making the appropriate cuts in spending, and any tax increase proposal should have to be approved by the citizens of Schaumburg.

If this proposal is indeed true ( I hope it isn’t) why shouldn’t the Village Board put this up as a referendum for voter approval or disproval? If the Village Board and Mayor Larson believe in democracy and the will of the people then there is absolutely no reason the Board should move unilaterally without direct voter consent.

We will be watching and listening for any developments on this story in the coming weeks and months and will report any developments. If and when a property tax increase proposal is solidified we must demand from the Village Board a referendum opportunity to vote this tax increase down. Mark the December 22nd Village Board meeting on your calendars now!

To keep informed of property tax increase developments:

Sign up for the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition’s newsletter to be notified if and when a property tax hike proposal is confirmed by the Village.

Also sign up for our Facebook group and Twitter for the latest updates, meetings, and news on this and other Schaumburg issues.

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