The first installment of real estate tax bills is due June 1 for many Naperville residents in DuPage and Will counties. Most homeowners pay the bulk of their real estate taxes to local school districts. Other taxing districts on bills are the city, county, township, park district, forest preserve, community college, and more.
How do your taxes this year compare to last? What about your assessment--how has the value of your home changed? A higher assessment can be a big part of the reason for higher taxes, though a taxing district's rate may have increased due to a referendum. How much are you paying, and are you getting your money's worth?
Friday's Sun profiles Robert Marshall, Naperville's interim city manager. Marshall, 54, a 30-year veteran of the Naperville Police Department, is in the running, and, some might say, has the inside track to replace Peter Burchard as city manager. How good of a job do you think Marshall is doing? Should the City Council give him the job and remove "interim" from his title, or continue with plans to conduct a nationwide search for a replacement?
Naperville expected to reap $2.4 million in new revenue this year by launching a red-light photo enforcement program that would automatically send tickets to people caught on tape violating traffic signal regulations. Now the city manager says the program is plagued with technical problems, and staff recommend the city council terminate a contract with a company administering the program.
What do you think of the plan to seek bids from other companies? Given this experience and problems with red-light cameras reported in other communities across the country, how wise is it for Naperville to commit to a program at this time? What about the revenue the city expected from the program--no doubt it will be less, maybe lost altogether. How should the council address the revenue shortfall?
"I think it's ludicrous." That was the response Naperville City Councilman Jim Boyajian gave The Sun when contacted for a story (Sun. 4.27) that spotlighted the $4,950 that is budgeted for magazine and newspaper subscriptions for council members. That amount is the second largest expense in the city's 2008-2009 Mayor and City Council budget (cell phone allowances are first at $5,400). Boyajian, who reaches into his own pocket to pay for his reading materials, is not alone among council members in thinking this is a waste of money - especially in these cash-strapped times. Councilman John Rosanova wanted to do away with the allowance - that accounts for almost 12% of the $41,475 Mayor and City Council budget - entirely, but said talks never took hold during last month's budget workshops. So, do you think this is fiscally responsible, or should the Naperville City Council receive this allowance to keep up on their reading. The comment line is open.
In Sunday's Sun (4.20) we feature an informative piece about how the Naperville Police Department plans to cope with a City Council directive to cut overtime spending by 5 percent, to $3 million this year. The comprehensive investigation also looks at the amount of money officers rack up in OT.Though the dollar numbers look big, the annual percentage is actually lower than one of our neighboring municipalities that is comparable in size. We also look at the cops and how they can make money working various summer festivals etc. and where those dollars in police overtime actually come from. The answers may surprise you. A natural reaction might be to say, well, why not just hire more cops instead of paying stiff overtime? That question is answered, too. We're curious what you think - since it's your tax dollars at work - and whether you think the NPD can be successful in following the Council's mandate to cut overtime spending and maintain the quality of public safety Napervillians are accustomed to. Let us know right here.
The City Council has reversed itself and undone a restrictive noise ordinance that was passed last year. Some downtown establishments can resume having live music outdoors this summer. What do you think of the latest change?
In a letter from his attorney, Shawn Collins, Councilman Dick Furstenau offered to settle his lawsuit against the city of Naperville and several of its officials. Furstenau is seeking an apology from the city to end the civil suit that came after his acquittal on battery charges against a Naperville police officer. He is also seeking an unspecified amount of money from the city that, presumably, will be negotiated. The latest round in this saga comes on the heels of Furstenau's fellow councilman, Grant Wehrli, publicly chastising Furstenau for the lawsuit. Wehrli claimed in a letter he read in Council chambers that the Furstenau lawsuit is responsible for the bulk of the city's largest municipal property tax rate increase in 17 years. Is this an olive branch that Furstenau is extending to the city? If so, should the city accept it, apologize, pay the money and move on? Or, should the city stand firm and let this play out in a Chicago courtroom? The comment lines are open.
In a stinging - and very public - rebuke, Naperville city councilman Grant Wehrli pulled no punches in attacking one of his own, fellow councilman Dick Furstenau. In a letter read in an open meeting yesterday and published in The Sun and at napersun.com today (Thurs., 3.27), Wehrli takes Furstenau to task over his lawsuit againt the city and several of its employees. Wehrli says these are tough economic times - where the city is faced with declining revenues - and is faced with the onerous task of voting on the largest municipal property tax rate increase in 17 years. But the bulk of that tax rate increase, Wehrli says, is the direct responsibility of Furstenau because of the money needed to pay for the city's defense of his lawsuit which, at last count, was estimated to be in the $600,000 range. Is this how you want your tax dollars spent or is Dick Furstenau right for making a stand and suing the city?
Friday's Sun reports that Will County authorities are asking the federal government for funding to begin the long-awaited extension of 95th Street, east of Plainfield-Naperville Road, over the DuPage River, to Boughton Road in Bolingbrook. If the project is completed by 2011 as officials hope, will it have been worth the wait?
The City Council last week approved an increase of $120,000 to the money set aside by the city to cover litigation costs in the civil rights lawsuit that Councilman Dick Furstenau has brought against the city. The original funding for this lawsuit was in the $400,000 range and, well, just do the math...now it''s more than a half a million dollars. This comes at a time when the city is holding its annual operating budget workshops with the goal of trying to maintain a comparable tax rate to the past few years in the face of declining revenues such as the real estate transfer tax. Isn't it ironic that one of the overseers of the budgeting - the aforementioned Councilman Furstenau - is in a position of being a fiscal watchdog of city money while at the same time $500,000 (and counting) of Napervillians' taxpayer money is being diverted to defend the lawsuit that he himself brought on the city? Anyone have any ideas on this?
