Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
New Lenox Fire Station #2 was expected to reopen Wednesday after village trustees agreed to loan $450,000 to the area’s fire protection district. The station at 1205 N. Cedar Road was closed March 30 after a referendum for tax rate increase failed to pass in the March 20 primary by 212 votes.
The New Lenox Fire Protection District board approved the intergovernmental agreement at its April 16 meeting, and village trustees took action Monday. The loan, which has no specific deadline for paying it back, will cover the cost of personnel from now until the end of this year and will keep the station open until Jan. 1, 2019. The station will be fully staffed, and many of the 12 firefighters who were laid off last month will return though some have found other jobs.
According to the agreement, the fire district will begin repaying the no-interest loan for $50,000 annually for nine years if voters approve a tax hike. The fire district plans to place another referendum on the November ballot, but Riegel said the amount has not been determined.
The chief also said fire officials are working with an accounting firm to determine what type of service the district can sustain at its current tax rate, how it can build up reserves and be able to buy new equipment, if needed.
At its March 19 meeting – the day before the primary election – the fire board voted to borrow $750,000 in Tax Anticipation Warrant to cover payroll and expenses until tax revenues arrive in June.
When village trustees discussed the loan at its April 9 meeting, officials said then that the public did not realize that a failed referendum would force the closure of a fire station.
The district was seeking to raise the tax from 38 to 59 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation for a four-year period – 2018-2021, adding about $70 per year to the tax bill of a $100,000 home. It was the fifth time it tried and failed to get voters to approve a rate hike.
thanks Dan
