Excerpts from wrex.com:
The Harlem-Roscoe Fire Protection District will ask voters to approve a new tax on April 4 to help prepare for the future.
Harlem-Roscoe Fire Chief Patrick Trollop says steadily increasing call volumes and population in the district will likely require the department to increase its full time staff.
To prepare for the future, the board of commissioners put a question on the ballot asking voters to approve a new tax specifically designated for pension funding. The tax would only cost homeowners with a $100,000 home 48 cents a year. If approved now, the small tax would build a big enough base to allow the department to roll right into hiring when the call volume rises above what they can handle right now.
The question will appear on your ballot like this:
PROPOSITION TO CREATE A NEW TAX RATE FOR PENSION FUND PURPOSES
“Shall the HARLEM-ROSCOE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT, Winnebago County, Illinois, be authorized to levy a new tax for firefighters’ pension purposes and have an additional tax of 0.001432% of the equalized assessed value of the taxable property therein extended for such purposes?”
#1 by Mike on April 1, 2023 - 9:35 AM
This is kind of worded wrong. The referendum and money is to start a pension tax levy and pay into the article 4 pension. So it’s not really going to adding staff. It’s going to cover the employee pension obligations for hired district employees, because if they don’t have the separate pension levy the employer contribution comes out of the general budget fund.