Excerpts from MySuburbanLife.com:

Officials from the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District said the district’s loss of funding from commercial fire alarms and added costs from the Affordable Care Act are behind the upcoming referendum to create a new tax fund for the district.

The proposed emergency and rescue tax, which will be on the primary ballot on March 15, would add a 0.1 percent tax on the equalized assessed value of property within the district. The tax would add about $61 to the tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 home who takes the homestead exemption. That would increase the fire district’s portion of that resident’s tax bill by about 10 percent, based on tax rates from last year.

In all, it would raise about $900,000 to the department’s tax revenue on top of the current projected revenue of about $8 million.

The numbers were presented during an information session Wednesday night. Additional information sessions are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 20 and Feb. 10 at the fire district headquarters at 1020 W. Algonquin Road.

Van Dorpe said in his presentation the department needs a revenue boost because a federal court decision in 2015 forced the department to stop providing radio frequency fire alarms to commercial property in its district. Providing that service netted the department $407,000 at its peak in 2013.

The chief said the Affordable Care Act would require the district to provide health care to part-time employees at an estimated cost of $200,000. He also cited a long-term decline in property values, a low consumer price index and rises in medical insurance and workers’ compensation.

Van Dorpe’s presentation also said the department had reclassified and eliminated positions to try to make ends meet, but those measures would not be enough in the coming years.

The department is not currently setting aside any money to pay for the replacement of equipment, he said.

Tags: Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire District, Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District, Algonquin-Lake in the Hills FPD seeks tax increase, Fire Chief Peter Van Dorpe

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Citing health insurance costs and aging apparatus, the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District will ask voters for a property tax hike on March 15 at a rate of 0.1 percent of taxable property value, as per state law.

If voters approve the additional tax during the March 2016 election, a home with a market value of $200,000 would pay an additional $67 in property taxes per year, Fire Chief Peter Van Dorpe said.

From the district’s roughly 40,000 residents, the tax would generate about $900,000 in additional revenue. The fire district is facing a $600,000 hole in its nearly $10 million budget, Van Dorpe said.

Though the district formerly operated a commercial fire alarm system, which generated $400,000 per year, a recent federal decision to prohibit such systems forced the district to shut down the operation.

Additionally, Van Dorpe said the district will soon have to provide health insurance to its nearly 20 part-time employees, which will cost about $200,000 per year.

He added that property values within the district have declined 34 percent since 2010, the village’s main source of revenue.

To save money, the district has already cut its administrative staff by 40 percent and reduced the number of firefighters in the station from 19 to 15 per day. An assistant chief position has been civilianized, and all information technology work is being contracted out.

In addition to filling the hole in the budget, the new tax would go toward capital improvement projects, such as purchasing new apparatus. A new ambulance, for example, costs roughly $260,000, a fire truck is $600,000, and a rescue ladder truck is upward of $1 million.

Tags: Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire District, Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District, Algonquin-Lake in the Hills FPD seeks tax increase, Fire Chief Peter Van Dorpe