Municipalities have long acted as a sort of financial go-between for school districts, collecting land or cash from developers for the schools that will have to educate children from new housing. But more than one village is questioning its role as a go-between.
The Algonquin Village Board was recently asked by Carpentersville-based School District 300 to release $260,000 held in escrow by the village. The district planned to use the cash and that held by three other municipalities to buy 40 acres of land for a future school on the southwest side of the village.
But some Algonquin trustees only want to turn over $170,000, or the amount donated by developers who have built on the west side of the village. The board also wants some assurance that the school district will use the monies to benefit Algonquin students.
”I don`t have a problem giving them the money if we have some assurance it will be used for children of Algonquin,” said Trustee Constance Donner.
Trustee Ted Spella disagrees. ”You can`t tell the school district what to do with their money,” he said.
And District 300 can`t promise Algonquin trustees a school will be built on the southwest side site, said Supt. Joseph Scime. ”I can assure them we`ll buy the property with the intention of building a school there. But the voters will decide by referendum whether to build a school,” he said.
Similar requests by the school district to other municipalities have met with mixed reviews. The Kane County Board has turned over $103,094 to the district. Gilberts officials turned down a request for $18,000 because a new school would not benefit their residents. West Dundee trustees will decide in February whether to turn over $62,500 after finding out what impact the school would have on their community.
In Unit District 46, officials in Bartlett have threatened to withhold school impact fees unless the district draws attendance boundaries so that village residents go to a new school. And the city of Crystal Lake is being sued by developers, in part to challenge school impact fees collected for District 47.
In Algonquin, Trustee Donner has grown tired of the village being in the middle. She wants the school district to approach developers directly for financial help.
”It may be time to rescind the (land-cash) ordinance and let the school district collect it,” said Donner.
Other communities, like Lake In The Hills and Hoffman Estates, have ordinances forcing developers to work out a cash or land donation directly with the school districts before the village will approve their projects, said Scime.
The Algonquin board will discuss the matter further at its Tuesday meeting.
