Just one week after unofficially voting to put a home-rule measure on the November ballot, the Romeoville Village Board has changed its mind.
Actually, public outrage made the decision for them.
On Aug. 12, the Village Board voted 4-3 at an informal workshop to put the home-rule issue on the ballot, which if approved would allow trustees of the debt-ridden village to raise taxes and sell bonds without going to voters for approval under provisions of the state`s tax-cap legislation.
Trustees routinely ratify decisions made at their workshops at their next formal board session.
But not this time.
Mayor John Strobbe had a speech ready that extolled the importance of democracy as he prepared to cast another tie-breaking vote in favor of the measure.
But the trustees who voted for the referendum at the workshop-Emmett Martin, Prudence Pukula and Robert Stoppenbach-sat silently when last week`s board agenda showed it was time to vote on the home-rule measure. None even called for a vote.
”There was a very negative response (to the Aug. 12 vote),” Stoppenbach said.
Even Strobbe had predicted that it would be nearly impossible to pass a home-rule proposal.
Village officials have said the measure was necessary because Romeoville is $7 million in the red and needs to build roads and water and sewer lines so it can compete for developers with home-rule neighbors Bolingbrook and Joliet. But anger within the community aimed at local officials is intense. When the village learned it was in dire financial straits earlier this year, it dismissed 50 of its 140 employees and decided to not buy any new capital equipment for the next year.
Trustees also raised commercial and residential water and sewer rates 60 percent and tacked $15 monthly surcharges on top of that.
Trustees Fred Dewald Jr., Frank Lauro, and Dan Peterek all voted against placing the measure on the ballot. The deadline for placing a measure on the ballot is Aug. 31, but Strobbe and Stoppenbach said there was no chance the issue would be resurrected.
”Now, we just have to wait and have slow, continuous growth,” said Strobbe.
The village previously considered and rejected other revenue-raising measures subject to voter approval. Included were a property tax increase of 40 cents per $100 of assessed value, the sale of $5 million in general obligation bonds, and the sale of $2.5 million in bonds to extend water and sewer services to Renwick and Weber Roads, which is about 3 miles outside the village.
The first two measures would each cost the owner of a $90,000 home about $120 more per year and the third would cost the same person about $60.
