Hoffman Estates residents will have an opportunity in April to vote on whether the village should continue pursuing its own ZIP code, but the issue may be settled before then.
Mayor William McLeod announced Monday that U.S. Postal Service officials have made an offer that would put most of the suburb into one old and one new ZIP code beginning in mid-2006.
“It’s a good proposal that gives us 95 percent of what we’re asking for,” McLeod said.
The village of 50,000 has been seeking its own ZIP code for more than 25 years, he said. Parts of the village are in ZIP codes for Schaumburg, Barrington and Palatine, which McLeod said makes it difficult for Hoffman Estates to track whether it is being allocated its share of some taxes.
Under the proposal, residents and businesses in northern Hoffman Estates would join those in the western portion of the village who use 60192. Although some Schaumburg residents also use 60192, the ZIP code would be mostly for Hoffman Estates.
Residents living south of the Northwest Tollway, who currently use Schaumburg’s 60194 and 60195, would get a new number, while a pocket of fewer than 1,000 houses north of the tollway would continue to use Barrington and Palatine ZIP codes.
“Providing the Village Board signs off on this, the change would take place in the summer of 2006,” McLeod said. “We would have a year to educate the public prior to the change, and the postal service would continue to deliver mail to the old ZIP codes for a period of time after the new ZIP codes take effect.”
