One way the city of Elgin could trim about $1 million from the Parks and Recreation Department’s $5 million deficit would be to enact a special recreation tax, an Elgin Parks and Recreation Board commissioner told the Elgin City Council.
Jim Reuter, who’s also the executive director of the Carol Stream Park District, said Illinois law allows cities to levy such a tax if they are members of the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association.
“Illinois is the leader in the entire country for special recreation,” Reuter said at a council budget review session Wednesday night. “I’m here to ask you, Elgin, to be part of this process.”
Maria Cumpata, executive director of the Parks and Rec Department, said a maximum levy amount is .04% based on a home’s equalized accessed valuation can be added to the city’s annual property tax bill.
For an Elgin home valued at $248,000, the tax increase would be about $33, Cumpata said.
That’s about $2.75 a month that cumulatively could generate about $1.12 million in new taxes a year, Reuter said. The new revenue would not only cover the city’s annual special recreation association membership fee, but could money for mandated ADA park improvements and other costs associated with providing recreation programs for special needs children and young adults, he said.
A majority of the 32 communities that belong to the association are already levying the tax, including the village of South Elgin, Reuter said. “Look what they’ve been able to do (with the money),” he said.
Money the city saves on the annual membership fee could be used for something else in the Parks and Recreation operating budget, Reuter said. The cost is small but it will benefit many, he said.
The department has already made cost reductions, saving about $735,000 by keeping the Lords Park Family Aquatic Center and the Eastside Recreation Center closed this year and last, Cumpata said. Despite that, the department still needs about $5 million from the city’s general fund to balance its 2022 budget, she said, and similar infusions of cash are likely to be required in the years ahead.
“Even with these types of savings, the transfers continue to increase year to year,” Cumpata said.
Contributing to the growing expenses are things like an increase in the minimum wage and the escalating costs of salaries, benefits, supplies and contractual services, she said.
“These increases are not going away. We need to look at other revenue sources,” Cumpata said. “One of those sources would be the special recreation tax.”
The council is reviewing the 2022 budget now in anticipation of approving a final spending plan in December. No commitment to or discussion of implementing the tax was made at Wednesday’s meeting.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
