A packed audience came to the Lake Station City Council meeting Thursday to offer comments and learn tax impact information on the proposed East Lake Fire Protection Territory, a partnership with the town of New Chicago.
The public couldn’t comment, however, because the wrong address appeared in the legal notice for the public hearing. The council voted to remove it from the agenda.
There will be a do-over Feb. 13 when the council meets in the community room at Edison Sr.-Jr. High School, 3304 Parkside Ave.
The council has been meeting at the school since last summer, after a fire sprinkler pipe burst and flooded City Hall in June.
The address in the legal notice said the meeting was at city hall with its address, not the high school’s address.
The city council will hold three public hearings on the fire territory that would be financed by a new uniform tax paid by residents and taxing units in each community.
It has raised concerns by River Forest and Lake Station school districts about the tax losses they would endure as they struggle to stay afloat.
Financial advisors from the municipalities and Lake Station and River Forest school districts agreed the schools would shoulder the biggest tax impact.
An advisor for the municipalities said Lake Station schools would lose about $37,000 but Lake Station’s financial advisor pegged its loss at about $110,000.
Both Lake Station and River Forest superintendents and members of the school boards attended the meeting.
The council whipped through its agenda, which had no new or old business on it. Council President Rick Long, D-5th, asked the financial advisors to offer some details since so many people came to learn about the fire territory.
The effort comes after the city of Hobart raised its contract fee with New Chicago for ambulance service. Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun said the New Chicago fee of $100 per ride was much lower than the Hobart resident fee of $1,000, and the city sought a higher annual fee from New Chicago.
Its town manager, Sue Pelfrey, said the town couldn’t afford the fee hike after the impact of Senate Bill 1, a property tax reform law that passed last year. The new law hits schools the hardest with estimates at $744 million for districts statewide.
Lake Station council members voiced caution about the fire territory, some saying they needed more meetings to understand it better.
New Chicago has already held one public hearing and will hold a second one Feb. 11.
After all the public hearings are exhausted, the two government bodies will determine whether they want to move forward.
Under the proposal, the Lake Station Volunteer Fire Department would provide ambulance and fire service to New Chicago, which is having trouble staffing its volunteer department. The territory’s first-year tax rate would be about 0.3773 cents per $100 assessed valuation and the equipment replacement tax rate would be $0.0333, or a merged rate of about 0.41 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
Many taxpayers wouldn’t be affected, the advisors said, because their bills are already at the top of their property tax cap. Other taxing units – schools, library, township, county – would absorb the cost and likely reduce their services.
Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Adrian Vera said City Hall will reopen in mid-February. “We should be back in the council chamber for the second meeting in February.
He said the repairs are nearly complete, with cameras being installed and painting nearly done.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
