Leyden Fire Protection District is asking voters to approve a 0.21% tax increase above what the Property Extension Tax Limitation Law would normally allow.
The district includes a few small sections of Franklin Park, the north third of Northlake and the unincorporated sections of Leyden Township. District fire Chief Don Kaderabek noted it includes West Leyden High School, Mannheim Middle School, Westdale and Scott elementary schools and the vast Union Pacific rail yard at the northwest end of the township, which is surrounded by Franklin Park on all sides but is legally unincorporated.
PTELL caps tax levies for most suburban Cook County taxing bodies at the increase in Consumer Price Index or 5%, whichever is smaller. This year, the rate is 2.7%. There are some exceptions – most notably, taxing districts are allowed to levy to capture new properties that come onto the tax rolls, and the levies for pension payments and bond service aren’t capped. Voters can approve tax increases beyond PTELL by a simple majority vote.
Kaderabek said his department serves around 18,000 residents – more than any individual municipality within Leyden Township. He said LFPD currently has 22 firefighters and paramedics, and there are usually at least six of them available per shift. The department has only two fire trucks and two ambulances. According to a chart provided by the department, between 2012 and 2021, the volume of calls increased while the staffing dropped in 2015 and never rebounded.
Another issue is rising expenses. Health insurance costs and dispatching fees keep increasing. LFPD has a fire truck and an ambulance that are nearing the end of their useful life, and maintaining them is increasingly expensive as they age. Buying the new vehicles will allow the district to sell or trade in the older vehicles – a common practice among Illinois fire departments.
The fire station is 23 years old and needs a new roof and a more energy-efficient HVAC system, Kaderabek said. Between that and the solar panel they hope to put it, Kaderabek said, LFPD will save money in the long run – but they must cover the upfront expenses.
“It isn’t like replacing an HVAC in your house – it’s going to cost around $250,000,” he said.
Kaderabek emphasized that the district hasn’t asked for a tax increase in 51 years, and that they’ve relied as long as possible on state and federal grants, which, he said, brought in $365,830 over the past eight years.
“We’ve done our best to manage the funds in the best way we could,” he said. “Our tax levy is below other fire protection districts in Cook County.”
If the referendum passes, it would add around $100 – $150 a year to an average district property owner’s tax bill, according to district estimates.
Two informational open houses took place in February to explain the situation to voters, and Kaderabek said comments were supportive. But he said he knows that it might be a tough sell for some voters.
“There’s no good way to (increase funding),” Kaderabek said. “We put this off as long as we could.”
Igor Studenkov is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
