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Spring Valley will again vote on sales tax increase By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
SPRING VALLEY — Spring Valley residents will once again be asked to vote on an increased sales tax to better fund street improvements. On Monday, the council approved to place the question on the November election ballot, with aldermen Tom Nesti and Jack Narczewski voting against the decision.
Narczewski has voiced his opinion on the increased tax rate at previous council meetings. He expressed how he felt taxes were already too much a burden for Spring Valley residents. The decision to place the question on the ballot a second time was not a surprise, as Mayor Walt Marini previously said he wanted to urge voters to reconsider the tax increase. The current sales tax
As on the March primary ballot, the question will read: “Shall the corporate authorities of the City of Spring Valley be authorized to levy an additional Retailer’s Occupation Tax at a rate of 1/2% for expenditures on municipal operations, expenditures on public infrastructure or other property tax relief?” In March, voters of Spring Valley said “no” to the proposition. The final election results showed 257 “yes” votes vs. 327 “no” votes.
rate in Spring Valley is 6.75 percent. With the increase, the tax rate would be 7.25 percent. On Tuesday, Marini said the funds would strictly go toward street repairs. Right now the city is seeing less and less funding in Motor Fuel Tax and the budget cannot cover all the needed street repairs, following the harsh winters. He said at a recent meeting with state Sen. Sue Rezin and the direc-
tor of the Illinois Department of Transportation, the decreasing Motor Fuel Tax funds was a topic of discussion. “Most communities are now looking at a sales tax to supplement the funds,” he explained. He added one of the reasons behind the decrease is that vehicles are on their way to becoming more fuel efficient. “They said by 2025, cars will get 54 miles per gallon,” he said.
Last month, alderman Chuck Hansen, chairman of the Streets and Alleys Committee, expressed frustration with having lack of funds for street repairs. He said the council had more money back in 1993 to do repairs than they do today and many residents believe that property taxes cover street repairs, which is not the case.
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Dam construction expected to begin soon in DePue IDNR Engineer assigned to project manager By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
DEPUE — The DePue Village Board has turned its attention to the placement of a temporary dam in the channel that connects Lake DePue and the Illinois River. At Monday’s village board meeting, Mayor Eric Bryant briefly discussed that Rick Gosch, chief of engineering studies for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), will be project manager for this year’s temporary dam project. Gosch is expected to be on site within the next few weeks to look over the area and plans to build a dam will be drawn from there. Later this year, Bryant said experts will be looking into making the temporary dam a permanent one. This was a wish the village wanted a year ago when they were forced to build its second temporary dam after the drought of 2012. However issues with permits held back the project at that time. This year, Bryant is hopeful plans will better fall into place. A dam is needed in the channel to help regulate the lake levels during the summer months. As previously reported, a dam in DePue would help boost recreation, such as duck hunting, at the lake, according to Bryant.
DePue Page 3 Year 168 No. 58 Two Sections - 32 Pages
BCR photo/Goldie Currie
Clearing the junk The city of Princeton’s annual spring clean-up days ended this week. In the midst of the spring cleaning season, residents had the opportunity to haul to the curb any extra junk they wished to remove from their home. City clean-up crews were out and about clearing away the last piles of trash on Wednesday morning. Pictured are two city employees as they tackle a pool liner a resident wished to have removed.
Decommissioning costs still a concern By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — The county of Bureau is moving into negotiations with the new owners of the Big Sky wind farm, located north of Ohio, to determine just how future decommissioning costs of the Big Sky wind farm will be met.
The Bureau County Board’s decision to go into negotiations followed a lengthy board discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, which also included comments from a concerned resident as well as comments from a representative of the new Big Sky owner, the Pittsburgh-based EverPower Wind Co. The new owner has asked the county board to agree
to a letter of credit for the decommissioning plan, rather than keep the current cash-on-hand arrangement. At Tuesday’s meeting, Bureau County State’s Attorney Pat Herrmann said the board has three options: to move forward with the letter of credit of just over $1.9 million, to keep funds as they are currently
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in a separate county account only for decommissioning or to accept the cash in a cash escrow account to be handled by an escrow agent. The letter of credit would be in the name of the Big Sky wind farm, regardless of whom the owner may be, Herrmann said.
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