Tax Hike Looms over Wilmette

As the housing bubble has burst and the market has at least slowed in less vulnerable areas, dropping housing prices and home equity, at least one member of the Wilmette village board wants to raise taxes to create "affordable" housing, socking seniors particularly with a punitive tax. Does anyone else think we are under-taxed in Illinois? Wilmette Life:

Wilmette village trustees began working last month on their "to do" list for the new year. Next week they'll begin facing decisions on how much the village should do to promote its goals of creating more affordable housing in town.

The board, meeting as a committee of the whole, is scheduled to take up the issue at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at Village Hall, 1200 Wilmette Ave. Trustees last May agreed to "receive" a report by the board's Finance Committee that called for a more-active role in creating affordable housing through a $5,000 teardown tax and other measures. With little support for such a tax, the board at that time stopped short of signing on to the report's recommendations, but trustees agreed to continue studying the issue. [snip]

"The way I see it working is that we'll work through the 'next steps' section and see where we go," Watt said.

At the end of 2004, trustees set a goal of making 15 percent of new residential units affordable, but details of how to do that and whom to serve with affordable housing remain controversial. Two years ago, a teardown tax of $12,000 was proposed and then shelved after builders and Realtors led protests against it, maintaining it would hurt the housing market and older sellers

This was an election issue last spring, resulting in two new trustees on the board opposed to the idea. And this is not the first time Trustee Watt has pushed for still higher taxes. More on this one:

Watt said she remains receptive to the idea of a teardown tax and thinks some form of it should also apply to large home additions.

Let your trustees know what you think--Feb. 7th is next Thursday.

Related posts: Have a Nice Day, AH Subsidies on Wilmette Agenda, Tax Frustration