Geneva council pulls $68M referendum from ballot

The Geneva City Council and Mayor Kevin Burns voted Tuesday night to rescind the $68 million referendum from the April 1 ballot because of a formula error used to compute the impact on property taxes.

Burns said instead of an increase of about $200 for the average Geneva house valued at $392,800, the increase would be double – $400 – for the full $68 million.

Alderpersons debated for more than an hour over whether to allow the referendum to advance as stated, let the referendum go on the ballot but also pass a non-binding resolution that the city would only bond $45 million required for a new police station, or rescind and take it off the ballot entirely.

Burns said even if the referendum was successful, even borrowing $45 million for just a new police station and not a new fire station, it would be $50 to $100 more than proposed to voters during citizen surveys last year.

“The cost of selling only a tranche of bonds sufficient to design, develop and build a new police station, will likely exceed the comfort level our property owners expressed,” Burns said. “We are challenged with determining the best course of action.”

Nine alderpersons and Burns ultimately voted 10-0 – with First Ward Alderperson Anaïs Bowring absent – to file paperwork by Thursday with the Kane County Clerk to take the question off the ballot entirely.

One of the sticking points – other than the miscalculation of cost to taxpayers – was that a resolution pledging not to issue bonds for more than $45 million was not binding.

“I don’t like the non-binding pledge,” Fifth Ward Alderperson Robert Swanson said.

“What would be the negatives of rescinding ... and going for a referendum in the future?” Swanson asked. “It would be a one-year delay...I don’t see super negative repercussions if we wait a year and try to do this right.”

Burns did not elaborate on how the formula error used to compute the property tax occurred.