Election 2024: Marengo Park District is asking voters to expand its footprint – and its tax base

Those in charge at the Marengo Park District admit its March 19 referendum – seeking to annex properties in Marengo, Riley and Coral townships – may confuse voters.

Property owners in those townships might want to check with their township assessor’s office to find out not only if their property would be included in the annexation, but what their tax bill would be if it’s successful, park district Director Dan Bertrand said.

The park district wants to annex the surrounding townships “to increase our property tax revenue,” Bertrand said.

The park district hosted its final public information session Thursday night at the Fitness Center at Indian Oaks Park. About 20 residents came out to learn about the district’s referendum questions.

Established in the 1970s, the Marengo Park District only includes the city of Marengo, Bertrand said. As the city has grown by annexation, the park district has extended its borders to match it, but still only receives $420,000 a year in property taxes. It has also struggled financially for years. The district estimates it would see about a $300,000-a-year jump in property tax if voters OK the annexation.

“Everything is 30 years old,” Bertrand said of the park district – its roads, parking lots and playgrounds included. Just repaving its deteriorated roads and parking lots now carries a $500,000 price tag, he said. At the same time, about 40% of those who use the district’s program and amenity are non-residents from the surrounding townships.

Those non-residents pay slightly more in user fees than residents, Bertrand said. If the referendum is not approved, those out-of-district users will see fees jump to 75% more than in-district users in May, and 100% more the following year, Bertrand said.

The ballot question is complicated because the language used in it comes directly from the Illinois Park District Code. The question excludes any tract of land larger than 20 acres unless that tract is subdivided into lots or blocks, bounded on three sides by land subdivided into lots or blocks, or is zoned for commercial/industrial uses.

If successful, the referendum would include all of the village of Union, which does not have a park district, and unincorporated subdivisions in the county – as long as the lots are subdivided, Bertrand said. The annexation is not designed to include large tax increases on farmland. If an agricultural zoned area is under 20 acres, “it will be taxed but not at the rate we have advertised,” Bertrand said.

That is also where some residents are confused. If they live on a farm of over 20 acres, are they included in the referendum – and a property tax increase – or not?

That was the question Robert Olsen had. His farm is outside Marengo and the farmstead – the house and barn – has a separate Property Index Number (PIN), to differentiate it from the farmland.

He called his township assessor in Friday morning, to see if the house is included in the referendum. “It looks like I’ll be part of the (annexation) as it goes by PIN numbers,” Olsen told the Northwest Herald in an email. He plans on voting no, Olsen added, because of the extra tax burden and he has never used the park district “other than walking my dog here once, 10 years ago.”

Bart Macomber, a Riley Township resident who also attended the informational meeting, also said he plans to vote against annexation.

He found out about the referendum question via a mailer sent to residents. When he asked neighbors about it, “none of them had read it” and were not aware of the referendum, he added.

His no vote is based on what the tax increase would be “and the only reason I know there is a park district is is because we toured it one day” after moving to the area two years ago, Macomber said.

Others asked Bertrand and Park District board President Marty Mohr how they can know if the property taxes the district receives now is being used responsibly.

Mohr directed residents to the park district website and their financial audit, and noted that he ran for the board five years ago because of his own concerns about spending. On his first tax bill after moving to Marengo, he was shocked to see he paid more in taxes to the park district than to the fire district, Mohr said. “I came here asking questions,” including why there was an unused pool full of green water, Mohr said. He quickly learned the park district’s issues stemmed from being “poorly managed for year and years ago.”

The current board and Bertrand are righting that ship, Mohr said, but little can be done without additional property on the tax rolls.

The pool’s construction was approved by voters in the mid-1990s, Bertrand said, but voters did not approve the tax increase to operate it. That pool was removed last year, and the site is being redeveloped as an outdoor events space called The Venue. A $600,000 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant from the state will pay to finish the work.

Residents in the park district will see three questions on their ballot – one for each township. Township residents will see just one question when they go to the polls. For the annexation to happen, both sides must approve the referendum question. District officials say those who already live in the district would see no change to their property tax bill, should the ballot measure pass. Those outside the district would pay in property taxes to the district approximately $130 for every $100,000 of “fair cash value” of their home, according to district information.

Aside from the annexation question, those who live in the city limits of Marengo will also see two sales tax referendum requests on their March 19 primary ballot: The city is seeking to enact a 1% sales tax to raise money for public infrastructure, while McHenry County is asking voters to approve a 0.25% sales tax increase to fund mental health services. The latter would replace a property tax levy now issued for mental health services.