By Stuart R. Wahlin
Staff Writer

CHERRY VALLEY, Ill.—Village of Cherry Valley leaders determined March 1 that petitioners submitted enough valid signatures to stop a proposed tax to fund a $1.6 million flood control improvement project at the Cherry Valley Regional Storm Water Detention Facility near the Route 20 bypass and Harrison Avenue.

A month ago, residents Theresa Fernbaugh, JoAnne Hudson, Colette Rudis and Bonnie Whitmer delivered petitions to the village clerk to block the tax from being imposed specifically on the special service area (SSA) in which they live.

“You have 2,000 people, or 3,000 people, in Cherry Valley, and they have 400 people paying for this whole thing,” Hudson responded. “That’s not right.”

SSAs are typically established to fund infrastructure or maintenance costs for a specific area in a village by taxing only the residents and businesses within that taxing district.

Meantime, the village attracts residents by boasting no property taxes.

Objectors, however, argued the SSA tax unduly puts the burden on them, and that the cost of the improvements should be more equitably shared, even by those outside the village who are contributing to the runoff.

“We know it needs to be fixed, and we’re not complaining or fighting that we’re being asked to pitch in,” Hudson said. “We just don’t feel it’s fair to ask a handful of people to pitch in.”

Hudson added, “They need to include the whole village in something like this, because the property that was the major repairs being made is public park property.”

With the statutory requirements to stop the tax having been met by objectors, the village cannot try to impose the tax again for at least two years.

Hudson said she thinks village leaders were surprised by the number of signatures from business owners within the SSA. She noted representatives of CherryVale Mall, which would foot the largest portion of the bill, did not sign the petition, however.

As for other possible funding options available to the village for the project, Village Administrator David Nord indicated there is “not a great deal.”

He said the best the village can hope for at the moment are grants from either the state or federal governments.

“Really, those are the only other options we’ve got,” Nord added. “Otherwise, the repairs are gonna have to sit. And when we re-evaluate the cost two years from now, I’m sure they won’t have gone down.”

From the Mar. 3-9, 2010 issue