Champaign County Forest Preserve: Tax defeated
By: Paul Wood
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
MAHOMET – The failure of a forest preserve tax increase vote isn't too disappointing to its proponents.
Champaign County Forest Preserve Executive Director Jerry Pagac said Tuesday night that given the economy, the timing was not right to ask voters for even a small increase in taxes.
With 108 of 118 precincts in, the vote was 39,479 against to 29,195 in favor.
The forest preserve district board asked voters to approve a property tax hike from 7.19 cents to 9 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation.
The money would have been used to purchase additional forest preserve land.
Another project would be to develop and maintain a new bike and horse trail connecting Urbana to Kickapoo State Park near Danville.
Finally, the tax money would have been used to improve infrastructure at the five county forest preserves, including inadequate drainage pipes.
But the Champaign County Farmers Bureau led the efforts against the ballot question, opposing using property tax money to acquire more land, including farmland.
Pagac said the forest preserve district will survive without the extra money.
"We didn't want to give the impression that the sky was falling. We would like to be able to do those things, but with the timing of the economic downturn, it was unfortunate," Pagac said.
Pagac said the board will have to decide if another effort will be made in the future.
The owner of a $150,000 home with standard exemptions currently pays $35.95 a year to the forest preserve district. If the ballot question were approved, that owner would be paying $45.95 a year.