About 75 people turn out for Clarendon Hills informational meeting on home rule

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About 80 people turned out for the Jan. 18 Clarendon Hills informational meeting about home rule at Prospect School. | Chuck Fieldman~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:09AM

About 80 people attended an informational meeting Jan. 18 at Prospect School about home rule and the March 20 Clarendon Hills referendum seeking home-rule authority.

And when it was over, Village President Tom Karaba and Jan Cummings, the spokesperson for a group opposed to Clarendon Hills becoming home rule, agreed on one thing.

“This meeting was good because I am seeing more people come out to get educated,” said Cummings, of the group Citizens for Clarendon Hills. “Even though I’m against home rule, I am very happy to see people coming out to learn. In the end, they do have the responsibility to vote yes or no.”

Karaba also was pleased with turnout for the informational meeting, another of which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at Prospect School.

“I don’t think it could have really gone any better because all we’re trying to do here is make information available to our residents about what home rule is, why we feel we need it and how we would use it,” Karaba said.

“The most important thing is to educate as many people as possible about home rule and then let them vote on the referendum. We just want as many people as possible to be informed about home rule when they vote.”

Cummings said she is very much opposed to Clarendon Hills having home-rule authority because it would take away residents continuing to have a voting voice in issues.

“If they want a sales tax increase, let them ask for that with a referendum, and if they want a property tax increase, let them ask for that,” Cummings said. “With home rule, the Village Board wouldn’t have to ask what we think anymore.”

Karaba said he understands Cummings’ concerns, but has a completely different take on the home-rule issue.

“We have a fundamental difference of opinion,” he said. “She’s ignoring the benefits of having home rule, and I put more weight on that.

“We need as many tools as possible to deal with the challenges we will see in dealing with the General Assembly in Springfield. Home rule isn’t going to solve everything, but it will give us options we don’t otherwise have.”

Home rule grants municipalities additional flexibility to solve local problems, including flexibility with fees, taxes and procedural issues, Village Manager Randy Recklaus said.

Because Clarendon Hills has a population of less than 25,000, it needs voter approval in a referendum to become a home-rule community.

Village officials estimate a proposed new capital improvements tax they likely would institute with home-rue authority would mean an increase of $253 annually for the owner of a $500,000 home. That tax would replace the existing Special Services Area program for which residents in some areas of the village have had increased property taxes to pay for road improvements.

The Village Board also has said it is interested in pursuing an increase of the sales tax by 1 percentage point, while eliminating the 1 percent additional sales tax for restaurants.

Anonymous written questions from the audience were read from cards, including some questioning the village’s spending.

Village officials said $1.1 million in budget reductions have been made since fiscal year 2008-09 and employee salary structures were recently changed, another move aimed at keeping expenses down.

Officials also said without new revenue sources, additional cuts in services will be needed, based on revenue and expense projections by the village.

We could be wrong with our projections,” Karaba said. “We could be too optimistic, or we could be too pessimistic. But with home rule, it allows us the flexibility to address both of these scenarios.”

Ed Corcoran, a member of the steering committee of Citizens for Clarendon Hills, said he believes the answer to a secure financial future for the village is to reduce expenses more.

“We can control our expenses; there’s no need to increase revenue,” he said. “We can do more to control expenses; just do it by normal fiscal discipline. Instead of having expenses increase 5 percent each year, make it 2 1/2 percent by just going over each line item in the budget and cutting.”