I hope everybody agrees that our infrastructure needs more regular maintenance and improvement. Riverside is a very old town and our infrastructure is as well. Unfortunately, we are paying for past decisions to defer needed maintenance. Ironically, those decisions were deferred because previous boards did not want to tackle the tougher question of how to pay for the maintenance. This board has decided that the buck stops here and has identified the TIF as an alternative to a real estate tax increase via referendum approval. That is the trade off we face here, successfully implement the TIF and generate increased revenue this way or face significantly higher tax bills, which might have the result of making Riverside unaffordable for many current residents. That is the irony as I see it, many have complained that the TIF MIGHT result in a handful of people being approached about selling their house, but the reality is that many more people might have to leave Riverside because they can't afford the real estate tax bill that might result if we do not pursue the TIF. This is not a scare tactic, it is a reality.
As far as the infrastructure and village service improvements that need to be addressed, the list is long but let me try to give you some examples. Water and Sewer line replacements, road replacement and repair, sidewalk replacement and repair, landscaping maintenance (I'd love to see our parks be free of weeds like parks in Western Springs and La Grange), preventative tree care and new tree planting, river wall maintenance and repair, tunnel construction, and recreational park repair/maintenance, not to mention a decline in the rate of increase of our water rate fees, rec department fees etc... These are all worthy projects that cannot be funded as they should under the current revenue structure in the Village.
Posted Wednesday Dec 20, 2006 09:43
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