Elmhurst Tax Hike Referendum: 2024 Election Results
ELMHURST, IL – Voters went to the polls Tuesday to deliver a verdict on the first Elmhurst Park District tax increase referendum in more than 50 years.
Under the proposal, the property tax increase is projected to cost $317 a year for the owner of a house valued at $500,000, which is close to Elmhurst's median.
Under the referendum, the district would go into debt by $90 million. The tax could last up to 25 years.
In early August, the park board unanimously approved the issue for the ballot.
The last time the district went to voters for a tax increase was in 1971.
On its website, the park district said it has one of the lowest tax rates among DuPage County's park districts.
According to the ballot language, the district has four projects planned for the money:
The Elmhurst Park District makes up 5 percent of the local property tax bill, with the local schools taking up three-fourths.
Five years ago, the district was planning to hold a tax increase referendum to play for park improvements. Based on local feedback, officials planned several projects under the park board's Vision 2020 plan.
The biggest one was an indoor sports facility at the 16-acre Kieft Brothers property at Route 83 and Riverside Drive.
At the time, officials were looking at a few options, with possible tax increases for a $500,000 house ranging from $140 to $562.
The plans, however, fizzled with the onset of the pandemic.
Of the money in this year's referendum, 95 percent is slated to go to replacing the Wagner Community Center, a project that is expected to cost $84 million.
The Wagner building at 615 West Ave. started as an elementary school in the 1950s. It was purchased by MacCormac Junior College in the mid-1980s, operating for a couple of decades as a college.
In 2004, the park district bought the building, converting it into a community center.
"It comes along with all the charm and features that you would expect of a 1950s elementary school," Rogers told the City Council recently. "We have significant space constraints."
With a new recreation center, the community would have a walking and jogging track; courts for pickleball, basketball and volleyball; a multisport indoor artificial athletic field; and space for gymnastics, dance, early childhood activities and other programs, according to the district.
Rogers said most residents correctly see the Wagner building as serving children 12 and younger, but he said the goal is to expand the ages served.
"We certainly don't have the space (now) for more programming, although I do like to give the aside that we have a very successful adult dance program that takes place at the Wagner Center, a span of ages from 22 to 95," he said, adding that the 95-year-old joined the program 21 years ago.
In 2022, the park district had a waitlist of 5,600 people who had to be turned away for indoor programs , Rogers said.
"Just a staggering number, one that is kind of unconscionable," Rogers told the school board recently. "We certainly would like to do something to address that."
If the referendum passes, the district would spend some of the money on a bandshell at Wilder Park.
The district has held programs such as concerts, movies in the parks and other performances for much of the last century, Rogers said. But they have occurred on temporary stages.
Also, the proposed restrooms are in response to local feedback.
"We learned there was a saying in the Elmhurst Running Club: 'If you have to use the restroom and you're on the Prairie Path in Elmhurst, where do you go?' The answer is Villa Park," Rogers said. "We believe very strongly that that shouldn't be the answer in this community."
Recently, the board of the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry endorsed the referendum.
The park district, Rogers said, was not seeking a tax increase because it's struggling financially. To the contrary, its books are in "excellent" shape, he said.
This year, the district opened Pick Park, which is an acre in the Pick subdivision, the only neighborhood west of Route 83. And by year's end, the park district aims to finish a dog park at 0S761 Old York Road.
