October 30, 2018
Dear editor;
This issue will not go away, but only will get worse and cost us more if we keep putting it off. I’m as fed up as everyone with taxes we pay, but the current funding for Blackberry Township roads is inadequate to maintain them.
I attended a Road District meeting with Highway Commissioner, Rod Feece, and have sent E-mail and called him for information. I wanted the facts. There are a significant number of roads in Blackberry Township and in Mill Creek assessed as poor or worse and are degrading further. If roads are not maintained, it will cost two to three times more to fix later. Generally, they should be resurfaced about every 15 years, but the current budget allows for resurface about every 35 years.
There’s little industry or commerce for funding and a high number of miles to maintain. Some funds come from motor fuel tax, but most is from property taxes. Look at the breakdown of your property taxes. The vast majority of taxes go to schools, fire, library. That money must be used for those entities and cannot be used for roads. So it’s pointless discussing those issues in the context of this one. Blackberry has $14k per mile compared to $21k in St. Charles, $24k in Geneva, $31k in Batavia and $41k in Sugar Grove (townships).
Previous referenda failed. The road district basically never has received an increase, while costs for blacktop and salt have doubled in the last 15 years. Funding has increased with the number of properties, but has not kept pace with the number of miles and the costs. The referendum calls for 8 cents per $100 EAV which, on a $300k home, is about $80 per year, or $6.67 per month. There’s an excellent fact sheet here:
https://www.elburn.il.us/blackberry-township-referendum-fact-sheet/
Please consider supporting the referendum.
Jennifer Steel
Geneva