Orland Park ready to rebate taxes
BY MIKE NOLAN mnolan@southtownstar.com July 2, 2012 11:06PM
Updated: August 6, 2012 11:35AM
Orland Park trustees likely will vote later this month to approve rebating $2.5 million in property tax revenue to village residents, but how much each will get still is open for debate.
At a village board committee meeting Monday night, three trustees recommended that the full board revive Orland Park’s past practice of rebating some of the village’s share of residents’ tax bills.
But the total amount disbursed will be $2 million less than in March 2009, the last time rebate checks went out. And there’s a question as to how the $2.5 million in new rebate checks, due out in March, will be split up.
An ordinance approving the rebates will come up for a vote at the July 16 village board meeting, and, if approved, applications would be available this fall. Residents would have to submit copies of their tax bills and their driver’s licenses, among other documentation.
The village first began the rebate program in March 2003 to offset a new home-rule sales tax, but the program was suspended in 2009 because the recession delivered a significant hit on village revenue. From 2003 through 2009, the village rebated a total of $25.6 million, according to Annmarie Mampe, the village’s finance director.
When the last rebate checks went out in 2009, the amount each resident received varied, depending on the equalized assessed value of their home, with the average homeowner getting $247, according to the village.
There were 18,215 applicants, a number that could go up or down this time around, village manager Paul Grimes said. If the same number of applicants sign up this year, simply dividing the $2.5 million among them would net them each $137, Mampe said.
Trustee Brad O’Halloran, chairman of the village board’s finance committee, said he supported equal distribution of the money as less taxing on village staff. Trustee James Dodge said he felt the full board would need to discuss how to pay out the rebate and shouldn’t discount the idea of making payments based on a homeowner’s property value.
In the 2009 rebate, checks equaled about 83 percent of the amount homeowners paid in taxes to the village, while $137 would represent about 20 to 25 percent, O’Halloran said. Prior to the 2009 rebate, residents received a full rebate of the village’s share of their bill.
Mampe said the average village taxpayer pays about $600 to Orland Park, and that the village’s share of a homeowner’s overall tax bill is about 7 percent.
Mayor Dan McLaughlin had asked Mampe and her staff to ferret out any savings in the village budget that could be earmarked for the rebate. Much of the money is coming from savings realized on various capital improvement projects.
For example, the 143rd Street and LaGrange Road reconstruction project came in nearly $400,000 under budget, so that money will end up in the hands of taxpayers. Orland Park also gained $490,000 from the sale of land at the southeast corner of 143rd and LaGrange to Marquette Bank, which plans to build a new branch there and close its current branch at the northwest corner of the intersection.
