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I felt the need to repost this. I originally posted this in April 2007. --Laura
Homer Glen: What Makes Economical Sense?
By: Laura Burke
https://whereabouts.blogster.com
The Village of Homer Glen, a southwest suburban community of Chicago, was established in 2001. Homer Township was rapidly becoming a community with its own identity but it did not have a village form of government and therefore did not have the ability to control its own destiny. A township form of government is the lowest form of government and it does not have the legal capabilities of governing the way a village does. Homer Township was being encroached upon by surrounding communities, namely Lockport, and land that was within our township and school district boundaries was being developed in ways that was detrimental to the people of Homer Township and to the local school districts. Being the lowest form of government, Homer Township was helpless in preventing the types of developments it did not welcome.
Since the 1980's, residents of Homer Township, Illinois, banded together in multiple efforts to incorporate into a village. Some of the efforts were voted down, and some never made it to the ballot box, being squashed by The Will County Board or a ruling judge. In 2001 the efforts of the Committee to Incorporate Homer Glen was successful and a village was formed.
Initially, the main thought was to "control" growth within the village for just about everyone believed this was what we needed to do to support the quality of our schools. In time, Homer Glen learned that was not the case but many residents have been misinformed or have simply been given bad and outdated information.
When Broken Arrow was initially developed, it was an affordable single family home community with 3 and 4 bedroom homes around the $150,000 range. Because of the density of the community, coupled with the price point of the homes, the area was flooded with families with children. This flooded our schools. Now, the key factor here is the price point of the home and the fact that that priced point home was a single family home meant for families with children. Not that there is anything wrong with that but how it was developed was very poor planning with respect to the needs of the schools. Since Homer Township had no control over this process for this land was annexed into Lockport, Homer Township was powerless.
There was an over development of not only these single family homes in this particular price point, but also 3 bedroom condos and town homes in a lower price point. The focus is not really the price point even though that is the end result, but the real problem is the amount of tax revenue those priced homes generated for the schools did not meet the financial needs of the schools. In other words, it cost more money to school those children than the tax revenue created by their real estate taxes because of the lower value of their property.
THAT reason alone is why Homer Glen is in need of more schools and NOT because of what the Village of Homer Glen has implemented since its inception. Do not be misinformed - do not believe false information.
Based on the growth pattern PRIOR to Homer Glen incorporating, District 33-C was in need of 5 new schools, again, based on enrollment projections of past development trends in the school district. The portions of Homer Township that were annexed into Lockport remain in Homer School District 33-C. With there being a short fall in the Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) that determines real estate taxes and how much one pays verses the cost of educating those children, the balance of Homer School District 33-C had to take on those costs. So, basically, it costs more to educate those children coming out of Lockport 33-C than their share of real estate taxes was paying and the rest of the residents had to share the unpaid portion of that tab.
Since the incorporation of Homer Glen, the village implemented new ordinances and guidelines for developing residential communities which was a huge plus for the school districts because the tax revenue generated by the EAV of those homes moving forward since incorporation EXCEEDED the cost to educate those students therefore providing the school districts some very needed relief. Additionally, because of the density controls the village put in place, the previously projected enrollments were drastically reduced. Now, District 33-C was only in need of 3 new schools instead of 5. That is a huge improvement! Again, remember the need for the new schools is not and did not come out of Homer Glen but rather it is coming and continues to come out of the portion of Lockport that is in District 33-C schools where Homer Glen has absolutely no control. For this reason, and this reason alone, we have a need to expand our schools.
Condominiums are also a big plus to the schools because they generate EAV which generates real estate tax revenue for the school but the best part about it is that they do not introduce many children into the schools. That means free revenue for the schools! All of the attached single family dwellings in the entire Village of Homer Glen (this includes town homes) has only brought 9 children into the school district - that's it. In absolutely NO WAY is this detrimental to the schools. Again, do NOT believe the lies. Do not fall victim to false information and the passing of false information.
Commercial developments create substantial EAV which creates substantial revenue for the school districts but does not introduce children into the schools. This is a HUGE benefit to the schools and to the residents. The more commercial EAV you have, the less the residents pay in real estate taxes to the schools. The cost of the schools doesn't change, it is the distribution of EAV that impacts how much of your real estate taxes goes to the schools. Currently, almost 70% of your real estate taxes is allocated to the schools. As more commercial EAV is added to the tax roll, that portion you pay will decrease because the commercial real estate taxes will be contributing their share. Commercial EAV is absolutely essential to reducing real estate taxes.
You cannot change the school boundaries as they exist without forming a new unit district. Therefore, the situation with the schools will not change because it was created by Lockport with the developments of Broken Arrow, Willow Walk, Victoria Crossings, and all those communities in that region of Homer Township. The damage is already done and we cannot control that but we do have to pay for that and we will continue to have to pay for that. The commercial EAV that will go to the schools districts, aside from 143rd and Bell, is along 159th Street. If you do not allow commercial growth in this region your real estate taxes will get so out of control, you'll not be able to afford to live here.
You can't just say, "Okay, we want commercial developments here." You also cannot fall victim to the false belief that I-355 will bring in commercial because that is not true. Commercial retailers have a set of specific criteria that must be met in order for them to develop in any given location. The specific criteria that must be met is mainly how many people live within 1 to 3 miles from where they want to build. Corn and trees do not shop in stores, people do. If there is not enough roof tops to support the store, then they will not build there for obvious reasons. I-355 does not bring in the commercial developments. I-355 makes the area accessible for people to live in the area as it opens the area up to travel and therefore makes the area a desirable place to live because of its access to a highway for the highway provides people a way to get to work. The jobs are not here in Homer, they are north along I-355 into Schamburg and those areas as well as north along I-55 intodowntown Chicago and along I-88 into Naperville, Lisle and that region. To live in Homer, you must travel to get to work, unless you are a student, homemaker, or work from home. Once the people come, then the commercial retailers come. It doesn't work the other way around.
Currently, along 159th Street, there are not many rooftops, so Homer Glen’s great big desires to turn 159th Street into its main commercial corridor is severely flawed. You see, nobody really knew any of this when we were designing our comprehensive plan. We thought we knew what we were doing, but we really didn't because… well, because nobody in this village had any experience with being a village because we were never a village before. Everything was new. More than anything, life in this village has been one great big learning process.
To sum this up, in order to reduce your property taxes, you must have ample commercial EAV to take on a greater percentage of the tax base. In order to attract the commercial tax base, you have to have ample residents to support their places of business. Condominiums do not negatively impact our schools - they are good for the schools. The price point of the town homes that Homer Glen has been approving has been a great benefit financially to our schools because it generates additional revenue for the school without adding additional enrollments to the school - big plus. The Gallagher and Henry project proposed for 159th Street is a big benefit to the schools, to the residents, and to the village for it will generate sales tax revenue for the village, and real estate tax revenue for the schools and spread the cost of the schools out even more thereby reducing the financial burden of those schools on the remaining residents in the district. It is a win-win-win situation.
Laura Burke
