In anticipation of a bold referendum on the November ballot, Riverside’s village board amended the village code in mid-August to create a set-aside from local property tax revenues to pay for future investments in the village’s streets, sewers and other infrastructure.
The worthy goal here is to wean the village from issuing expensive bonds to endlessly pay for the perpetual infrastructure upgrades a 150-year-old village needs. So instead of paying interest on those bonds, Riverside would self-fund the improvements from its infrastructure-designated portion of property taxes. That should lead to more funds to put directly into necessary improvements and no funds being used to pay the interest on municipal bonds.
If voters approve the referendum in November, it will set this process in motion. While the vote is to approve a one-time hike in property taxes, it is timed with the final bond debt payments. The plan, as laid out by the village, is no increase in the taxes villagers will pay.
We’re intrigued by this plan. Finding a way to put more money directly into the growing cost of civic improvements is a thoughtful and creative approach to better fiscal management.
Village officials have two months to make their case to voters in what will, in this presidential year, be a massive number of locals going to the polls.
Nellie Brennan
Nellie Brennan was a person who helped make Riverside a community. An election judge for 50 years. A nurse and teacher. A Red Cross volunteer, who for half a century turned up to help when natural and man-made disasters struck.
Ms. Brennan was 93. Last Thursday she was out walking when she was struck and killed by a BNSF train near the Delaplaine Road crossing.
In the past, of course, she turned up in the Landmark at different points. Most recently it was as a heavily masked but very present election judge during COVID. Back in 2010 when the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago honored her 55 years as a volunteer, we interviewed her about her take on life and community.
“If you feel like helping people … no matter what, do it anyway. If each one of us helps just one person in need or in crisis, wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place?” Nellie Brennan said.
That is the legacy of a well-lived life.