"There is no net increase in the tax levy overall,” stressed explained Maywood Public Library Executive Director Stan Huntington. “The levy for next year will be back to where it was." Huntington said that before the replacement levy, the library had to access its reserve money to cover expenses. "But we managed to limp along with what we had," he added, noting that no services were suspended or eliminated during the past year.
The library levy isn’t the only funding crisis the town faces: Mayor Ralph Conner told the Herald that the village has not been properly maintaining its police and fire pension funds. Instead of the $1 million of tax revenue the village should have been putting into each fund annually, it’s only been contributing about $10,000. In order to catch up, $2 million will need to go into each fund for the next three years, which will necessitate a major tax increase, Conner warned.
Posted September 8, 2003.