Politics & Government

Village to Educate Residents on Referendums

Village of Libertyville officials plan to host two town hall meetings and send residents information on the electric aggregation and road referendum.

How does authorizing the village to aggregate electricity or $20 million bond issue to fix Libertyville-maintained roads affect local residents?

Those are just some of the questions village officials hope to help residents answer in the months before the March 20 election.

“We’ll be sending out information on the referendums in the village newsletter in mid-February and we’ll be sending out an insert along with vehicle registration in late February,” said Libertyville Village Administrator Kevin Bowens.

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Village officials also plan to host two town hall meetings to answer questions about the referendums.

Electricity Aggregation Referendum

Find out what's happening in Libertyvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The referendum on electricity aggregation asks residents to give the village authority to negotiate electricity prices for the community.

The village can solicit bids only for the power generation portion of the electric bill; ComEd still would distribute power and handle monthly bills for Libertyville residents. Residents still would call ComEd if services were interrupted.

  • If a referendum passes, the village still could choose to purchase power from ComEd. Residents or small businesses also could choose to keep their original power supplier even if the village is working with another supplier.
  • If the referendum does not pass, the village would not have the authority to solicit bids and find out who has the cheapest electricity price and would have to work with ComEd.

As of Jan. 25, most readers in a Patch survey said they would support the village negotiating electricity prices for Libertyville residents and businesses.

Road Referendum

The referendum asking voters if they would support issuing $20 million in bonds at an interest rate not to exceed 9 percent seeks to maintain Libertyville roadways before they need complete reconstruction, which could increase costs.

The village spends about $1 million a year on road repairs and reconstruction. Village documents show that the cost to repair a road ranges from about $650,000 per mile for a pavement overlay to about $1.85 million per mile for a full reconstruction.

Bowens previously told Patch that the 9 percent interest rate on the $20 million bond is “the worst-case scenario.”

  • If the referendum were approved, the Village Board would be authorized to increase the property tax rate to fund the bonds issued for road repairs. For a home with a market value of $300,000, the village anticipates that the referendum would add a maximum of $11.32 per month, or $135.93 per year, to that home’s property tax bill, according to village documents.
  • If the referendum does not pass, the village would continue with the annual road program using existing funding sources.

Patch readers were mixed in their response to whether they would support the village issuing bonds to fix Libertyville roads. As of Jan. 25, about 50 percent of the 80 readers who responded to a Patch survey said they supported the bond issue, while 37 readers said they don’t.

Grayslake Realized 30% Saving

Mayor Terry Weppler says Grayslake, where residents authorized the village to aggregate electricity for residents, realized 30 percent savings for their residents. But he doesn’t expect communities to see similar savings because Commonwealth Edison is expected to lower its rates amid competition from other power generators.

“The important thing is we don’t promise residents they will see X amount of savings,” Weppler said during Tuesday’s Streets Committee meeting. “Really with the electric aggregate (referendum), there isn’t a downside. If (residents) don’t want to participate, they can opt out.”

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