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| Voters in Nunda Township face two tax-hike questions | |
| Apr 16, 2007 | |
| Daily Herald | |
| Pertains to Cary, Crystal Lake, Prairie Grove, McHenry, Woodstock | |
| Voters in Nunda Township will face two tax-hike questions on their April 17 ballots. In addition to the McHenry County Conservation District's request for bonds to buy open space, they'll also find a request from Nunda Township officials asking for permission to adopt an open space plan and to issue $20 million in bonds to preserve 700 to 1,000 acres of open space there. Nunda voters narrowly nixed a similar request in 2004. The township, which extends across the eastern middle of McHenry County and includes parts of Cary, Crystal Lake, Prairie Grove, McHenry and Woodstock, has already faced substantial growth and is poised for more. Although taxpayers will likely balk at approving two tax hikes at once - veteran ballot watchers will tell you that it's rare for voters to open their wallets twice in one election cycle - we hope Nunda Township voters will give this a careful look, then vote "yes." It is estimated approval would cost the owner of a $250,000 home about $78 in additional property taxes a year. That expenditure would be offset fairly quickly by the value of securing open space. The costs of growth - roads, water, sewer, schools, police and fire - has already been demonstrated across McHenry County, particularly where development has occurred too rapidly and in high density. Nunda Township residents have an opportunity to limit the costs of that growth by agreeing to set aside open space. Even if the conservation district open space effort fails, Nunda residents from Crystal Lake to Cary to McHenry will know they've protected valuable acreage in their backyards amid one of the area's fastest-growing regions. Such open land will help recharge the region's water supplies by permitting water to soak or re-percolate into those critical underground aquifers so critical to groundwater supplies. When the land is instead paved over, that water flies across the pavement to the nearest stream where it flows away downstream instead of refilling the aquifers that provide most local water. When too much cement and too many structures cover the land, water has no place to go, flowing downstream to create the flooding we're increasingly seeing in northern Illinois. Nearby Kane County residents have not hesitated to OK open space requests and now enjoy multiple forest preserve and township parks and trails as a result. There is another readily seen benefit to preserving open space. McHenry County residents and, particularly, those drawn to Nunda Township's scenic nooks and crannies, know well the beauty of the green havens and rolling, wooded terrain still dotting their turf. Act now to protect the clusters of trees, rolling fields and still-green havens before it's too late. |
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