Significant growth in the Round Lake area during the past quarter-century has created what some believe is a need for a significantly larger library, and the Round Lake Area Library District is asking voters there to spend $36.4 million for a new one.
The Round Lake Library referendum will be one of four questions before specific groups of voters when they cast ballots in the March 19 primary elections across Lake County.
For example, Grayslake Consolidated School District 46 voters will decide whether to add $6 million to the real estate tax levy.
In Deer Park, voters will choose if they want to continue an additional 0.5% sales tax on goods sold in the village.
And, Wadsworth voters will decide if the village clerk will be an elected position rather than an appointed one.
Round Lake Library
Ann Richmond, the president of the Round Lake Library Board of Trustees, said when the library was built in 1998, 5,000 people lived in the district. Now the population is around 18,000, and the number of people in the entire district is near 44,000.
Richmond said a library needs between one and two square feet for each person in the district which would require a building of between 44,000 and 88,000 square feet. The current building is 28,000 square feet. Many requests for community use cannot be met, she said.
“We plan to build a giant meeting room which can be divided into two units,” Richmond said. “We’ll have another meeting room the size of our current one. There will be quiet reading space and study rooms.”
Planned for the newly realigned Cedar Lake Road near the Round Lake Village Hall, she said the new building would be approximately 55,000 square feet. There is room on the property for expansion.
Should the referendum be approved, the owner of a $220,000 home can anticipate paying approximately $345 more per year in real estate taxes.
Grayslake District 46 tax levy
Voters living in Grayslake District 46, which educates elementary and middle school students, will decide whether to add $6 million to the property tax levy, increasing it from around $32 million to just over $38 million.
Chris Wildman, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance, said in an email if the referendum is approved, it would not affect property taxes until 2025 when existing long-term debt is retired, significantly reducing the impact on taxpayers.
As explained on the Lake County Clerk’s Office’s website, the referendum will add $252.54 of taxes for each $100,000 of a property’s fair market value. Wildman said by replacing one debt with another, the bump will be $30 per $100,000 of value.
If approved, the money will be used to install an emergency response system, security cameras, replace roofs, improve or replace mechanical systems, make the buildings more accessible for individuals with disabilities, renovate library space for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) facilities and more.
Deer Park sales tax
Deer Park voters will decide whether to continue an additional 0.5% sales tax implemented in 2021. Village Administrator Beth McAndrews said 90% of the sales tax is paid by non-residents of the town.
McAndrews said homeowners in Deer Park do not pay property tax to the municipality. Much of the town’s revenue comes from sales tax generated at the Deer Park Town Center shopping center.
Wadsworth’s village clerk
Voters in Wadsworth will decide whether to elect their village clerk or continue to have the clerk appointed. Village Administrator Patrick DiPersio said the referendum was initiated by a resident petition.
Mildred Corder, a Wadsworth resident who organized the petition drive, said the clerk was once elected but local officials changed the office to one chosen by government officials. She wants the clerk to work for the residents and not the village president.
Early voting continues between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the Lake County Courthouse and Administration Building through Friday, with extended hours March 4 through 18. Early voting expands to 15 other sites on March 4.
Locations and times are listed on the clerk’s website. Vote by Mail ballot applications are also available there.
