Elmhurst voters will choose between incumbent Mayor Scott Levin and challenger Mark Mulliner, who was the city’s longest serving alderman before leaving the city council two years ago, in the April 1 consolidated election.
In recent conversations with Pioneer Press and in remarks during a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Elmhurst in January, both candidates spoke about their reasons for running, their views on city issues and their plans.
Levin, finishing his first term after serving as 5th Ward alderman for more than a decade, said it was always his intention to run again.
“As a City Council, we’ve accomplished a lot and I’d like to keep things going,” he said. “Things are going pretty well – I’d like to keep on the track that we’re on right now.”
Mulliner, who was on the City Council for 24 years before losing a bid for re-election in the 7th Ward two years ago, is focusing his campaign on reducing costs for taxpayers and putting off major projects.
“I think it’s time right now to fix the things we have,” he told Pioneer. “Let’s try to get these taxes down.”
Mulliner was especially concerned with city water bills. “The water bills are killing people,” he said.
Levin said the city water system is what’s called an enterprise fund, with water rates set to cover costs of the basic commodity, which comes from Lake Michigan through both the city of Chicago and the DuPage Water Commission. Rates are also set to cover costs of infrastructure, including treatment facilities, meeting state and federal mandates and funding reserves for such expenses as water main replacements.
“We charge what it costs to run it,” he said. “We’re planning for the future.”
The two agree on some issues, including favoring tax increment financing support for infrastructure for the proposed downtown redevelopment around the corner of First Street and Addison Avenue that would also be home for the nascent Elmhurst Center for the Performing Arts.
But beyond disagreeing on the city’s overall financial footing, they have quite different views on some major projects, including a new police station and renovations to the city’s Metra commuter train station.
For Levin, the case for a new police station is clear.
“We started looking at this in 2018,” Levin said. “Every alderman and every aldermanic candidate has said they support the tear down and complete replacement of the building. Anyone who’s looked at it has concluded it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to look at remodeling (the present station.)”
Mulliner doesn’t agree. “People are saying their taxes are just so high, can we really afford to do this right now?”
Mulliner agrees that the current station has serious shortcomings in space for evidence storage and for facilities for female officers.
“We definitely need to do something to accommodate the additional female officers we have,” he said recently. But he is suggesting city officials investigate offsite storage for evidence and closed case files, perhaps in cooperation with DuPage County or other communities. The space freed up could then be remodeled for additional space for female officers, Mulliner said.
Regarding proposed substantial upgrades to the city’s Metra station, Mulliner said he believes post-COVID declines in riders mean the station project should be put on hold.
In the January candidate forum, Levin said the city had already secured grants for $35 million for the expected $47 million cost for the project, with officials continuing to seek additional grant funding.
For the future, Levin said the city is working on revising its downtown plan, looking at downtown zoning and undertaking a housing study to look at options for affordable senior housing to help older residents.
Mulliner said his hope for the future includes lowering water bills. “We should go to the federal government and ask for help in paying for our water system,” he said. “I know we can get water rates down.”
Mulliner also suggested regular meetings with school, park district and library officials to look at ways the various city taxing bodies could work together to lower overall costs to residents through shared facilities and assets and elimination of overlaps. Mulliner also suggested concentrating on new development in the city’s industrial park, rather than focusing on additional rental apartments, an area he said is already overbuilt.
Levin has pointed out that city taxes are only about 7% of property tax bills, while about 75% is tied to Elmhurst School District 205. Levin told the candidate forum that the only city property tax increases in the last 15 years have been to meet state-mandated increases in contributions to police and fire pensions.
“We are in good shape,” Levin said. “Our finances are excellent.”
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
