Park Board opts for more special-rec funding in tax-levy dispute

For the second straight year, a Wilmette Park District commissioner suggested reducing special-recreation funding to better control the district’s tax levy.

And for the second straight year, Commissioner Mike Murdock’s proposal proved unpopular with a majority of the commissioners, who rejected it 5-2 and instead supported the staff-recommended levy by the same margin.

Murdock and Commissioner Patrick Duffy, like a year ago, supported the alternate proposal.

The levy approved by the Park Board on Monday, Dec. 8 is for $8.19 million, an increase of 4.1% over last year’s levy. The levy includes $798,000 for the special recreation fund, which supports the park district’s agreement with the North Suburban Special Recreation District to provide recreational opportunities for people with disabilities.

Murdock’s proposal was identical to the levy that the board’s majority approved, but with $67,450, or 8.4%, less for the special recreation fund.

In 2024, Murdock and Duffy voted against the 2024 tax levy, which was a 6% increase from 2023, a higher-than-typical increase caused by more reserve spending during the pandemic, park officials said.

Murdock said it was “highly unusual” for the board to choose between two levy ordinances, but he wanted to offer an alternative that kept the two-year average increase under 5%.

With confirmation from Executive Director Chris Lindgren, Murdock said his proposal would not cut any special-recreation programming.

Lindgren, however, noted that even with the levy increase a year ago, the district still had to transfer money from other accounts to cover this year’s special-recreation services.

But Murdock argued that none of the district’s programming was impacted.

“I just think it’s fiscally responsible for us to approve the lower levy,” he said. “And, again, if we’re back here next year and it turns out more folks i n town used our services, I think that’s a great thing. I fully support it and I’d be prepared to support a higher levy at that point.”

Duffy said the park district’s tax bill amount had been decreasing since 2019, but last year’s levy increased it.

“To me, if we can do something about our tax bills, we should, and some of that is asking for less dollars from the taxpayers,” he said. “We have the ability to provide the same services, the same improvements throughout the district without going to the taxpayers and asking for this additional spending in the levy.”

But the other five commissioners didn’t agree with that assessment.

Commissioner Cecilia Clarke didn’t feel comfortable about approving a levy that would encourage using other funds to support special recreation.

“I feel concerned about taking the chance that will happen again,” she said. “Yea, we may not impact services, but then that means that next year, if it gets to that point, we may end up having to do a large levy again like we did last year. So why not try to even it out and keep it at a more steady pace?”

Park Board Vice President Allison Frazier said she believes last year’s levy increase wouldn’t have been necessary if the Park Board had kept the levy consistent in previous years.

“In my opinion, learning from mistakes of our past, I don’t think that cherry-picking a year out makes sense,” she said. “It seems to me it would be prudent to be forward thinking in this and not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

Clarke also used the term “cherry-picking” when referring to Murdock only looking at the levy for two years.

Murdock disagreed.

“I’m not cherry-picking,” he said. “The reason I’m talking about a two-year period is because we had such a significant tax increase over our historical norms last year. That’s why I’m looking at it over a two-year period.”

Both Murdock and Duffy voted against the levy that was ultimately approved.

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