Another look at Elgin senior tax rebate

• Reprints

Updated: September 10, 2011 12:37AM

ELGIN — City staffers are recommending the same new restrictions for Elgin’s riverboat-funded senior citizen property tax rebate program that they proposed last month.

At its July 27 committee of the whole meeting, the city council put off moving forward plans to modify the rebate program and asked staff to come back with further options.

After looking into those options, staff members are recommending sticking with the proposals they made two weeks ago.

The plan being proposed would limit the program to households with incomes of $55,000 or less that also meet the original guidelines, which require recipients to be Elgin residents who are 65 years or older and own their home.

If Elgin’s take of money from the Grand Victoria Casino tops $13.275 million in a given budget year, anyone else meeting the original guidelines would be granted the rebate — $200 to owners of single-family homes and $35 for mobile home owners.

The cost to issue rebates only to seniors qualifying under the income cap is estimated to be $325,000 this year. Should all of the rebates be issued, the total cost of the 2011 program is expected to be $825,000.

Qualifying city residents 65 and older have been given the money since 1997. The total payout thus far has amounted to almost $9.4 million.

In 1997, its peak year, the casino generated $24.3 million for the city. Since then, the smoking ban, recession and recent opening of a land-based casino in Des Plaines have been impacting the Grand Victoria’s bottom line. Of looming impact are the state’s gaming expansion bill, which currently is in limbo, and the state’s capital project bill, which included allowing video gaming at bars and certain nonprofit halls to pay for projects.

Elgin’s share of casino money is dropping close to the $13.275 million threshold the council set for continuing to give seniors the rebate. In 2010, the city issued 4,326 rebates amounting to $812,895. Adding in about $9,720 in administrative costs, the total outlay for program last year was $822,615.

Chief Financial Officer Colleen Lavery also looked at using the income qualifications for participation in the Illinois Cares Rx Plus Program and making Elgin’s rebate open to elderly renters as well as homeowners.

Illinois Cares has an income threshold of about $27,000 for a single person and about $36,000 for a couple 65 and older. But it has no requirement related to housing.

“Therefore, it would not be possible to determine which of the participants in this program own their own homes, rent their homes or are residents in a home,” states the document before the council this week.

Lavery also found drawbacks to using the guidelines of the state’s Circuit Breaker Property Tax Grant for those 65 and older, which sets income caps at about $27,000 for a single person, $36,000 for a couple and $46,000 for a household.

The city is waiting on hard numbers from the state about how many Elgin residents are taking part in both state programs. However, using 2010 census data, Lavery noted there are about 6,800 households in the city where someone 65 or older is living.

Assuming that about 50 percent of these households meet the income threshold requirement for the circuit breaker program, the cost of the property tax rebate program would be about $679,000, Lavery noted.

Boat launch grant

The council also is set to move along with applying for a $198,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that would be used to renovate the boat launch at Slade Avenue Park. The city would put another $22,000 into the project.

The current launch is in significant disrepair, and launches can conflict with those using the Fox River Trail adjacent to it. The improvements would address those conflicts.

A concrete mat built on the river bottom and extending out 35 feet from the shore would stabilize the launch area and make it easier for boaters to get their crafts into the water safely. A pier would provide a place for boats to be moored temporarily during the launch process.

The project also would include regrading and paving the approach drives and parking area for vehicles with trailers. A new walk from the parking area to the pier would bring the site into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The only other public boat launch in Elgin is at Elgin Shores Park, just south of Route 20. The other public boat launch in the area for the Fox River is Voyageur’s Landing, a Kane County Forest Preserve site on the west side of the river just north of the Interstate 90 overpass.