In June of 2006, the Village of Godfrey established a Special Service Area (SSA) and an accompanying tax for sewer line installation and maintenance in the Piasa Hills neighborhood.
After establishing the SSA, the Village levied taxes against the properties within the SSA boundaries for the purposes noted above. This tax adds an average of approx. $500 per year to the property tax bill of owners within the SSA.
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In October 2019, the Village sold its entire sewer system, including the Piasa Hills portion installed per the SSA, to the Illinois-American Water Company. With the sale proceeds, the Village retired all obligations associated with the sewer system. Due to this sale and retirement of the obligations, these taxes were no longer necessary, but property owners were already billed for the whole year of 2019.
So, knowing this was unfair to those taxpayers, Village Trustee and Mayoral candidate, Mark Stewart took the lead to refund five months (November 2019-March 2020, due to tax cycle dates) of pre-paid sewer taxes back to the property owners in Piasa Hills. He made the motion to refund the taxes and the board voted in agreement.
“It is absolutely appropriate for the Village to refund the property owners in Piasa Hills for the five months of 2019 sewer taxes, back to when the sewer system was sold!” stated Stewart. “Plus the 2020 tax levy for sewer tax has already been abated and removed from the tax bills.”
“I took the lead, brought the five-month sewer tax refund request to the board and we got it done!” said Stewart. “I will always fight for fairness for all residents and I am glad all the trustees agreed. We can make good things happen with leadership and by working as a team."
- Village of Godfrey Mayor Candidate/Board Member Mark Stewart
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