Back in June, voters in the Village of Weston said they wanted their bus route back. Now, village leaders are trying to find money to make it a reality.
In November, voters will find two referendums on the ballot. One pertains directly to the bus route - whether or not voters will allow the village to raise tax rates to pay for it. "I think at the end of the day the only way we can adress these problems is just old fashioned democratic participation. We're going to have to get out there, we're going to have to put these questions in front of the voters in the ballot box and ultimitely the community will choose its fate," says Daniel Guild, Village Administrator.
He says if voters say no, they'll have to look at where they can make cuts, however, there's no word yet one what services could be affected. Guild says the bus service will cost the Village up to $120,000 in 2013. Now, you're probably wondering how much taxes would go up if you were to say "yes" to this. It will be $.14 for every $1,000 of your home value. That's a $14 increase on a $100,000 home.
Voters will also decide another referendum. Whether or not they will allow the village to raise $400,000 to maintain municipal operations for things like public safety costs. It would cost an additional $.46 for every $1,000 in home value or $46 on a $100,000 home.
If these referendums don't go through, cuts will have to be made somewhere else and the police department could be one of them. "If we had to cut positions, I don't know if we could even come close to maintaining where we are at, we would, the first thing that would have to go would probably be D.A.R.E and a lot of preemptive programs that we use for our school resource officier," says Everest Metro Police Chief Wally Sparks.
Elections are on November 6th.
