Special service area in Wheaton still a muddle

Wheaton officials last week began reviewing petitions in opposition of a special service tax area in the downtown business section.

Their preliminary conclusion, given at the regular City Council meeting Monday: Things are complicated.

"The city will undertake a careful and analytical approach," City Attorney Jim Knippen said after outlining preliminary findings on the petitions opposed to the special levy that would run for 20 years and hit downtown property owners for 95 cents for every $100 dollars of assessed valuation.

"Questions exist as to who qualifies as an elector and who qualifies as an owner," he said.

The levy is designed, in part, to provide a financial backup for the proposed $14.7 million renovation of the Wheaton Grand Theater downtown.

Needed to stop Special Service Tax Area 7 are signatures of 51 percent of both the property owners in the proposed taxing district and the qualified electors. Determining just who qualifies as either an owner or elector is where things start to get tricky.

The office of the recorder of deeds shows 152 property owners while the opposition petition found 171.

Knippen's findings indicate that only 46 signers of the opposition petition are owners registered with the recorder of deeds, meaning that only 30 percent were in opposition, far short of the total needed.

But Knippen acknowledged that the opponents found another 76 people to be in opposition, which would mean 80 percent were opposed, even using the city's figure of only 152 property owners.

The DuPage County Board of Elections identifies 88 electors and the objector's petition has 49 in opposition. Knippen's figures show only 37 of the signatures to belong to registered voters. The opposition has challenged the total number of electors, saying there are only 68 actual registered voters in the district.

The relevant state statute defines an elector as a registered voter of the district, but other court cases have cast doubts on the legal definition of an elector.

So depending on whose totals ultimately turn out to be accepted by the city, the opposition has either clearly displayed its case for popular opposition to the plan or fallen far short.

Moreover, which governing body gets to decide the legitimacy of the opposing petition is unclear and yet to be decided.

"There is no clear indication under the statute who makes the call," Knippen said. "The statute is very, very imprecise."

Knippen could not give an estimate as to when a ruling on the petition would be made.

The opposition anticipated problems with interpreting their signatures.

"We already notified (the city) that the recorder of deeds list is wrong," Jeanne Ives, one of the most vocal opponents of the special levy, said when contacted after the meeting. "I physically went to the property owners ... the recorder of deeds aren't up to date."

Ives gave the example of Judge Ken Moy, a Hinsdale resident whose mother owned the property in the district until she died, leaving it to him. While his name might not be registered with the recorder of deeds, he is still the property owner. Ives gave a similar example of Judge S. Louis Rathje, whose mother also left him property.

As for the finding that there are 88 electors residing in the downtown district, Ives said, "You go find all 88 for me."

The levy had its supporters.

Bonnie McClaren, president of the Downtown Wheaton Association, offered praise for the council, thanking "those on City Council who support development."

Derek Bromstead also lent support to the levy, saying "we believe in stimulus for downtown" while taking a shot at the opposition, saying they "do not appear to be significant property owners."

When informed of Bromstead's comments, Ives scoffed, pointing out such notable residents as Rathje, a former Illinois Supreme Court justice, and Robert Sandberg, who operates a 50-year-old business and owns several properties in the downtown district.

But Ives stressed that her concern was not limited to prominent residents.

"Just as every vote is important," she said, "every property owner is significant."