A postal address doesn’t always mean everyone in a community pays the same amount of taxes.
Such is the case with the Mahomet community.
According to a 2016 special census, 8,400 residents live under the jurisdiction of the Village of Mahomet. A look at the 2016 population for the zip code 61853 shows that 13,453 residents reside in the town Mahomet.
The announcement of a Village of Trustees study session that will review the annexation policy has begged the question, what does it mean to reside inside the Village and outside the Village limits.
Recognizing the growth of Mahomet and seeing that there were pockets of unincorporated areas throughout the 61853 zip code, the Village of Mahomet began discussions on what it means to annex properties in 2009.
While the state of Illinois has an annexation code for municipalities, the board, at that time, decided to hold off on annexing certain pockets of unincorporated areas until a Village policy could be put in place.
Now in 2018, the Village of Mahomet Board of Trustees is revisiting the topic at the June 12 board study session.
Laying out all of the benefits to the Village, such as increased property or commercial tax revenue, motor fuel tax revenue and increased population numbers, the Village of Mahomet has been developing an annexation policy since it released its Comprehensive Plan in 2016.
Within the policy, which has not yet been approved, it states that all annexation decisions will be made by the board as it considers factors of annexation.
For residents or commercial businesses, annexation means a higher tax rate and subjection to Village ordinances.
All tax dollars coming from Mahomet residents spread per the tax rate between the Mahomet-Seymour School District, Champaign County Government, Parkland College, Cornbelt Fire District, the Mahomet Public Library, the Champaign County Forest Preserve, Mahomet Township, Mahomet Road and Bridge and Mahomet Permanent Road.
Residents living within the Village of Mahomet are also subject to a Village of Mahomet tax.
Village Administrator Patrick Brown said that the Village tax rate is currently similar in dollar amount and percentage to the Champaign County tax rate on a property tax bill. A currently unincorporated property annexed into the Village would see a property tax increase of a similar amount.
Properties annexed into the Village would also be subject to Village ordinances, such as the leaf, and brush burning, which prohibits the practice, and construction and driveway permits.
Brown said that those annexed into the Village would receive Village services such as service from the Mahomet Police Department instead of the Champaign County Department, snow plowing, brush and limb pickup and those residents would not have to pay the out-of-Village fee for Mahomet Parks and Recreation programming.
Unlike some other municipalities, annexation in Mahomet is unique in that there are two water districts that serve residents and it has an abundance of parks, waterways, and interstates.
Brown said that the public properties allow for the district to “jump over” the boundary in order to annex certain properties.
The 2009 annexation discussion was in relation to the Briarcliff Subdivision where the front properties are within the Village, but the properties in the back of the subdivision are outside of the Village limits.
With Village limits to the west and north and the Sangamon River and Champaign County Forest Preserve to the south and east of the subdivision, Briarcliff was and is a prime example of properties that can be annexed into the Village.
Recently, the Village annexed Parkhill Enterprises along Prairie View Road. Subsequently, subdivisions along the boundaries of Parkhill’s properties were then contiguous to the Village limits and were also annexed into the Village.
Once a property falls within 1.5 miles of the Village jurisdiction, the Village has input into how that property can be developed.
Brown said that with the new policy, the Village could begin looking at properties to annex to be counted in the 2020 census, which will begin in the spring of 2019.
