Evanston residents – including Northwestern students living off campus – could see their rent climb next spring if the Evanston City Council approves a 4.3 percent increase to next year’s property tax.
The increase is part of the proposed 2011 city budget City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz released Friday. Council members will likely vote on the budget in late November.
Last year, property taxes increased by 3.17 percent. The greater increase this year reflects an effort by the council to make more conservative revenue projections, Ald. Don Wilson (4th) said. When council members approved the 2010 budget, they were overly optimistic about how much money income sources such as construction permits would bring in, he said. The city will start the year with less money than anticipated.
“You start looking at where you’re at on your revenues, you realize you’re behind, and right away you have to start making cuts,” Wilson said.
Ald. Jane Grover (7th) emphasized the council will almost certainly amend the proposed budget before approving it. But as of Sunday, she had not examined the tax proposal closely enough to predict whether it would pass, she said.
Alan Fishman, who owns a condominium in Evanston, said although he did not want to pay higher bills, the recession has made tax hikes a trend.
“That’s probably what’s happening all over the country,” Fishman said.
Landlords and their tenants will also suffer if the tax increases, said Jim Nash, president of Farnsworth-Hill Inc., an Evanston real estate management firm. Even if the property owners charge extra money, their net income will still probably fall, especially if renters decide they are unwilling to pay more.
“There is a possibility that the tenants are going to go looking (for cheaper housing),” Nash said.
Twenty percent of Farnsworth-Hill tenants attend NU, Nash said. Although the University itself is tax-exempt, these students and others who live off campus may face higher bills.
Graduate student Yun Jin Cho expects his rent to rise if the increase passes, he said. Although he would find a way to pay the higher amount, he would probably have to cut his spending on nonessential items, he said.
“I’d be less happy,” Cho said.
If the council passes the proposed tax increase, not all students living off campus will be impacted. Weinberg junior Karen Lee just signed a two-year lease with a fixed rate, so her rent will stay the same until graduation, she said. And Weinberg junior Nicky Brailas said a 4.3 percent increase seems relatively low.
“I don’t think personally that’ll be a huge effect to me, at least not compared to the 5 to 6 percent increase in tuition I’m expecting,” Brailas said.
The tax increase may provide some undesirable costs for students who have not signed leases yet, such as Alex Hampl, who hopes to move off campus in the future. The Medill freshman said higher rent would not dissuade him from seeking off-campus housing, but he may have to look for a summer job to help out.
“I guess it’s just part of the package,” he said.
