Clarifications: When an individual goes to the poll to vote, residents and nonresidents are able to vote on this ballot question the only exclusions are those individuals whose voter registration address is on a property exceeding 20 acres. Residents will be asked three questions whether they want to annex Marengo, Riley, and Coral Township into the Park District. If they are annexed in this will have no impact on residents taxes. The votes of residents and nonresidents are tallied separately, and it requires a majority of both groups in the same township to approve the annexation for that township. Seneca Township is being excluded in this election due to a state law that limits a single entity to having three ballot questions on the same election so the annexation question will only be on the ballot for Riley, Coral and Marengo Townships. If the annexation passes it will generate approximately $100,000 a year more money from each Township, and if it fails, nonresident fees will be increased to twice the amount of resident fees.
The purpose of this post is to ensure that you are aware of the park district’s effort to annex Coral, Marengo and Riley Townships into the park district. An annexation question will be on the March 19th primary ballot.
Properties that are over 20 acres and that are not subdivided into lots or blocks, bound on 3 sides by lands subdivided into lots or blocks or used for commercial or industrial are exempt from the annexation. The current boundaries of the park district mirror the boundaries of the City of Marengo, therefore, if you are in the city then you are in the park district and the annexation will not impact you.
We are trying to expand our boundaries to mirror the Marengo-Union Library District which receives around $750,000 in property tax dollars compared to $420,000 which the park district receives. Our revenue does not allow us to do significant infrastructure work such as resurfacing our road ($300,000), resurfacing our three parking lots (3 x $75,000) and replacing two 25 plus year old playgrounds at Renwick and Ridge parks (2 x $75,000) or to develop parks such as Brookside Meadows which only has a small walking path. Grant monies typically can only be used for new programs/development of park services. If the annexation passes, we anticipate that we would be able to lower the tax rate for park district residents after making these improvements.
If you are uncertain whether you live in the park district, you should look at your tax bill to see if you are paying taxes to the park district or you can search for your tax bill on the County Clerk website at https://mchenryil.devnetwedge.com/.
Most residents of the park district pay between $150-$500 a year in property taxes to the park district and thus have been subsidizing non-residents whose fees are currently only slightly higher than resident fees. If the annexation fails then non-resident fees will be increased to 100% more than resident fees. For example, if a resident is paying $70 for soccer then a non-resident will pay up to $140 for their child to play soccer. This may seem like a lot but it is still less than what residents in neighboring park districts pay to play in the same soccer league. Fitness Center fees for non-residents would increase from $30 per month to $60 per month.
A quality park district adds value to one’s community and property, If you are interested in more information, we are hosting public forums at the park at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 8th and March 7th. Sincerely,
Dr. Dan Bertrand
Director
Marengo Park District
815-568-5126
Marengo Park District 
If you are trying to expand our boundaries to mirror the Marengo-Union Library District, why not include Seneca Township also?
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Jim,
Excellent question. There is an old IL statute that limits the number of questions one entity can have on any given ballot to three. Therefore, the park district could only put three of the four townships (Marengo, Riley and Coral) on this ballot. Seneca township will be on a future general or primary election ballot.
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