Understanding the Slightly Increased 2024 Property Tax Bill

This last year there was a 9.6 percent tax increase. Many have questioned why there was a tax hike for Salem Lakes residents. It certainly does appear to be a very healthy increase. However, we need to keep things in perspective. Other local communities also had very substantial increases.

For example, local municipalities had the following increases:

Bristol - 9.3%

Paddock Lake - 17.3%

Kenosha County - some areas at 10.8%

Twin Lakes - 9.9%

Wheatland - 15.2%

Randall - 58.4%

As you can see, this was not a unique situation. Government expenditures for local municipalities are all up. Unfortunately, in many cases, these amounts for certain areas are barely keeping up with the inflation that we all are feeling.

The other important factor to keep in mind is that a very small amount of your tax bill total is increased from Salem Lakes. For example, a property tax bill of $5,574.53 will only include a $97.00 increase from the village. Numerous other factors go into your tax bill, such as the county tax, school, and library taxes imposed. The village gets a very small portion of the total tax bill. If Salem was the only municipality with such an increase, that might be more of a red flag. Unfortunately, that just is not the case. Services cost money and inflation certainly does not make them less expensive. 

Now, with that being said, it doesn’t mean citizens should not question their government and how they spend money. That is the key to holding your boards accountable for making sure taxpayer money is not wastefully spent. However, rest assured, Pete Poli, Bill Barhyte, and Rita Bucur are budget hawks who question how village resources are utilized. They are not afraid to ask “Do we need to spend money on that or is that too much money on this?” Salem clearly has some financial concerns, but with a board that pushes back on foolish expenses, which is what we have now. Thus, Rita Bucur, Bill Barhyte, and Pete Poli must remain on the board. Nobody likes to pay more in taxes than they need to. With them on the board, you can rest assured that a mindset of frugality is present.

Citizens voted for these change agents a couple of years ago and they have corrected a lot of issues in the village. Is every single issue resolved? Of course not. Nobody can make every single change needed within two years. That is just not how the government works. With that being said, the new board has better footing and more experience than it did two years ago. If you re-elect Rita Bucur, Bill Barhyte, and Pete Poli, they will continue to make positive changes for the village. These trustees are not paid all that much for their efforts. Every one of them is very successful and could be spending their time doing something else. However, they are committed community members and their purpose of being in local government is to improve Salem Lakes. We hope that you can see that and you re-elect them on April 1st.