After voters rejected a similar request last year by 32 votes, the Northfield Park District is asking them in the March 17 election to increase its tax rate by 0.1% – an estimated property tax hike of $700  per year on a median market price home in the district, which real estate websites put at about $700,000. Some Northbrook homeowners live in the district. Voters might also want to be aware that two other referendums in the area could raise their property taxes. The Northfield Park District shares the same boundaries as Sunset Ridge School District 29, which has a $23.5 million referendum on the March 17 ballot. The Northbrook Rural Fire Protection District is also proposing a 0.1% tax increase for improvements. Northfield Park District Executive Director Bill Byron believes that this time homeowners understand the need and intention for the tax hike, thanks to a months-long campaign beginning last summer to explain the district’s motivation for requesting the increase. “This is what the community asked for,” Byron said of the capital projects the increase will fund. “This is by far the most reasonable and responsible way to fund it. People are more used to a bond referendum. This is a tax rate increase that will support us forever. We tried to pick an amount that would be a minimum increase to taxpayers.” In 2025, a similar question on the local ballot garnered almost 49% support from voters in a historic turnout, but the Park Board did not adopt the question until January and spent only three months selling it to voters, he said. “After the election, people said they would support it but we did not promote it,” Byron said. “This time we spent all summer and since then promoting it. Now we feel the community is more educated and more knowledgeable, and hopefully more people will go out to vote on it.” On its website outlining the referendum and the projects it will fund, the Park District argues that it has been a “trusted steward” of taxpayer funds. Byron said the district has completed more than $11 million in capital projects in the last 25 years and maintains a tax rate that is the lowest or second lowest in the region each year. “Our foundation has been outstanding,” he said. “We’ve done a project every five or so years. It’s hard to go back to the same donors when you’re looking at multi-million-dollar projects. As far as a trusted steward, we feel we have done a lot with the limited tax dollars coming in. We make those dollars work very hard for the community.” A vote in favor of the request will increase the tax rate, which is capped by law and can only be raised by voters, from .24 to .34 percent, Byron said. The request is based on funding the next five years of the district’s master plan, which will require about $10 million, he said. Overall, the plan calls for between $20 and $30 million in improvements, but that could change with updates to the plan every 10 years, Byron said. The district’s website said the 0.1% increase would hike property taxes by about $30 on a home valued at $100,000. “For what we can put back into the community, it is reasonable,” he said. “It’s not that much from that perspective, but it depends on your point of view. It’s less than $1 a day on a million-dollar home. It would allow us to start executing our $10 million master plan. When you look at it that way, it becomes a little more tangible.” According to the district’s website, the tax increase would fund: • A new “north side pocket park” for $600,000, accessible by walking for residents on the north side of Northfield, including a playground, bike repair station, benches and connection to the future Skokie Valley Trail. • Expansion of the Community Center for $2 million to $3 million, funding new indoor space for summer camps and a growing youth program, new community meeting space, and roof replacement and infrastructure improvements. • Restrooms and maintenance facility improvements at Willow Park for $2.5 million to $3.5 million, including adding outdoor restrooms and heat and water to the maintenance facility. • Strengthening maintenance and increasing growth capacity, including funding pickleball and tennis court repairs for $70,000, water costs at the outdoor ice rink for $5,000 a year, baseball field renovations for $15,000 per field, nature area maintenance for $30,000 a year, and playground surfacing at Clarkson Park for $400,000. According to the park district’s website, a resident is anyone living or working within the geographic boundaries of the Northfield Park District.  It also noted some Northbrook addresses belong to the Northfield Park District while some Northfield addresses are part of the Winnetka or Glenview Park Districts. It advised residents to check their Cook County property tax bills to determine their park district. ...read more read less