Vision - Plan - Results 2009-2025

2012 Sales Tax Referendum
When I ran for Mayor in 2009, my vision and plan was to raise the sales tax by 1% through referendum and use the additional monies to fund these deficiencies. By increasing our sales tax from 7% to 8%, we are still equal to or less than our neighboring communities. A majority of our sales tax is generated by our visitors who show their patronage to many of our local businesses. The revenue generated by these visitors assists us in funding many of the needed projects and deficiencies in our city. Since we are a non-home rule community, the sales tax increase needed to be passed through a referendum. On March 20, 2012, our residents overwhelmingly supported the non-home rule sales tax referendum which has improved the quality of life in the City of Crest Hill. The results of the referendum were 69% of the voters in favor of raising the sales tax. The additional revenue has funded us in the hiring of 8 additional Police Officers, going from 24 sworn officers in 2009 to 32 sworn officers in 2024. These additional Police Officers have improved public safety in our community. We have also addressed and funded approximately $30 million for storm water projects, road projects, and water main projects alleviating flooding which has been a problem for many years. Also, as a direct result of the passage of the non-home rule sales tax referendum, all property owners began receiving a 25% property tax rebate check on the municipal portion of their property tax bills, in the spring of 2014. Since then, our residents have received a property tax rebate check every year for the past 12 years. It was and still is my promise that the property tax rebate check will continue as long as I am your Mayor. This steady source of revenue, resulting in an additional $1.9 million per year, has been a tremendous asset to the City's progress well into the future. I would like to now go more in depth in regards to projects that have been completed and look forward to projects that still need to be completed in the future with the use of the additional sales tax revenue.

Property Tax Rebate Checks
As a direct result of the successful passage of our non-home rule sales tax referendum in 2012, all property owners began receiving a 25% property tax rebate check on the municipal portion of their property tax bill in March of 2014 for the 2013 tax year. For twelve years, our residents have received property tax rebate checks every year. Most residents receive between $40-$120 as a yearly rebate. It was my promise then and it still is my promise now that the property tax rebate checks will continue as long as I am your Mayor. Over the first six years of issuing our property tax rebate checks to all homeowners, we have found that, for a variety of reasons, many checks were unclaimed and uncashed. The City of Crest Hill realized that approximately $55,000 of uncashed and unclaimed checks per year became the State of Illinois' revenue, which is controlled by the State of Illinois Treasurer's Office. Knowing that these funds, approximately $350,000, were non-returnable to the City of Crest Hill, in 2019, the City implemented a property tax rebate form to be filled out by those homeowners that wish to continue with the property tax rebate check. Therefore, the City of Crest Hill could use that additional revenue for additional projects and make sure that those residents that wish to receive the property tax rebate check would still be eligible to receive a check. During these challenging economic times, my hope is that this property tax rebate check is of help to you and your family.

Hiring of Additional Police Officers
When I became Mayor in 2009, the City of Crest Hill had 24 Sworn Police Officers and based on our needs of service we should have been staffed with 32 Sworn Police Officers. When the non-home rule sales tax referendum was passed in 2012, and a steady source of revenue was guaranteed, all Department Heads were required to develop 5-year plans for better efficiency in our City. In 2012, the City of Crest Hill Police Department created its first 5-year plan and it showed the City was understaffed by 8 Officers, based on our needs of service. The hiring of additional Police Officers will secure the public safety and improve services to all of our residents. In 2012, the Chief of Police was directed to begin the hiring process for 2 additional Police Officers. In 2014, our Police Department transitioned into 12-hour shifts. This successful transition has placed more Officers on the street, further improving public safety in our community. The City of Crest Hill continued to hire additional officers over the years to replace those officers who left due to attrition. In 2016, City Council approved the hiring of 3 additional Police Officers which increased our staffing level, at that time, to 30 Officers. Current recommendations say that our Police Department should be staffed with 32 Police Officers. In the summer of 2019, we welcomed Lorena Muniz, Ryan Tetlow, and Bryan Barnes as our new Crest Hill Police Officers. These 3 new officers bring the Crest Hill Police Department to a total of 32 sworn officers. This represents the highest number of sworn Police Officers in the City's history and is the recommended number for a City of our size and demographics. Because of the COVID-19 mitigations and restrictions placed on us by Governor Pritzker in March of 2020, which included the closure of the Police Training Board facilities and programs to certify Police Officers, we were unable to hire and train additional Officers in 2020. Our plan, going forward, is that we will be hiring 2 additional certified Police Officers and 2 new Officers who will begin to receive training towards the goal of certification in the spring of 2024. This goal could not have been achieved without the steady source of revenue and without the successful passage of the 2012 non-home rule sales tax referendum. The hiring of additional Police Officers is one of my top priorities. Even though our recommended Police Staffing is 32 sworn Police Officers, I would like to see a City Police Department of 34 Sworn Police Officers. It is my intention to continue to look to the future in the hiring of additional Police Officers as funds are available.

Police Pension Fund
I feel it is fiscally responsible to make sure a steady source of revenue is available in order to adequately fund payrolls, health insurance, and pensions for all of our past, present, and future Police Department employees. Our Police Pension Fund is currently funded at 72.6%. State law requires Police Pension Funds to be 90% funded by 2040. In 2016, working with our Police Pension Board, our financial consultants, our investment consultants, and our auditors, the City of Crest Hill committed to a plan for a fully funded Police Pension by 2038. This long-range vision shows a commitment to our Police Officers which will be accomplished by adding $150,000 to that fund each year for the next 10 years in addition to the required annual amount. This bold move by the City Council shows its commitment to our Police retirees, our current officers and our future hirees.

Flooding
The city has experienced flooding during heavy rainfalls for many years. The city has been proactive over the past 16 years in reducing the amount of infiltration and inflow of rainwater into the sanitary sewer system during heavy rainfalls, resulting in a cost savings of both electricity and treatment of rainwater at our treatment plants. Robinson Engineering was contracted to conduct a study in regards to our storm water drainage system. As a result of that study, they identified 13 problem areas throughout the city regarding storm sewers. The lack of storm sewers in many of these areas is a major part of the problem. The areas of concern come at a cost of $11.2 million, and as with any project of this magnitude, funding is the most crucial issue. The city, with the use of sales tax revenue, has already begun to address some of the storm water infrastructure needs throughout the city, including the Burry Court Storm Water Project in 2012, along with a grant that the City secured from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Another priority according to the study was the lack of storm sewers in the Richland area. In 2013, we completed the installation of a 36-inch storm sewer underneath Leness Lane to help eliminate much of the above ground flooding from the surrounding area. In 2014, we completed storm sewer improvements to Eldorado Avenue as we reconstructed the street. Over the next 5 years, several residential streets throughout the city were reconstructed with additional storm sewer improvements. In 2018, we completed the 1700/1800 blocks of Root Street Stormwater Project to improve drainage from this area. In 2019, we completed the Raynor Avenue/Sullivan Court Stormwater Project to help to alleviate surface rainwater and improve drainage in the area. This project was long overdue but will be a tremendous improvement to remove rainwater during heavy rainfalls. All of these projects have been assisted in funding by the additional revenues generated from the passage of the non-home rule sales tax referendum.

Road Improvements
In 2013, the city completed the reconstruction of Leness Lane and Donmaur Drive to address pavement deterioration caused by the lack of adequate drainage. This project included the installation of new pavement, storm sewers and water main. Many other road projects have been completed in the past 16 years. All of the projects included new roadway pavement, new water main installation and storm sewer installation, including:

• Hickory Street
• Dearborn Street
• Nicholson Street
• Highland Avenue
• Clement Street
• Cowing Lane
• Waverly Court
• Durness Court
• Wilcox Street
• Marlboro Lane
• Pasadena Avenue
• Kelly Street
• Center Street
• Parkrose Avenue
• Circle Street
• Green Street

In addition, new roadway pavement has been completed for:

• Barthelone Avenue
• Pleasant Drive
• Sycamore Street
• Parkrose Avenue
• Lincoln Avenue
• Lynwood Street (1700 & 1800 blocks)
• Susanna Way
• William Drive
• Connie Drive
• Cara Drive
• Hoffman Street
• Caton Crest Drive
• Caton Crest Court
• Jayce Court
• Eldorado Avenue
• Pioneer Road
• Chaney Avenue
• Jasmine Drive
• Borio Drive
• Waterford Drive
• Waterford Place
• Catalpa Court
• Balsum Lane
• Ingalls Avenue

Also, portions of Theodore Street and Cedarwood Drive were reconstructed along with many minor road improvements throughout the city.

Gaylord Road/Division Street Intersection
With the acquisitions of all easements, the intersection of Gaylord Road and Division Street was improved in the summer of 2018. This $1.5 million improvement included realignment, turning lanes with wider radius, and traffic signalization. This improvement was long overdue, but we have secured 80% Federal funding of this project, meaning that the city was only responsible for 20% of the cost of this project. Non-home rule sales tax money has assisted in the cost of this project. In addition, two new roads in the Crest Hill Business Park along Division Street have been completed and dedicated to improve traffic flow and safety, not only to the business park but to the Division Street Corridor. Churnovic Lane is the north-south road that connects with Division Street from the south and is located about halfway between Advantage Avenue and Enterprise Boulevard. The traffic signal that once existed at Division Street and Enterprise Boulevard has been relocated to Division Street and Churnovic Lane. Enterprise Boulevard now operates as a northbound one-way road for traffic to exit the business park for eastbound traffic only and the old signal at Buckner Pond Way has been removed. Construction on the project started in June 2016 and the cost for the new roads and signal was $1.372 million. The project was funded by a 50% match grant from the Economic Development Program/Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program as well as motor fuel tax and non-home rule sales tax monies. All of the above improvements to the Division Street Corridor will certainly improve traffic flow and safety and will hopefully spur economic development along the Weber Road corridor.

Amazon
In 2017, the City of Crest Hill hit the grand slam of economic development and welcomed Amazon as one of our newest businesses. Amazon purchased this 436,000 sq. ft. building located in the Crest Hill Business Park, along Division Street, and invested several million dollars in improvements and opened in the fall of 2017. We are proud of the fact that this sorting facility is only one of two in the entire Midwest region, one of which is Crest Hill and the other in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Our new facility employs several hundred full-time employees along with 1500-2500 part-time employees. No financial incentives were given by the City of Crest Hill for Amazon to locate in our City. The building permits, property taxes, and utility taxes along with the many employment opportunities will certainly be a tremendous benefit to our City for many years to come. The major improvements that have been completed at the intersection of Gaylord Road and Division Street have certainly improved the safety and flow of traffic for the business park as well as along the Division Street Corridor. Churnovic Lane and Lidice Parkway were also added to improve the flow and safety of traffic within the Business Park. Non-home rule sales tax monies were also used along with many other grants for these improvements. It is every city's dream to have a mega-business such as Amazon decide to settle in their community. We are very proud to be one of 6 communities in the State of Illinois selected by Amazon for this facility. This online retail giant has added several hundred jobs to our community and has created a huge economic boost for our City. In 2019, the Amazon sorting facility decided to expand its operation. A $22 million conveyer system extension was added onto an already sophisticated and efficient operating system. This addition will allow for smaller packages to be sorted and sent out to reach their destinations much faster. Amazon has been a great partner with the City of Crest Hill and we look forward to Amazon continuing to grow its facility in the City of Crest Hill.

I look forward to continue making improvements and investing in our city's future in order to enhance the quality of life for all our residents. Please vote April 1, 2025 to re-elect Ray Soliman.