LAKE IN THE HILLS – The Lake in the Hills Sanitary District recently approved an annual budget that shows more than a 10 percent reduction in its portion of residents' property tax bills, district manager Rick Forner said.

The district is levying for about $675,000 this year, compared with about $751,000 last year, Forner said.

“The district has been operated efficiently for years with one of, if not the, lowest sewer use rate and minimal tax burden to its residents,” the district’s president, Shelby Key, said in a statement. “But like all taxing bodies, the district needs to review its operating and maintenance programs to see where savings can be realized without compromising our impeccable service to our customers.”

The district operates and maintains a 4.5 million-gallons-a-day wastewater treatment plant and 110 miles of sanitary sewers and pump stations, according to a news release from the sanitary district. The district’s portion of property taxes accounts for about 0.8 percent of a resident’s total tax bill, the release said.

About 40,000 residents in Crystal Lake, Huntley and Lake in the Hills are served by the sanitary district, according to the release. The district is a separate governing body from the village of Lake in the Hills, and it was formed in 1963 through a referendum.

Earlier this year, former Lake in the Hills Village President Paul Mulcahy called on trustees to adopt a resolution to encourage the McHenry County Board to consider consolidating the sanitary district with the village; however, trustees postponed the decision.

In August, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed then-state Rep. Jack Franks' bill, House Bill 229, that grants the McHenry and Lake county boards the power to eliminate a taxing body for which they appoint a majority of the trustees, provided its boundaries are completely within the district. The law allows the McHenry County Board to eliminate a handful of bodies, such as the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District, the Crystal Lake Rural Fire Protection District and the Greenwood and Hebron drainage districts.

Newly seated Lake in the Hills Village President Russ Ruzanski said the resolution has not been brought back before the board, and he’s planning to meet with Franks to discuss the possibility of consolidating the district.