The Geneva City Council has agreed to place a $59.4 million referendum on the March 17 primary ballot for a new police station and other needs at the two firehouses.

The Council vote at a special meeting Monday evening was 10-0, but with Mayor Kevin Burns also voting yes, the tally was 11-0.

Property taxpayers will be able to see how much the bond issue will cost, using a new addition to the city’s website, an estimated tax impact calculator, City Administrator Alex Voigt said during a brief presentation.

Voigt demonstrated how it works, showing the public where they put in their fair market value, tick the boxes of their deductions and arrive at an annual and monthly increased cost for the proposed bond issue.

“Residents go to the city’s website ... and navigate over to city government, and over to facilities community engagement,” Voigt said. “That first item is the estimated tax impact calculator. We have the data point in the center, and the calculation driven by those inputs.”

One example was for a house with a fair market value of $500,000. The annual impact would be just under $400 a year or $33.13 per month, according to the calculation.

“It’s nice that residents can come here and build some context about what those bonds are,” Voigt said.

The median home value in Geneva is $450,000, so the bond issue would cost $431 per year or $35.92 per month, Voigt said as she did the calculations.

For those who don’t know their fair market value, Voigt recommended checking with the Geneva Township Assessor’s office.

Fourth Ward Alderperson Amy Mayer said homeowners should verify what their houses are worth.

“People wouldn’t want to go online and find what like Zillow says their value is,” Mayer said. “You want to go to your tax bill and look at the assessed value, which would be shown as one-third of the market value.”

Voigt said when people go on the calculator site, they should put in their full value, because the site will take a third of the value to calculate the impact of the bond issue.

The ballot question will be: “Shall the City of Geneva, Kane County, Illinois, improve the City’s public safety facilities and the sites thereof, including, but not limited to, constructing and equipping a new police station, and issue its bonds to the amount of $59,400,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?”

Second Ward Alderperson Bradley Kosirog said he wanted to make sure citizens understand the money could be used for more than just for a station.

“I’m trying to clarify that this is not a $59 million build necessarily,” Kosirog said. “I want to make sure that citizens are on the same page, that this is a public safety referendum, not necessarily the cost of the police station.”

Voigt said city officials will make that clear during community engagement.

“The police facility being front-facing is because that is what the community chose out of the projects listed in the Facilities Master Plan,” Vogt said. “Always tie back to the larger document. ... We have a number of projects outlined in there. The police facility is the most substantial. But there will be other opportunities to address some of the issues – hopefully – at the fire stations as well.”

The Facilities Master Plan details how the city would address its aging buildings. The City Council adopted the plan in July.

Alderpersons also voted 9-1 in favor of the resolution for community-wide comprehensive education and discussion on the merits of home rule, following the spring referendum. Third Ward Alderperson Larry Furnish cast the lone no vote.

“The resolution before the City Council this evening represents the county’s commitment to continuing the process of exploring home rule with the involvement of the community,” Voigt said. “The process of engagement as it’s measured will determine next steps, if any, for future ballot initiatives regarding home rule.”

After comprehensive educational efforts, the Council would ask voters to approve home rule status no later than the general election on Nov. 7, 2028, according to the resolution.

Home rule grants municipalities more authority to govern themselves and exercise certain powers related to their local affairs, including taxation, regulation and governance, according to the resolution.

Municipalities become home rule either by population – 25,000 – or by voter approval. With less than 22,000 people, Geneva would need voter approval.

Furnish asked what it would cost for the community education about home rule.

Voigt said the city will reassess its engagement with EOSullivan Consulting following the referendum, “so at this point a budget has not been set. We will be utilizing staff to create a lot of materials. ... Anything that is brought forward the City Council would be updated on in the process.”

The home rule engagement would not overlap with the bond issue question, but would start after the referendum and would be a longer process, Voigt said.