The Huntley Farmside

              354:
Volume 40 No. 1
Your hometown newspaper
Thursday, February 3,2000
© 2000 Press-Republican Newspapers
Law change forces second referendum from Park District
by Christopher Petersen
The Huntley Farmside
The Huntley Park District already has a referendum on the March ballot to purchase South Elementary. No'w, due to a change in state law, a second, much smaller referen¬ dum will be on the ballot alongside it.
The second referendum is asking for a 3
cent increase per $100 of a property's equalized assessed valuation, an increase that will go towards the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF). The increase will allow the Park District to match funds put into the IMRF by its employees for withdrawal when they retire.
The IMRF referendum was approved by the Park District last summer, and was to
have been placed on the ballot in last November's election. Before this could happen, state election laws changed, and the IMRF request was moved to March, where the $9.35 million referendum to buy South Elementary and convert it into a community center was already placed.
Park officials are stressing that the IMRF referendum's impact on'homeown¬
ers will be minimal, a projected additional $15 per year for the owner of a $150,000 home, if there is no new growth in the vil¬ lage. The community center referendum will cost the same homeowner $45 the first year.
Currently, about 20 employees of the Huntley Park District are eligible to put money into the retirement fund.
Rich Ghristensen of Arizona plays pool at Del Webb's Sun City in Huntley.
Seniors taste the good life at Del Webb s Midwestern community
Farmside photo by David Ewart
Getting settled
in the t^ Sun City
by Kimberly Bazant
Lifestyles editor
Throughout the centuries, people have been intrigued by the vision of a field of clover. Many of us have fond memories of strolling through a meadow, searching for a four-leaf clover that would secure our good for¬ tune. Within every generation, clovers have given hope to lovers, faith to dream¬ ers and inspiration to artists. That same inspiration can now be found in Sun City." This paragraph serves as Del Webb's introduction   to   its    first    collection
of homes inside its recently developed Midwestern Sun City Community in Huntley. The idea that those who have spent decades raising a family and polish¬ ing a career might be searching for a field of dreams to settle down in and enjoy the fruits of their labors, is what Del Webb has spent 40 years turning into a reality.
For more than 100,000 seniors nation¬ wide, Del Webb's Sun City communities have indeed represented good fortune, good - friends and good times, as well as a safe haven and friendly community to call home.
After opening its thirteenth Sun City com¬ munity in Huntley, Del Webb has received a
Midwest welcome and a round of applause from more than 1,200 current residents who believe that home is more than a place to lay your hat - it's a place to really live it up!
The Beans
After living in St. Charles in the Deer Run Subdivision for 18 years, Sherman and Shirley Bean found themselves ready to retire. They wanted to downsize their home, but not their lifestyle. However, when first introduced to the concept of Sun City in Huntley, Sherman was not interested.
See Settled page 4
Moving date for village offices still in question
by Christopher Petersen
The Huntley Farmside
The planning has been going on for almost two years now, but the village is still apparently no closer to moving its offices out of the temporary trailers it has been using and building a new village hall.
At Thursday's Village Board meeting, village officials said that no plans had yet been made as to when of where the new building would be constructed.
The village has been meeting with FGM Architects/Engineers from Lake in the Hills to discuss possibilities, but no clear direc¬ tion has been established as of yet.
The most recent plan was to build a new public works build¬ ing and another building that housed both the police station and the village hall, but there was no indication that the board was willing to commit on anything at this time.
A new building or two will require that the village place a referendum' on the ballot for November, since the deadline for the March ballot has come and gone.
The village will place an addi¬ tional $305,000 into a reserve fund for the project this year.
-Any building the village con¬ structs for its municipal offices would need to be rather large, so as to accommodate this village's new growth.
Projected population figures
See Moving Page 3