Hinsdale Village Board
Among other business Tuesday, trustees:
• approved a 2019 village tax levy for $13.7 million, which includes $3.42 million for the Hinsdale Public Library. After approved debt service abatements of about $3.18 million, the total levy will amount to just over $10.5 million.
• affirmed village support for a pedestrian bridge at 47th Street as part of the Illinois Tollway’s expansion of the Central Tri-State Tollway. The Hinsdale and Western Springs communities were given surveys by the Tollway to determine if the bridge should be rebuilt at its current location in a residential area connecting Minneola Street in Hinsdale with Maple Street in Western Springs or relocated to 47th Street, linking the villages’ Veeck and Spring Rock parks. Trustees have expressed support for the 47th Street location, but Brad Bloom, assistant village manager, told trustees that Western Springs residents have indicated support for keeping it where it is. Others in Western Springs, however, agree with Hinsdale.
“The park district in Western Springs supports the 47th Street location. The police department in Western Springs supports the 47th Street location,” Bloom said. The Tollway, he explained, has directed the towns to reach a consensus or lose the bridge.
“If there isn’t a consensus between the two communities, the bridge is not going to be built,” Bloom related. Village President Tom Cauley said he sided with the 47th Street location after designs showed that a new bridge at Minneola would look like “an obstacle course that weaves in and out” due to a switchback to comply with ADA regulation. Bloom said Hinsdale residents adjacent the bridge are unanimously opposed to keeping it there.
• approved the purchase of a new patrol vehicle for $44,000. On Sept. 3, a police Ford Explorer XLT Police Interceptor was involved in an accident and deemed totaled by its insurance carrier, which provided $16,775 toward a replacement. The village’s capital improvement plan budgeted $44,000 for the purchase; the cost after insurance is expected to be $27,225.
