Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Evanston Scribe

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Evanston Scribe

What’s news in Evanston

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Kathy Lichtenstein (right), the founder of Rex’s Place, stands with James Barr, an agility trainer with 30 years of experience, at Rex’s Place K-9 training facility on Tuesday. Lichenstein invested $900,000 of her own money, making improvements at the facility, including the installation of artificial turf. The city rejected her request for $640,000 to repair the roof. Credit: Bob Seidenberg

Owner of popular dog care business feels spurned by city’s ‘dismissive’ attitude to her funding request

Bob012 mins

By Bob Seidenberg Rex’s Place, a combination dog daycare/training, boarding and sports arena, has been a part of the Fifth…

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“The Water Fund faces significant financial pressures, primarily from the city’s aging water distribution system,” said Darrel King, Evanston’s water production bureau chief, in a presentation to the committee

Early retirement, voluntary separation likely off the table, but plenty of taxes and fees are not for city’s 2027 budget

Bob07 mins

By Bob Seidenberg An early retirement incentive and voluntary separation program for city employees — two major initiatives city staff…

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Will a once obscure tax become a dedicated source for future pension funding?

Members of a city committee are scheduled later this week to consider whether a once obscure tax source should be dedicated to pay public safety pensions on a steep funding path.

Jack Mortell, president of the Evanston Firefighters Pension Board, conducted the research showing very little of PPRT monies were going to public safety pensions.

The issue is to be discussed at Wednesday’s city Finance & Budget Committee, scheduled for 5 p.m., at the Lorraine H. Morton City Hall Council Chambers, 909 Davis St.

The city has been receiving funds from the Pesonal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT), a tax established by the state to replace a tax on corporations that was declared unconstitutional, starting in 1979.

Until a few years ago, revenues from the tax which once topped $6 million went straight into the city’s General Fund and was divvied up from there.

But with the city approving a landmark policy putting funding of pensions on a 100% track by 2040, pension officials pushed for the PPRT funds to be dedicated to the payments, maintaining that was the state’s original intent.

Jack Mortell, the president of the Firefighter’s Pension Board, first called attention to the issue in 2022, finding a small percentage of the tax had been dedicated to pension payments in the 20 years previously.

— By Bob Seidenberg

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