Eight years ago Sean Sheridan and his wife, Trina, opened the Wooden Spoon, a storefront kitchenware shop at 5047 N. Clark. Now they wonder whether they can continue to stay afloat. It’s not that business is bad–“quite the contrary, it’s bustling,” Sheridan says. But property taxes are killing them. “We’re looking at our taxes going up almost $5,000 next year–that’s almost doubling,” says Sheridan. “We look at these bills and we think, how can anyone make it?”
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“It’s a terrible policy to overtax things you want more of–like home ownership, entrepreneurship, and local-owned businesses,” says Ellen Shepard, executive director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce. “But that’s what we’re doing with the property tax.”
Shepard fears that rising taxes will destroy Andersonville’s “ideal” community of diverse and locally owned ethnic restaurants, boutiques, and specialty shops. Certainly landlords and merchants are feeling the pressure. “There’s not much you can do when your property taxes go way up,” Pesavento says. “You either raise the rents, which drives out businesses, or you raise your prices, which drives away customers. It’s not much of a choice.”
Many of the Andersonville merchants plan to appeal their assessments with the county’s board of review. But this is an aggravating and time-consuming process. Most will have to hire tax-appeal lawyers, who take 33 percent of whatever reduction they win. And of course there’s no guarantee that they will win.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Robert Murphy.
