HILLCREST — At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the Hillcrest Village Board of Trustees voted 3-2 to increase video gaming fees to $250 per machine per year. Trustees Tim Ball and Jose Huerta voted against the increase.

The fees were previously $25 per machine per year. Fat Cat Slots is the only business in Hillcrest with video gaming machines, and it has six machines. A recent change to state law allowed municipalities like the Village of Hillcrest to increase gaming fees per machine to $250.

At its September 2022 meeting, the Village Board voted down a video gaming fee increase that would have seen the fees increase to $150 per machine in 2023, to $200 per machine in 2024 and $250 per machine in 2025.

Village President Rick Rhoads said the revisiting of the issue and the approval of the increase Wednesday was due to a recent review of village records that he said showed Fat Cat Slots has not paid its yearly video gaming fees since it opened in 2017.

"Our treasurer and clerk have looked into this for the past couple of weeks, and as far as they've seen, the business has yet to pay us one time," Rhoads said. "So, I would like to go back and revisit the fee for the gambling machines. I would like to raise the fee to $250 per gambling machine annually."

Ball made his thoughts known against the video gaming fee increase during the meeting.

"We get tax dollars from their business now," Ball said. "I believe raising the gaming fee on them too is double taxation. It's just inappropriate. Yes, they owe us the back pay from the $25 fee structure. But it's not right to raise the fees just because there's a new law that says we can."

Water main project

The board unanimously approved the use of $166,704 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for its upcoming priority 1A water main project.

The project plans to replace mains along the full length of Scott Avenue, parts of Errett Road and Erickson Road from Scott Avenue to Jeffrey Avenue, and parts of Jeffrey Avenue from Errett Road to Erickson Road. Those streets are in the southern and oldest part of the village. Water mains will be sized at 12 inches. Hillcrest plans to award the bid for the project at its January meeting. The project's price currently stands at $2.4 million.

Hillcrest is eligible for a $2.68 million IEPA loan for the project and 50 percent loan forgiveness up to $1.25 million on the loan.

The work could be completed by fall of 2024. The project has been on the village's radar for a number of years. A greater water main replacement project was considered in the past, but was trimmed down to the areas of greatest need.

The village hosted a bid opening for the work on Thursday and hoped to get a bid within its budget to approve in January. Rhoads said a turnout of 10-15 interested contractors was seen at a recent pre-bid meeting.

Parking

The board discussed making future updates to its parking ordinance due to a number of cars parked illegally in the village, including in front and back yards. Rhoads asked trustees to review the current ordinance language and provide feedback for official changes to be made in the next two months.

"We have nothing in our ordinances saying that cars can't be parked in front yards," Rhoads said. "We need clearer language. We need to get a handle on people parking in front and back yards."

The village is in the process of developing warning stickers to leave at residences in violation of village ordinances.

Rhoads said he plans to meet with the Ogle County Sheriff's Office in the near future to talk about getting more patrols in the village to curb activity such as speeding and other traffic violations.