By Josh Hickman
Highland Park residents will pay more for town services beginning on Oct. 1.
The Town Council on Sept. 2 approved a new Master Fee Schedule including these increases: water (3.9%), sewer (3%), solid waste services (3.5%), and stormwater drainage (100%).
The cost of swimming at the town’s pool will also increase, with the regular open season pool permit going to $65, up from $60; and the resident and guest day pass going to $10, up from $7. A new all-in-one pool permit of $125 includes pre-season, post-season, and extended season swimming, as well as regular open season swimming.
Town leaders also heard a detailed presentation on the 2025 Community Survey from Jason Morado of the ETC Institute.
Results of the eight-page survey completed by 487 HP residents included:
Neighborhood Spotlight
Park Cities
Where the Park Cities Stay Connected.
- 99% of responders are very satisfied or satisfied with Highland Park as a place to live.
- 98% of responders are very satisfied or satisfied with Highland Park as a place to raise children.
- HP rates 47% higher than the U.S. average in overall quality of town services.
- HP rates 57% higher than the U.S. average in customer service provided by town employees.
- Top priorities for town services are traffic flow and congestion management, maintenance of town streets and sidewalks, and public safety services.
- The most significant issues facing HP over the next five years are cut-through traffic and congestion, encroachment of urban development adjacent to HP, and historic and/or architecturally significant home demolitions and redevelopment.
In other business, the council:
- Approved a Fiscal Year 2025-26 Budget of $94,580,884, which requires a tax rate of $0.199296 per $100 taxable assessed value (the average home value in HP was mentioned as $3.2 million.)
- Authorized the Town Administrator to execute renewals with Cigna for employee medical, dental, and vision insurance plans and with Dearborn National for employer-paid and supplemental (voluntary) life, accidental death and dismemberment, and long-term disability plans for Fiscal Year 2025-26.
- Approved the revised and updated Library Master Plan for Fiscal Year 2026-28.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article misstated the percentage of survey respondents who are satisfied or very satisfied with Highland Park as a place to live. 99% of respondents are satisfied or very satisfied, not 9%.
