New Lenox, Illinois

and this year, Pete’s Fresh Market should break ground on the remainder of it.” New Lenox’s substantial retail base also includes all of the well-known big box stores and fast- service restaurant chains. And because the Village collects about $12 million in sales taxes, annually, its property tax rate is not high. “Most of our property tax bill goes to the school district,” Ellis explains. “And we actually have a homeowner rebate program, where homeowners are getting 80 percent of their Village property taxes back. Our main revenue comes from the sales taxes.” Another advantage of living in New Lenox is the 38 parks and athletic fields comprising 588 acres that are maintained by the New Lenox Community Park District. There is also a number of paved asphalt and crushed gravel trails. Old Plank Road Trail is a 21-mile, former railroad right-of-way, converted into an asphalt hiking and biking nature trail that travels through the heart of New Lenox with many access points along the way. The Hickory Creek Nature Preserve has a 2.8-mile, asphalt hiking and biking nature trail which also provides access to the historic one-room Schmuhl School Museum on the northeast corner of Route 30 and Schoolhouse Road, owned and operated by the New Lenox Historical Society. Additionally, the Hadley Valley Preserve offers a unique 4.85-mile, crushed-gravel Spring Creek Greenway Trail that welcomes pedestrians and equestrians. While New Lenox doesn’t have a discernible downtown, it does have The Commons, which serves as the heart of the community. “The Village Hall, the library, and the police department are all located on the ring road, and in the center is a four-acre park, where we have the Performing Arts Pavilion that hosts most of our community events,” Ellis notes. Each year, the Village organizes a Summer Performing Arts Program, which includes the Triple Play Concert Series, featuring national recording artists performing on three different dates, as well as free family movie nights. The Park District