South and southwest suburban voters boosted fire protection, approved a park district and voted to allow backyard chickens, among other questions decided in a series of referendums on local ballots Tuesday.

Lemont Fire District

Voters in the Lemont Fire Protection District appear to approve a plan to sell $46 million in bonds to relocate two of the district’s four fire stations and renovate two of them, with hopes of reducing emergency response times.

With all precincts counted, the referendum had 61% support from voters in Will, DuPage and Cook counties, according to unofficial results.

The referendum was a response to population growth, as well as a shifting population that drove up response times, said fire Chief Dan Tasso.

The district covers 26 square miles and responds to calls in Lemont, Lemont Township and portions of Darien, Palos Park and Woodridge.

Tasso said Wednesday the district will “begin the process as soon as possible,” but said it will be a long process.

“We still need to issue the bonds and solicit bids for design and construction,” he said. “I assume that will take a few months to navigate.”

University Park

University Park may get a park district. Unofficial totals show 56% of voters supported a referendum asking if they wanted to create a park district with a levy not to exceed $800,000 in its first fiscal year.

In 2022, the measure ended in a tie, causing the referendum to fail.

University Park Mayor Joseph Roudez said he is overjoyed at the referendum passing.

“We’ve got the opportunity to provide the kind of services that the people in our community have been needing for a long time, not just our community, for the whole region,” Roudez said Wednesday.

Roudez said he hasn’t yet determined the next steps for creating a park district, but he mentioned legal matters will need to be addressed. Eventually he plans to appoint board members for the park district and set their salaries.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said.

Worth Township

Worth Township residents apparently approved abolishing the township road district. With all precincts counted, unofficial results show 58% of voters supported the plan to move maintenance and control of those roads under the township board’s jurisdiction.

Thornton

In Thornton, voters appear to have approved a referendum calling for a village ordinance allowing and regulating the keeping of backyard chickens.

With both precincts in the village reporting, the referendum had support of 52.6% of voters, according to unofficial results.

Summit Hill District 161

Voters in Summit Hill Elementary District 161 overwhelmingly said they did not support the process the School Board used to close two schools, Arbury Hills Elementary School in Mokena and Frankfort Square Elementary School in Frankfort, without providing a tax break.

The nonbinding ballot question, put on the ballot by petition of residents, asked whether voters approved how the district closed the schools without providing a corresponding reduction in the property tax levy.

Nearly 87% of voters said they did not approve of the process.

Property taxes

Ballot questions in Burnham, Calumet Park, Crestwood, Posen, Riverdale, Robbins, South Chicago Heights and Tinley Park asked voters whether their town should pass resolutions asking Illinois to increase state funding for schools, which would lead to lower property taxes and reduce the financial burden on homeowners and taxpayers.

The measures received 90% support or higher in all eight towns.