My Suburban Life | Westmont residents repeal home rule status

Westmont’s historical repeal of Home Rule was featured in mysuburbanlife.com.
It looks like Westmont may be one of only five municipalities in the state of illinois since 1971 to repeal home rule via referendum.

As of 11 p.m., with all 25 precincts in Westmont reporting, 4,530 residents have voted to repeal home rule while 4,273 voted to retain it, according to results from the DuPage County Election Commission. All vote totals are unofficial until certified.
The referendum on today’s ballot read, “Shall the village of Westmont cease to be a home rule unit?”
Village Manager Ron Searl said the vote was close, which he expected it would be, and that he thinks it was a message that a majority of the people are not comfortable with some of the aspects of home rule.
And as far as where the village goes next, there are many unanswered question that remain since there is very little precedent for this.
“The board hasn’t really talked about what we are going to do,” he said Tuesday night. “We still have an appeal out with the U.S. Census Department, which could indicate that we were never below 25,000 residents to begin with. There is still so much we don’t know here.”
The referendum was necessary because the village fell below the minimum 25,000 residents in the 2010 census needed to be considered a home rule community under state law. Westmont has been considered home rule since a special census was conducted in 2007.
The issue has been a hot topic in the village, with residents very vocal on both sides of the issue, some saying that home rule is necessary to maintain the current level of village services, while those in opposition claim it adds an extra, unnecessary layer of government control.
A community group called Citizens for Westmont has spoken out against home rule in the village, and opposes the referendum.
Bob Mueller, a member of Citizens for Westmont, said he was happy with the results, but they were closer than he expected. Earlier today, Mueller predicted home rule would be repealed by a two-to-one margin.
“All the hard work paid off,” he said. “It isn’t a good thing for small villages like this to have home rule.”

Citizens for Westmont spent the last couple of months out in force, going door-to-door in an effort to show that home rule was not a good thing for the village, Mueller said.
There also has been talk about how the wording of the referendum, with those in support of keeping home rule having to vote “no” to the question of the village ceasing home rule, and the opposition claiming the wording confuses residents, something that Searl has denied.
Home rule status affords municipalities financial advantages, including lower borrowing rates and legal costs, and the ability to increase certain tax rates, such as sales and property tax.

IllinoisPolicy.org | Home rule repealed in Westmont, rejected in 4 other communities

TUA’s work in helping Westmont activists repeal Home Rule was featured on the Illinois Policy Institute’s blog.
Many local voters didn’t realize it, but residents of Westmont, Ill., made history during last week’s election.
By a vote of 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent, Westmont became the first Illinois community to repeal a municipality’s home rule power in 29 years. The last repeal happened in Rockford in 1983.
Westmont automatically became a home rule community after a special census in 2007 showed Westmont had more than 25,000 residents. State law automatically grants home rule powers to communities with a population of more than 25,000.
The subsequent 2010 census showed that the village fell short of the 25,000 population mark, triggering an automatic home rule referendum according to state law.
Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA), has been fighting home rule in Illinois for decades. Tobin calls home rule “one of the most financially devastating schemes Illinois politicians have ever come up with.”
“Home rule means, literally, home rule unlimited taxing power,” Tobin said. “A home rule municipality can create just about any tax under the sun and raise taxes without limit.”
TUA assisted a group called Citizens for Westmont to work for elimination of the village’s home rule power in the referendum battle.
Enactment of home rule powers is often shortly followed by increases to sales, utility or property tax rates. Communities often borrow against future home rule revenues to finance big projects.
The recent November election had voters in nine communities in Illinois voting on home rule referendums. Home rule was defeated in five of those communities and approved in four others.
Illinois communities that rejected or repealed home rule
Elkville
Harrisburg
Kenilworth
River Forest
Westmont (population fell below 25,000)
Illinois communities that retained home rule
Edwardsville (population fell below 25,000)
Homer Glen (population fell below 25,000)
Maywood (population fell below 25,000)
Mt. Vernon (population fell below 25,000)