TUA’s work in helping local activists defeat 4 property-tax-increase referenda was featured in the Daily Herald.
Experts used to say the best time to ask voters for a tax increase is when there are fewer of them at the polls.
Tuesday’s election results in DuPage County show how much times have changed.
Despite less than 19 percent voter turnout countywide, four DuPage school districts were left licking their wounds after voters soundly defeated requests for more property tax money.
Itasca Elementary District 10 sought more tax dollars to fill holes in its budget. Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200, Lake Park High School District 108 and Butler Elementary District 53 were hoping to pursue construction projects.
All of them lost.
“We went into this knowing it was going to be an uphill battle,” said Alan Hanzlik, president of the District 53 school board in Oak Brook.
Still, supporters were surprised when the district’s request to borrow $15 million to build a $40 million K-8 school was rejected by about 72 percent of the residents who voted on the measure, according to unofficial results.
A ballot question related to where the school would be built did worse.
About 76 percent of the Oak Brook voters who weighed in refused to give the village permission to sell Sports Core land to District 53 for the school.
Meanwhile, voter turnout for both ballot questions was more than 41 percent.
Hanzlik said he’s now trying to figure out what went wrong with the referendum campaign.
But with voters also resisting property tax hikes in District 200, District 108 and District 10, it’s possible nothing could have changed the outcome.
“The failure of a broad cross-section of these referendums indicates taxpayers are still hurting economically,” said Terry Pastika, executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst. “They are feeling the squeeze. They are feeling overburdened.”
District 10 officials said they had to seek $1 million annually in extra taxes to fill a budget shortfall that was caused, in part, by decreased state and federal funding.
That didn’t stop Taxpayers United of America from campaigning against the ballot question. The Chicago-based government watchdog group argued the district was seeking higher property taxes at a time when Itasca taxpayers are taking home less pay.
The end result was the proposal being rejected by nearly 60 percent of the District 10 residents who voted on it.
District 200 residents who championed a proposal to replace an aging early childhood center acknowledge the sluggish economy likely played a role in the measure’s defeat.
“We feel that the community didn’t say ‘No.’ We feel that they said ‘Not yet.’” said Dan Wagner, who served as co-chairman of a group called Friends of the Schools — Yes to the Jefferson Early Childhood Center Referendum.
District 200 sought voter approval to borrow $17.6 million to construct a new Jefferson Early Childhood Center and demolish the existing structure in Wheaton. Roughly 59 percent of the voters rejected the idea.
Without a November election, taxing bodies can’t seek another ballot question until March 2014.
District 200 school board President Rosemary Swanson said officials will take time to review the election results to determine what concerns voters had about the proposal. “We’ll work to see if we can find a plan that’s acceptable to them,” she said.
In the meantime, the existing Jefferson doesn’t match the program it houses. While two-thirds of the students have special needs, the building originally was designed as an elementary school.
Some students receive therapy in converted storage closets, while others use equipment set up at the end of hallways. In addition, some entrances and bathrooms aren’t accessible for students in wheelchairs and walkers.
“It (Jefferson) needs an overall redesign,” Swanson said. “And we do not have the money in our district funds to be able to do that without going to the voters to seek their support in the future.”
In District 108, officials say they don’t foresee the issue of an indoor swimming pool at Lake Park High School going away.
In fact, they said they’re encouraged by the results, in which roughly 55 percent of voters said no to both questions related to the proposed pool.
“We’re seeing an increasing level of community support even though it didn’t work to our favor this time,” Superintendent Lynne Panega said. “Maybe there is some traction. So we’re trying to focus on the positive and use this to move forward.”
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Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) helped local activists defeat 4 more property tax increase referenda. This makes our Illinois property tax increase referenda victories 197! We were also successful in 2 of 3 Home Rule battles. We have effectively helped taxpayers beat down 200 Home Rule referenda in our 37 years of operation!
“Taxpayers are the big winners anytime Home Rule is defeated. Home Rule communities always have higher taxes and that is the message that resonated with South Chicago Heights and Anna voters yesterday,” stated Jim Tobin, president of TUA.
“Itasca SD 10 put out a full marketing blitz to try and blur the new requirement that ballot language include the actual property tax increase. But thanks to our coordinated efforts with local activists, we were able to educate the voters who soundly defeated the referendum 1,107 to 743.”
“McClellan CCSD 12 gave their government school bureaucrats a resounding ‘NO’ on a property tax increase referendum with a vote of 140 to 76. Taxpayers in Mt. Vernon simply can’t support a property tax increase when they have been hit so hard economically. They insist that government school bureaucrats tighten their belts and stop expecting taxpayers to take yet another hit.”
“McHenry County taxpayers won bigger than most. They defeated a referendum, 20,562 to 11,075, that would have actually added an entirely new taxing authority to reach into the wallets of McHenry County residents. But these big government bureaucrats met tremendous opposition thanks to local activist, Bob Anderson, founder of McHenry Citizens TaxWatch. This well organized opposition also defeated a move, 4,273 to 2,378, by McHenry HSD 156 to spend $2.2 million in bond surplus rather than return it to the taxpayers making this a double win for the taxpayers in the district.”
“McHenry Citizens TaxWatch also coordinated efforts with us to elect Tax Accountability (TA) endorsed candidate, Chris Jenner and his running mate, Thomas Wilbeck to the McHenry County College Board. With records as fiscal watchdogs, Jenner and Wilbeck will serve McHenry County taxpayers and students, rather than special interests that seek to grow empires by creating jobs – and pensions – for their cronies.”
“Libertyville trustee candidate, Phil Collins, who was endorsed by TA won a very close race for that seat. Libertyville now has at least one ‘liberty’ focused trustee in Phil who pledges to protect taxpayers from irresponsible spending and increased taxation.”
“The most important politics are local and the message that voters sent to municipal leaders yesterday is that they want a say in tax increases and aren’t willing to give government bureaucrats a blank check to pay for empire building.”
“Our fight for smaller, more responsible government is going to be won at the local level and we, TUA, are there on the ground with activists across the state to beat down the expansion of taxing authority and incessant property tax increases. We educate people on the reality of expanding taxing authority through home rule and what property tax increases are really used for, and we give them the tools they need to defeat the increases. In some cities, we are the only voice of opposition to the government rhetoric that is unchallenged and regurgitated by many media.”
“Thanks to our research, people aren’t being fooled any longer; they know that 80% of local taxes go to pay salaries and benefits, including gold plated pensions. Voters in these communities sent a loud and clear message that they want spending cuts without tax increases and they want to throw out the tax-and-spend incumbents.”
Findings from TUA’s pension project on LaSalle County, Illinois, are featured in this story from the News Tribune.
OTTAWA — About 80 percent of every tax dollar you pay goes directly into funding pension plans and salaries for local teachers, government officials and public sector union employees, said Jim Tobin, founder of Taxpayers United of America.
“When people understand that government bureaucrats are raising property taxes to mostly fund their own pension plans people will make the connection and start demanding reform,” Tobin said.
Tobin and TUA of Illinois executive director Rae Ann McNeilly held a press conference Wednesday in Ottawa to release a list of salaries and pensions paid to local teachers and government employees to illustrate why the state’s pension system will collapse by 2015, according to TUA.
“Real reform starts with this community looking at these lists and asking if this is what we want for La Salle County — a system that allows them to grow their pensions at the expense of the taxpayer,” Tobin said. “These battles must be fought at the local level.”
Tobin calls for the state’s retirement age to be raised to age 67, increase employee pension contributions by 10 percent, increase health care contributions to 50 percent, eliminate all cost of living adjustments (COLAs), and replace the defined benefit system with a defined contribution system for all new hires.
Tobin said voters and rank-and-file union members need to ask union leaders to support pension reform and all taxpayers to become active participants at the local level.
For example, McNeilly said she and Tobin were listening to a rebroadcast of the Peru Mayoral Forum on 1220 AM WLPO while driving into Ottawa.
“You heard all the candidates promising to buy new things for their constituents,” McNeilly said. “Where’s the guy that says, ‘I’m going to give back the money you earned so you can make your own choices?’ That’s the candidate we should be voting for.”
Based on 2010 U.S. Census figures, the average La Salle County resident earns $37,000 annually, which is typically lower than what many people in the public sector earn not including pensions and excellent health benefits, Tobin said.
But the recent increases in sand mine developments in the county could become a major economic boom for the county’s taxpayers so long as government doesn’t siphon money off of industrial development to fund public employee pension and salary increases, Tobin said.
“At 10.8 percent, La Salle County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state,” he said. “Decreased home values, a 67 percent increase in state income tax and a 44 percent increase in Social Security tax have stripped wealth from La Salle County area taxpayers,” he said.
“But the outlook for La Salle County could be positive, if government bureaucrats can keep their greed in check and allow taxpayers to enjoy the growth that can result from a booming mining industry in the area. Rather than look for ways to pillage this growth industry, county officials should be encouraging this growth by limiting regulations and taxation.”
