On May 24, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Judge Mary Mikva will hear and determine whether a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction should be issued against Oak Park School District 97 and its individual members to enjoin them from attempting to collect the new property tax increase approved by the voters on April 5, 2011.  The hearing will be at the Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, Room 2508.
Noel Kuriakos, an Oak Park property tax payer, and Taxpayers United of America, one of the largest taxpayer organizations in America, filed a lawsuit against the School Board and its members on April 26, 2011, challenging the legality of the ballot used in the April 5th election.  The referendum question failed to include the State multiplier in calculating the estimated increase, thereby understating that increase by at least two-thirds of the actual increase.
The suit alleges the Board and its members knew before the election that the estimated tax increase was understated, but decided to go forward with the referendum regardless.  Oak Park and at least nine other school districts understated the property tax increase by failing to include the equalizer applicable to all Cook County property tax bills.
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