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North Aurora – Kane County taxpayers are fighting local tax expansion and property tax increase referenda with the help of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) and Kane Cares About Taxpayers.
“The $13 million Kane County property tax increase referendum on the March 18 ballot is the most egregious grab for taxpayer money and expansion of government that I have seen to date,” stated Rae Ann McNeilly, executive director of TUA and Kane County resident.
“This referendum was not only put on the ballot by the private, not for profit company, Association for Individual Development (AID), who will receive most of the money taken from taxpayers under this measure, but it also creates a new taxing authority with paid board members whose only job is to funnel the money from the taxpayers to AID”.
“These new government board salaries will inevitably grow in number and size, most likely creating even more lavish, taxpayer funded pensions. The last thing we want to do is to add to the government pension problem, especially when they are funded by property tax dollars.”
“Residents of Kane County are already being taxed for these very services. The State of Illinois, the primary source of funding for AID, paid AID $16.4 million in 2013. We are already paying for these services and if this referendum passes, they can and will raise our property taxes again and again.”
“AID is plagued with legal troubles. They have been heavily fined by the State Board of Elections for not following the rules and it has been alleged that they illegally used taxpayer money to fund their initiative to get this referendum on the ballot. The last thing we need is to not only expand government in Illinois, but to also expand corruption.”
“AID has thinly veiled their grab for property taxes with a campaign name intended to tug at the heartstrings of every voter. ‘Show You Care Kane for the Developmentally Disabled’ is nothing more than a siphon of taxpayer wealth to the pockets of the overpaid administrators of AID.”
“The developmentally disabled residents of Kane County need financial support, but it should not be forced through property taxes; it should come from private, voluntary donations. There are so many property owners with their own special needs or financial constraints who will be forced out of their homes if they can’t pay their property taxes. It is immoral to prioritize the needs of one group over all of the others.”
“As a resident of Kane County, I am offended that the developmentally disabled are being exploited and used as a means to fatten the coffers of a private organization and to expand the government, creating yet another taxing body in Illinois where there are already over 6,994 local taxing bodies, the most in the country, and 2,100 more than second place Pennsylvania.”
A copy of our “Vote No” flyer can be downloaded from our website HERE.
TUA President Jim Tobin was quoted about Chicago debt in Northwestern University’s Medill Reports.
Despite Chicago’s debt being among the worst in the nation, the City Council voted Wednesday to allow the city to issue bonds up to $900 million and authorized borrowing another $1 billion for Midway Airport.
The measure passed without discussion, with only Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Ald. John Arena (45th) voting no.
This action comes less than a year after Moody’s downgraded Chicago’s credit rating by three notches.
Fioretti said he voted no for two reasons: a lack of transparency in the proceedings and his feeling the council was “kicking the can down the road.”
Fioretti, who is not a member of the finance committee, attended Monday’s meeting and said, although he asked questions, he learned little about the plan.
“This is The Parking Meter: 2,” Fioretti said, referring to former Mayor Richard Daley’s controversial lease of the city’s parking meters to Chicago Parking Meters, LLC. The lease was widely criticized for its lack of transparency.
Fioretti said Chicago is headed in a dangerous direction and faults fellow aldermen for refusing acknowledge the problem.
“Nobody wants to discuss the real road to Detroit that we are on at this point,” he said.
Sarah Wetmore, vice president and research director of the Civic Federation, wrote in an email that it is important to distinguish between the kinds of debt the city issues.
The portion of the debt the city said will be used for safety-related building repairs is necessary, she wrote, to keep government infrastructure sound.
About $120 million of the $900 million would be used to push debt to future years, according to Wetmore.
“The unsustainable savings have helped balance the city’s current year operating budgets, but they also greatly increase the city’s long-term obligations,” she wrote. “The city must find a more sustainable way to address the growing gap between its spending and available revenues.”
Wetmore warned of dire consequences if they city cannot curtail its spending and continues to rack up debt.
“It will be forced to choose between a significant increase in the property tax, crippling cuts to city services or some combination of both,” she wrote.
Finally, Wetmore wrote, the city’s credit rating could be hurt by the amassed debt, which would make borrowing in the future more expensive and possibly limit borrowing opportunities.
Some were more forceful in their criticism.
Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America, said the law is “horrible.”
Tobin said the action amounts to the council “stealing the peoples money. They should all be thrown from office.”
The law is pushing financial obligations onto future generations and making them responsible for “lavish, gold-plated pensions,” Tobin said.
