Monthly archive for March 2014

TUA’s work in helping Kane County taxpayers oppose property-tax-increase referenda was featured in the Daily Herald.
Advocates of a new tax that would provide up to $13 million for Kane County residents with development disabilities are trying to educate the public about exactly how the new tax would work. But just the idea of any additional property tax burden has been enough for the referendum to gain at least one notable opponent.
County voters will decide if they are willing to raise their property taxes by an average of $55 per year on March 18. If voters say “yes,” Kane County will form a developmental disabilities services board, known as a 377 board, to distribute funding to agencies that serve an estimated 20,000 residents with various developmental disability needs.
The board, consisting of up to five unpaid members, would receive funding through a levy authorized by the county board. The levy can’t be zero and can’t be more than 0.1 percent of the equalized assessed value of taxable property in the county.
The money collected, about $13 million if the full cap is levied, would then be distributed among about a dozen nonprofit agencies in the county that provide the services. Funds could also be spent at agencies outside the county, but only for services provided to Kane County residents.
Advocates say the new setup is needed because the current system isn’t providing enough funding to meet the existing needs. Federal and state funds are not increasing, while the number of local residents needing disability services is.
“When these residents turn 18, they are no longer, technically, the responsibility of their parents,” said Pat Flaherty, a board member with the Association for Individual Development. “That means they become a community responsibility. They belong to all of us.”
The nonprofit, one of the service providers for people with developmental disabilities, has pumped more than $100,000 into the referendum campaign. AID also has worked to gain handshake agreements from existing 708 boards to avoid double-taxing residents if the new tax is created.
Townships on the south end of the county and the communities of St. Charles and Geneva already tax their residents to help provide services to developmentally disabled residents, as well as residents with substance abuse or mental health problems.
For example, in 2011, all the existing 708 boards in the county collected about $2.38 million in taxes for those three groups of residents. But only about $370,000 of that went to developmental disabilities needs based on the decisions of those individual boards.
There are no 708 boards on the north end of the county, which is part of the reason why advocates are pushing for a countywide tax. If the new tax is created, the existing boards will sign agreements stating that they will no longer collect funds for developmental disabilities, according to Flaherty. The boards, however, will still collect taxes to help residents with mental health or substance abuse problems.
John Knewitz, former assistant superintendent of schools in St. Charles School District 303, said the new countywide tax is both the easiest and best way to fund services for developmentally disabled residents.
Knewitz, who oversaw special education services in the school district, said bringing 708 or 377 boards to the north end of the county is unlikely. Dissolving all the existing 708 boards in the south and central portions of the county, and then creating one countywide 708 board, would require multiple referendums with uncertain outcomes.
“I don’t see any of those possibilities as being realistic in the foreseeable future,” Knewitz said. “The only solution is what we’re trying to do.”
North Aurora resident Rae Ann McNeilly doesn’t believe that’s true. She is the executive director of Taxpayers United of America and believes developmental disabilities services can and should be funded through charitable donations, not taxes.
“What they are asking for is not a small amount of money when you’re adding to an already huge burden,” McNeilly said. “This is a cause that should be supported through volunteer donations, not through force. If we leave money in taxpayers’ pockets, they will have more money to support charities.”
McNeilly believes the referendum would create a double taxing situation for Kane County residents.
“The majority of the revenue the service providers receive is from the state, so it already comes from taxpayers,” she said. “Instead of this referendum, they should be spending money on hosting private fundraisers.”
The dollar numbers for charity flowing to Flaherty’s AID organization are relatively small. Out of $24.6 million in revenue, only $1.33 million came from charitable contributions, according it is most recent tax statement.
“If there are people who think the tax is too much, we would ask them to turn their attention to the existing county budget and cut true waste in government rather than turning their backs on people whose only contribution to their circumstance was being born,” Flaherty said.

TUA President Jim Tobin was quoted in a My Suburban Life article about the Glenbard tax hike.
GLEN ELLYN – Voters headed to the polls this month in Glenbard Township High School District 87 will be asked to support the issuance of $35 million in bonds to fund facility projects at the district’s four schools.
If approved, the $35 million would extend the district’s bond debt– currently due to expire in Fiscal Year 2026– through Fiscal Year 2039, according to a report prepared by PMA Securities, the district’s financial adviser.
Residents’ tax rates would not increase as a result of the bond issuance, said District 87 Superintendent David Larson.
“What we are asking is to add additional bonds on without any increase to the property tax [rate],” Larson said. “It’s really about investing in our number one asset, which is our students.”
The referendum question will appear on the March 18 election ballot.
Glenbard 4 Kids, a parent-led ballot initiative group formed in December 2013, has been busy rallying referendum support in the communities that make up the four high schools.
“It is needed for infrastructure repairs we believe have to be made to the four Glenbard schools,” Glenbard 4 Kids spokesman Steve Garwood said.
“From a safety, security and educational standpoint, this is for the benefit of the kids,” Garwood said. “Some of the repairs needed would replace mechanical structures that are [about] 50-years-old.”
The $35 million is expected to be used to fund $8 million of projects in summer 2016, $18 million in summer 2017 and $9 million in summer 2018, according to the PMA report.
The district’s Board of Education voted unanimously in November 2013 to place the measure on the ballot.
Along with Glenbard 4 Kids, the League of Women Voters of Glen Ellyn has endorsed the district’s referendum.
However, Taxpayers United of America President and Founder Jim Tobin disagrees with the referendum – and any other ballot initiatives by public school districts seeking to raise taxes.
Instead, the Chicago-based taxpayer group pushes for tax cuts at the local, state and federal level, Tobin said.
“One of the best places to start cutting is to defeat all the property tax increases that are put on the ballot,” said Tobin, adding that there are five other referendums his organization is targeting on the March 18 ballot.
The group has been distributing fliers calling for District 87 taxpayers to vote “no” on the referendum.
“This is nothing more than a money grab by greedy government bureaucrats who will tax everything they can to prop up their own salaries and pensions,” the literature states.
If the referendum is successful, the bonds will support the district’s Master Facility Plan, which includes $100 million of work to be executed during the course of 10 years, a majority of which will include infrastructure improvements and renovations of classrooms, common areas and outdoor spaces.
The district will fund the remaining $65 million of its Master Facility Plan through its Operations and Maintenance budget, which is about $6.5 million per year. The board previously approved issuing bonds to borrow $20 million that will be paid off using that budget.
It is a significant sharing between taxpayers and the District 87 board,” Garwood said.
The Master Facility Plan, reviewed and approved by the Board of Education in December 2011, was developed by Legat Architects of Chicago with input from the district and community members, who participated in several months of focus groups.
A steering committee, comprised of board members, staff, faculty, administrators, students, parents and community members, was also formed to gather feedback.
Legat Architects originally identified $179 million worth of work to be completed during the plan’s 10-year cycle. However, the district scaled the plan back to $100 million after determining that the remaining $79 million of work will be addressed in the following 10 years.
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Financial impact to taxpayers
• Board of Education is committed to not increasing Bond & Interest Fund tax rate
• Current Bond & Interest Fund tax rate will be maintained
• The referendum would extend the amount of time taxpayers would pay for capital projects
• The owner of a $300,000 market value home would continue to pay $69 per year
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D-87 referendum question
“Shall the Board of Education of Glenbard Township High School District Number 87, DuPage County, Illinois, improve the sites of and alter, repair and equip each of the School District’s four high schools – Glenbard East, Glenbard North, Glenbard South and Glenbard West and issue bonds of said School District to the amount of $35,000,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?”
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Know more
For more information on the referendum, visit www.glenbard87.org of follow Glenbard 4 Kids at www.Facebook.com/g4kids or www.twitter.com/glenbard4kids.

TUA’s work in helping Kane County taxpayers oppose property-tax-increase referenda was featured in the Northwest Herald.
Kane County voters will be asked to support a property tax increase of 0.1 percent on the March 18 primary ballot to fund services for people with developmental disabilities.
If the measure passes and the Kane County Board approves the full levy, it would increase the tax burden by about $100 a year for the owner of a $300,000 home. It would raise an estimated $13 million to be administered by a disabilities board – also known as a 377 board – for housing, transportation, jobs and job training among other services for people with disabilities.
Show You Care Kane spearheaded the petition drive a year ago after Kane County officials would not put the question on the ballot.
The Association for Individual Development, which serves more than 5,000 clients with developmental disabilities, took the lead in getting the measure on the ballot.
But 11 agencies that serve people with developmental disabilities support the effort and would share in the funding, AID board vice chairman Patrick Flaherty said.
“We are optimistic that this will pass,” Flaherty said. “We know we are on the right side of this issue, so we are optimistic about the goodwill and good hearts of the people who share our community here in Kane County.”
North Aurora resident Rae Ann McNeilly is a member of a group called Kane County Taxpayers Fight Back, which opposes the referendum.
“Primarily from the standpoint that this is money being taken by taxpayers and given to a nonprofit company,” McNeilly said. “This should be private fundraising to generate this additional revenue. This should not be a taxpayer burden, especially on property owners.”
McNeilly disputed that people who are developmentally disabled need additional support through another tax.
“You are growing government in Kane County,” McNeilly said.
McNeilly said AID itself received $16.4 million in 2013 from the state and does not need more money.
“There are people hurting all over Kane County. Is … every one of those needs supposed to be paid through property taxes?” McNeilly said. “This [referendum] serves a very small percentage of the Kane County residents. And yet, we are willing to put people out of their homes if they can’t afford this tax increase to serve this small slice of the community.”
McNeilly said support for people with developmental disabilities should be from private fundraising, not local property taxes.
“There are way too many people put on the responsibility of the state. That is not the role of government,” McNeilly said. “And it should not be by force. This is laziness on the part of these organizations to go to the taxing authority to get their money mandated.”
McNeilly also charged that if the referendum is approved, the three-member panel appointed by the County Board chairman to administer the funds would be paid, and then add to the state’s pension debt.
Flaherty disputed McNeilly’s statements, saying all 11 nonprofits that support the referendum will still have to do fundraising to meet a growing need.
Among the local service providers are DayOne Network in Geneva, Easter Seals DuPage and Fox Valley Region in Elgin, Fox Valley Special Recreation Association in Aurora, Valley Sheltered Workshop in Batavia, and Marklund in Blackberry Township.
“The disabilities board is created to administer the funds, not to tax or raise more funds,” Flaherty said. “The County Board is the only one that can levy the tax … and not more than what is approved. It can be less, but not more.”
Also, by state law, the developmental disabilities board members serve as unpaid volunteers, though they can be reimbursed for expenses, Flaherty said. Flaherty disputed that nonprofits should not receive taxes, as Illinois routinely contracts with nonprofits to provide services.
Flaherty also disputed that the developmental disabilities population in Kane County is small.
“There are thousands, up and down the valley,” Flaherty said. “The constituency is the 10,000 people who need services … with a continuing influx yearly of people. There are 16,000 in special ed programs, and 4,000 are going to need help when they graduate.”
When developmentally disabled adults reach age 22, local schools no longer provide services for them, he said. About 1,100 Kane County residents are on a state waiting list for housing, he said.
While fundraising and donations are important to support current programs, Flaherty said donations do not provide a stable source of funding.
“The need is constant and always growing, so donations are never enough, even in the best of times,” Flaherty said. “Donations don’t allow for year-to-year budgeting and year-to-year planning, both of which are enormously important when you are trying to take care of people.”
As to AID receiving $16.4 million from state and federal funding in 2013, Flaherty said the money covers a broad spectrum of the agency’s services to people with mental illness, substance abuse and developmental disabilities, but is not enough to cover all the needs.
Flaherty said the federal and state allocations are not getting bigger while the numbers of people needing services grows every year. In the long term, supporting the referendum and creating a local, stable source of funding ultimately will cost taxpayers less, Flaherty said.
Some families don’t accept the responsibility for a family member with developmental disabilities, or because of age, illness or death are unable to continue those responsibilities, he said.
“In every one of those instances, the children become the expense of the state at higher cost – three times the cost – than at the local level,” Flaherty said.
As to increasing the property taxes, Flaherty said the amount is about $1 or $2 a week, depending on a house’s value.
“It is a modest cost to provide important work for services being received,” Flaherty said. “If not at the local level now, it will be paid for three times if provided by the state.”
Flaherty suggested those who want to save money should find a different way.
“The few vocal opponents [of the referendum] who exist would better serve the community by working to cut true waste in government rather than turning their backs on people whose only contribution to their circumstance was being born,” he said.
McNeilly said it did not matter that the amount of money being sought is small.
“They’re going to take a little more, a little more, a little more,” McNeilly said. “It will grow unto itself.”
Know more
The actual referendum question on the March 18 ballot:
Shall Kane County levy an annual tax not to exceed 0.1 percent upon the equalized assessed value of all taxable property in the county for the purposes of providing facilities or services for the benefit of its residents who are intellectually disabled or under a developmental disability and who are not eligible to participate in any program provided under Article 14 of the School Code,105 ILCS 5/14-1.01 et seq., including contracting for those facilities or services with any privately or publicly operated entity that provides those facilities or services either in or out of the county?