Grass roots tax revolt
Georgia Hillyer
Progress Editor
The reason property taxes are so high, is really quite simple, say Joe Behnken and Kyle McCarter. The bottom line is — governments and school districts are spending too much. Their revenue has risen sharply over the last five years on the backs of property tax payers and it’s time to return part of that, at least the 6 percent increase this year due to the O’Fallon Township multiplier, they say.
Problems in the county assessor’s office and the state’s system of school funding are related issues, but “They have taken from us more of our personal income than they should have,” said McCarter. “This is about families not having enough to pay their taxes and having to foreclose on their homes because of this burden.”
Behnken, a former county board member, and McCarter, a current one, haven’t yet been able to convince school boards or county officials to end property tax increases but they say their message is beginning to resound with the public. A meeting at the O’Fallon Public Safety building Monday was attended by a standing room only crowd of about 100.
The email list a citizen’s group’s Web site, OurTaxMoney.org , is growing.
McCarter and Behnken have compiled a tax information packet that primarily targets O’Fallon Township taxpayers four biggest property tax collectors: O’Fallon Grade School District 90, O’Fallon High School District 203, St. Clair County and Southwest Illinois College. The four have also seen the biggest increases in property tax revenue over the past five years: SWIC-61%; District 203-45%; St. Clair County-41% and District 90-40%.
The average property tax bill in O’Fallon Township has increased almost 40 percent in five years but the major taxing districts have seen an even bigger increase in revenue, lead by SWIC at 61 percent, O’Fallon High School District 203 at 45 percent, St. Clair County at 41 percent and O’Fallon District 90 at 40 percent.
The study points out that enrollments and population growth have lagged behind revenue growth: In the same time period St. Clair County had a population gain of 1.9% and enrollment at SWIC has actually declined by 5 percent. Enrollment at District 203 has risen by 13 percent and enrollment at District 90 has risen 8 percent.
The big increases in property tax revenue, that some have called a “windfall” have come as increasing property values and new construction has raised the township’s equalized assessed value, plus the township multiplier which has been applied across the board because St. Clair County has not done formal reassessments for about 20 years.
$10,000 TAX BILL
“This is the problem,” said Behnken, “What used to be rare in this community was somebody paying $10,000 a year in taxes on a house. It’s not rare anymore. It’s not an extraordinary amount.”
The declining economy is another important fact to consider.
“We’re not in normal times,” said McCarter. “Gas and food prices have risen rapidly over the past 18 months. The schools are taking money away from families that need it.”
“All we’re asking for is the amount of the multiplier,” said McCarter. “We admit the multiplier is an issue and if the assessor was doing his job it should be zero.”
One of three Republican members on the 27-member St. Clair County Board, McCarter said he has little impact on decision making there, as Behnken did before.
They are hoping to go directly to the public with their message. “When EAV goes up it’s the taxing body’s responsibility, if it’s unjust, to not take advantage of that and take more of my money,” said McCarter.
There needs to be a cultural change when it comes to thinking about taxes, said Behnken.
Behnken quoted a Nov. 7 letter by District 90’s assistant superintendent, Dr. Todd Koehl saying the strategy was to “stay aggressive in our tax levy calculations so we can capture all the tax dollars available.”
“We’re not asking them to decrease costs. We’re asking them in decrease the increase,” said Behnken.
He said the elected school board members are failing to represent taxpayers.
“Who is representing the taxpayers? We love the children but we love their parents, too,” he said. “Why isn’t the school board responding to our requests? It’s a culture we’re fighting here.”
CHARGING AT WINDMILLS
They’ve been accused of being like Don Quixote and charging at windmills while the real problem is the Illinois system of funding schools.
To that Behnken and McCarter say that the school districts and teachers union have far more power to change the system than they do and that the districts and union must work harder to do that.
Behnken and McCarter haven’t gained much support in their campaign from O’Fallon City officials either, though City Council has voted to abate the multiplier’s increase.
Finance Director Dean Rich has said the two are misguided to “pick” on O’Fallon schools and not other school districts.
McCarter says that as a county board member he wishes he would have begun the fight at the county level earlier but as a Republican he has almost no influence on county politics.
“Five years ago I should have been making the same presentation. I’m at fault,” he said.
The two are calling attention to another problem rising EAV is expected to cause. Within four years the districts may lose up to $4 million in general state aid as district EAV reaches $1 billion. They say it’s time for the districts to cut costs and halt capital improvement projects, including the new freshman campus and District 90 building upgrades.
“For the schools to say that we cannot reduce our rate because we’ll lose state aid is not right. The only factor in state general aid is the EAV. It has nothing to do with EAV.” Behnken said, "You can delegate the authority to the superintendents. But they can’t delegate the responsibility. The power here is the ballot box.”
Behnken said he doesn’t want to predict a doomsday for the schools but as districts drop to state funding minimums they’ll will be forced to ask voters for money through referendum.
Behnken and McCarter say that doesn’t change their opinion that the districts should abate six percent of the property tax bill to payers this year using cash reserves.
McCarter said they would like a response to the request from board members, not superintendents.
McCarter has asked the county to abate $20 million from reserves that McCarter said total $225 million.
The two say their message is beginning to reverberate and some school board members seem to be listening.
“I saw some hope,” said McCarter. “We need to hear from the board members.”
