On page 2 of the October 18 issue of the Sun Day, a brief item entitled, “ballot confusion” was printed.
It reported that on the Kane County ballot in the upcoming Nov. 6 election, there is a proposal for a 1% property tax increase on the fair market value of homes in the county. A majority of Sun City residents live in Kane County.
Two questions were posed to the Sun Day about this proposal. One, who or what organization put it there, and second, why is the wording of the proposal confusing? Questions also have been raised because the proposal implies that the state’s General Assembly may be actually considering establishment of such an increase.
The ballot proposal says, “Shall Kane County oppose the Illinois General Assembly instituting a 1% annual real estate tax on the fair market value of your property to pay state unfunded liabilities?” A voter may usually want to vote “no” to this or any proposed tax increase, but the wording of this proposal requires a “yes” vote if you oppose the tax, and a “no” vote if you favor it.
The Sun Day communicated with Chuck Chodl, of Baird and Warner Real Estate, and Michael Simpson, managing broker of Baird & Warner Real Estate in Algonquin. Here’s what Simpson told us: “I reached out to our government affairs director, Alex Finke, who was well aware of this issue. This is a non-binding ballot proposition (based on a white paper by several economists). There is no legislation pending (in the Illinois General Assembly) that would be impacted by the results of the vote on this proposition. Some have suggested that this proposition was put on the ballot by the Republicans, in order to generate additional voter participation in this election.”
The bottom line on this proposal? It is non-binding.
