Kendall County Property Tax Revolt – A New Beginning

This will be my final BLOG on property taxes. I began this BLOG with the intent to help people understand the property tax appeal process and rally people to make change. I have fulfilled that goal. Somehow on the way there others joined and the group began to discuss bigger and better ideas. In a very short amount of time this group of volunteers has accomplished a great deal. We now have a referendum on the ballot to help reduce taxes instead of increasing them. Every voter can now voice their opinion in the security of the voting booth. That is a major change to business as usual and local officials had better pay attention.

The conversation of constantly raising the tax levies has turned to a conversation of reductions as seen by recent comments from the Kendall County Board and the City of Yorkville. Now that the people in Kendall County have a voice at the table we want to continue the reduction theme. We are not content with the reductions proposed so far but it is encouraging the conversation has changed. We want to hear from the school districts, park districts, library districts, and all the rest. Our plans are for our group to help the members of each board make the right decisions with the taxpayer as part of the equation going forward.

We have also been working with other groups outside Kendall County and are drawing on their expertise to enhance our own. We have assembled a mighty group of soldiers and expect some skirmishes will be very difficult for everyone involved. We also have seen the first few shots being volleyed by elected officials with threats to cut the most precious or volatile areas to try to turn the tide against us. My advice to those officials is to be careful with your rhetoric. The common folk are awake and are getting educated in the financials of government.

I am hoping that more people now realize that only about 1/3 of the revenue that government spends comes from our property taxes (http://taxfoundation.org/article/where-do-state-and-local-governments-get-their-tax-revenue). Our 20% reduction in levies relates directly to everyone’s property taxes but is only about a 7% reduction overall to the revenue stream of government. And that is if all the other sources of revenue don’t increase as the economy improves. So those who state our 20% cut to levies somehow equates to a 20% across the board cut to government’s budget are misguiding the conversation. The true across the board reduction number is much closer to 7%.

The end of my BLOG is really just the beginning of the Kendall County Property Tax Revolt group’s effort. The group will be very vocal while pursuing the objectives of our mission, “We believe every citizen has the right to own and afford property free from excessive property taxation.” I am signing off my personal BLOG to allow the group to pursue the mission of every taxpayer in Kendall County. Join with us and help the group reverse the trend that has been killing the common man. The conversation has changed. It may also be time to change those who stand in the way.