Just returned from a week-long fishing trip with 2 sons and a grandson up in MN without any Internet. Great family trip but now to go through over 600 emails missed last week!
Our group is still growing! I just received an email from Patch corporate office that told me our BLOG was in the top 100 BLOGs in the country! Over 22,000 BLOGs and we were in the top 100 in traffic! I guess we hit a nerve here in Kendall County! Thanks to all who are getting involved to stop the madness.
We have a rally planned for Friday, 7/13/12 in Hudson Park, Oswego - down by the river. Here is an announcement from Jan A on the event. I sincerely hope to see everyone come out and get involved. If you ever wanted to make a difference – now is that time!
A few concerned Oswegoans will be holding a Tax Rally on July 13, 2012 at Hudson Crossing Park from noon to 8:00pm. All are invited to attend to learn how we can become involved and work together to stabilize the real estate taxes levied on our homes and properties.
A special invitation goes out to all citizens in Kendall County who are concerned about their children's and grandchildren's ability to fund this out of control taxation. What better way to help them and show the next generations that we care and want to improve and preserve a great community environment, than by attending a few meeting on their behalf.
Retired Seniors with all their professional and life experience might want to consider putting their talents to work for a much needed cause. For those able Retirees this is an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy. Hope to see you at the Rally.
A final note: We have established a website petition to have everyone sign up and post their beliefs of the unfair property tax burden on every citizen. Go to the website here: http://www.change.org/petitions/kendall-county-local-government-units-reduce-property-taxes-to-2008-levels-or-a-20-reduction-in-spending. Please add your comment since we want to see everyone's opinions!
Since you live not in Kendall County, it is understandable that you would think the out of service River Road Bridge is a “County Bridge.” FYI, it is a Yorkville City Bridge. Kendall County Government has made one loan to Yorkville for Bridge Engineering and another more substantial county loan to Yorkville at the request of Mayor Golinski for New Bridge Construction because the City of Yorkville is presently over leveraged on infrastructure debt like water and sewer lines built to accommodate “bet the farm” subdivision developers. These vacant or under built (curb and gutter only) sub-divisions which are now owned by Mega Banks were bailed out by us federal taxpayers and were funded by alternate revenue bonds. That alternate revenue source is now the common taxpayers of Yorkville who again are left to pay for this grand (infrastructure gamble) scheme perpetuated by the 1999-2007 Prochaska Administration. This was the root cause of chasing rooftops to have more rooftops on the fringe of the Greater Chicago Metro. It has become THE primary reason for annually increasing taxes. We were told Growth would pay its’ way during this 8-year period. We who choose to stay,care about our communities are left to pick up the pieces & pay the freight/tab left by the recklessness behavior of the fast buck crowd. Please ask John Purcell, why the 30+ lots he owned went to Delinquent Property Tax sale on 11-6-2009. http://www.yorkvilleinsider.org/kcb/purcell/propertytax.pdf
I'm not sure which young people you're referring to. My new subdivision is full of home owners under the age of 40. I guess they should all move back to Kane, Cook, Will, Lake, or whatever urban county they came from ? I think they moved to Kendall in part, to escape the congestion of those counties. Those counties seem to be filling up with new residents from Cook County, who have decided to escape the crime, poor schools, and gangs (both street & political) of Chicago and it's nearby suburbs. Many of us do not care to live in "urban centers " that are over crowded, polluted, noisy, etc.
I hate to break your illusion of reality with actual facts, but your new subdivision is not 'full of young people'. Under 40 is not what 'young' is defined as. Under 30 is, and there are very few of those in your neighborhood, nor will there ever be again. While you may see a handful of them, it is very, very far from 'full' of them. In fact, the only thing that area is 'full of' is foreclosures. With areas like this pushing 10% of the total houses in the subdivision at some stage of the foreclosure process. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Bucktail-Dr-Oswego-IL-60543/2122037028_zpid/ You can also check how many of your 'neighbors' are delinquent in paying their property taxes too. http://taxinquiry.co.kendall.il.us/forms/search.aspx You would make better decisions if your opinions were based on the reality of the situation, instead of your personal perception of it.
FYI > The vast majority of people under the age of 30 do not buy $250- $300 homes. They have not had 3 or 4 kids yet, therefore they have no need for that size of home. You do not cite your source for your definition of "young people" but even if we take your word for it, the fact of the matter is that adults under 40 tend to have younger children. I understand many ppl are delinquent on their HOA, property taxes, and even mortgages. But that all has nothing to do with where they happen to live. Same is true outside of Kendall County. Please respond with a better argument. I have a firm grasp of reality.
http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/13715406-418/foreclosure-filings-rise.html "In Kendall County, which ranked first in the state, filings totaled 1,392, up 60.55 percent from the second half of last year and 24.62 percent from the first half." There will be no influx of people in your lifetime, young or old, to help you out. You will have to fix this on your own by directly addressing the problems you all caused. This means paying for what you 'wanted'. Pointing fingers at politicians is not directly addressing anything other than your need to feel good. This 'build everything', and then complain about it when the bill comes due attitude, is laughable. Would you care to post the results of the referendums that passed over the last 10 years? Your fellow neighbors voted to spend all this money, and no doubt some of them are thinking twice about those votes. Unfortunately, they could have prevented all of these problems, if they had bothered to think ONCE the first time around. You are organizing to cut services to the rest of your community. The bills for the expenses already incurred are not going to go away, so your answer is to cut funding to other programs and services? Taxes are higher in Lake county, by the way. Yet they are nowhere on the top foreclosure list. Take some time to think about what you are doing, for once.
Of the 22 homes on my street, 13 of them are owned by people under 40. I realize "young" is a relative or subjective term, but as far as a home buyer goes, under 40 is fairly young. People younger than 30 generally rent or purchase town homes. But please feel free to tell us more about these "urban centers" you speak of. Which one do you reside in ? If you are happy there, great. Some of us choose not to be confined to highly concentrated areas such as Aurora, Chicago, Joliet, Elgin, etc. But you have a point about the referendums. We have to pay what we vote for, which is why some of us have been voting NO. Have you noticed that property taxes are on a steep rise in Cook County too ? Cook is an urban center, is it not ?
Well then, pay the taxes that are required to support all the infrastructure you take for granted to 'not be confined' and deal with it like an adult. Don't whine about it and demand that services be cut to lower your taxes, now that the money was already spent to build out the infrastructure that allows you to live here in the first place.
btw Tim, if you don't live in Kendall, then why do you care if we choose to whine about higher taxes ?? I could care less about your taxes. Or do you not even pay property taxes ?
You have shown a complete lack of ability to form a long-term plan, and are only being reactive to short-term issues. It is a guaranteed recipe for disaster, and nobody wants to hear you complain later about what is lacking, about the same things you DEMANDED be cut now. You see, you are not the first one to think like this, and it is obvious that you have not even bothered to look at the long term results of those like-minded communities that came before you. To not spoil the fun of you finding out for yourself, I will let you find the history of these similar communities on your own. In the meantime, I will sit back with my bowl of popcorn and watch the disaster unfold that you are the one causing.
Do any of you have any idea how much your property taxes are going to go up next year, when the county can no longer pull from its reserve funds to make up the shortfall? It is going to be hilarious, not because it is fun to watch people suffer, but because the warnings of exactly this over the past decade have fallen on deaf ears of the same residents that are now complaining about it. From my point of view, they are complaining about their own lack of responsibility for their own actions, yet looking to place the blame anywhere but on them. It is like watching the tantrums of a child.
If the answer is, I didn't vote, I didn't work to elect good candidates, I didn't pay attention, or a combination of all three answers, YOU are to blame. The solution is simple. Form a non-partisan property owners association dedicated to recruiting, and electing quality candidates for all offices, from library board to school board, from park district to village hall, from township to county. Otherwise, all these postings, and anybody elses complaints are all in vain.
Please tell the "In Name Only" fiscal conservatives on the Yorkville City Council to lead by example, walk the walk, make that public service sacrifice for the taxpayers of Yorkville, and terminate their taxpayer-funded health insurance that is costing Yorkville Taxpayers $150,000 a year for a part-time gig. I have never asked anyone to do anything that I would not do myself; you lead from the front by your actions, not just words uttered to get elected.