A press release from Jim Tobin:
Kane County Taxpayers Fight Back
North Aurora – Kane County taxpayers are fighting local tax expansion and property tax increase referenda with the help of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) and Kane Cares About Taxpayers.
This appears on the web site of the opponents to the Kane County tax hike referendum. It would serve as a bumper sticker.
“The $13 million Kane County property tax increase referendum on the March 18 ballot is the most egregious grab for taxpayer money and expansion of government that I have seen to date,” stated Rae Ann McNeilly, executive director of TUA and Kane County resident.
“This referendum was not only put on the ballot by the private, not for profit company, Association for Individual Development (AID), who will receive most of the money taken from taxpayers under this measure, but it also creates a new taxing authority with paid board members whose only job is to funnel the money from the taxpayers to AID”.
“These new government board salaries will inevitably grow in number and size, most likely creating even more lavish, taxpayer funded pensions. The last thing we want to do is to add to the government pension problem, especially when they are funded by property tax dollars.”
“Residents of Kane County are already being taxed for these very services.
“The State of Illinois, the primary source of funding for AID, paid AID $16.4 million in 2013.
“We are already paying for these services and if this referendum passes, they can and will raise our property taxes again and again.
“AID is plagued with legal troubles. They have been heavily fined by the State Board of Elections for not following the rules and it has been alleged that they illegally used taxpayer money to fund their initiative to get this referendum on the ballot. The last thing we need is to not only expand government in Illinois, but to also expand corruption.”
“AID has thinly veiled their grab for property taxes with a campaign name intended to tug at the heartstrings of every voter. ‘Show You Care Kane for the Developmentally Disabled’ is nothing more than a siphon of taxpayer wealth to the pockets of the overpaid administrators of AID.”
“The developmentally disabled residents of Kane County need financial support, but it should not be forced through property taxes; it should come from private, voluntary donations. There are so many property owners with their own special needs or financial constraints who will be forced out of their homes if they can’t pay their property taxes. It is immoral to prioritize the needs of one group over all of the others.”
“As a resident of Kane County, I am offended that the developmentally disabled are being exploited and used as a means to fatten the coffers of a private organization and to expand the government, creating yet another taxing body in Illinois where there are already over 6,994 local taxing bodies, the most in the country, and 2,100 more than second place Pennsylvania.”
A copy of our “Vote No” flyer is here.