The black box ad for the Cary Library District.

Three more local governments

• Cary Library District
• Harvard Fire Protection District
• Woodstock Rural Library District

have published “black box” legal ads in the Northwest Herald.These ads were required by a bill passed during Jim Thompson’s second term in office, following a do-nothing advisory referendum called the “Thompson Proposition.”

Aimed those mad about their property taxes, the effort, as with most about real estate taxes, meant nothing.

The law required that tax districts asking for more than 5% more in taxes that in the current year had to publicize how much.

The black box ad for the Harvard Fire Protection District.

After the Property Tax Cap was signed by Governor Jim Edgar, the publication law was pretty much irrelevant.The reason is that the increase in the cost of living, above which tax districts could not tax, has never been above 5%.

For next year, for instance, no tax district can increase its tax take by more than 7/10 of 1% on currently existing property.

The black box ad for the Woodstock Rural Library District.

The only people to benefit are the newspapers which publish the ads and the lawyers who prepare them.

And, if I’m missing something, please fill readers in by explaining in the comment section.

The only time a tax district can get more than 5% would be when new construction was really phenomenal.

So why do local tax districts think they can get more than the increase in the CPI?

Beats me.