Property taxes in Oak Park have, for many residents, spiraled out of control. My own property taxes more than doubled this year. At the Property Tax Forum on Aug. 24, I expressed strong opposition to any new initiative, including one from District 97, that would increase that burden. However, my position was misrepresented in this paper. I will actively support a referendum that does not increase property taxes, and hope the district accepts my offer to help make this happen.
Dist. 97 cut three teachers and announced it would cut more next year without additional revenues. With one child in the schools now and another entering soon, my family finds it intolerable that teachers can be cut while our property taxes double. We should be adding teachers, not cutting them. Dist. 97 needs fiscal relief and needs it now.
Irresponsibility in village government generally, irresonsibility in the other taxing bodies, and irresponsible voting habits in the community have put Dist. 97 in a difficult position. Yes, it has budget issues and inefficiencies obvious to any parent with children in the schools. A terrible teachers' contract, similar to many across the state, costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. The Illinois legislature has outlawed these contracts that balloon teacher salaries in the final years of their careers, but that law will only affect future contracts.
Still, Dist. 97 has eliminated much of the fat from its budget, and it is the only taxing body that has held to the rate of inflation for nearly 20 years. Dist. 97 has had no real budget increase for two decades. Over the past five years alone, Dist. 200 and many other levies have at least doubled their property tax burden on the residents of Oak Park.
Dist. 97, the one taxing body that has been responsible for the last two decades, is the one that desperately needs an increase now. Sadly, it finds itself in this position when a property tax increase is out of the question. The irresponsible actions of the whole community have created this situation. Voters who approved bad referenda in recent years are angry about their large property tax bills. I voted against those earlier referenda, and yes, I would campaign against any new initiative that increases the property tax burden. I hope others would join me.
But I strongly support a new referendum. It is time for the village government, once and for all, to demonstrate responsible leadership. It must govern! It is time for village residents, once and for all, to vote responsibly. We must now help to fix the problems we earlier helped to create with ill-advised referenda. Together, we have to adjust how we distribute the pie that represents property tax revenues, by amending the results of those past decisions.
Dist. 97 needs a modest increase in its share for the first time in two decades, to afford the funds it needs to continue to provide the excellent education we demand. That increase can and must be funded by reducing the dramatic increases other taxing bodies, including Dist. 200, the library and the park district, have received. Those entities must be asked to employ the sort of fiscal responsibility that the elementary schools continue to strive for.
Dist. 97 cannot do this alone. Village President David Pope promised to bring all of the taxing bodies together, to compel them to fix our budget problems. Dist. 200, the library, the park district and others are likely to resist any effort to reduce the huge increases they have received. President Pope must deliver on his promise, while delivering for Dist. 97, by bringing all of the taxing bodies into agreement on a budget readjustment. At the same time, he must reduce gross and glaring waste in the decisions of the village government.
We must hold him and the entire village government accountable. At the same time, we, the voters, must be responsible if they succeed in presenting us with the sort of initiative outlined above. These are the sort of tough fiscal trade-offs responsible political leaders must deliver, and they are the sort of solutions responsible voters must approve. We all have to fix the problems we all have helped to create.
I will do whatever I can to help craft, campaign for, and adopt a revenue-neutral referendum that delivers more to Dist. 97 and that is fair to the other interests in the community. I hope others will join me.
