While it's fun to see Rosie the Bloodhound enjoying her chase, the fact is Southern Illinois faces serious challenges that requires real leaders to stand up for our values in Springfield. David Friess repeatedly failed the taxpayers of Red Bud by missing half of his city council meetings. Would you still have your job if you failed to show up half the time?
“The fact of the matter is David Friess voted on Dec. 5, 2016 to raise the property tax levy in Red Bud by $24,725 as compared to the previous year,” Costello said. “His attempt to run away from his record is an effort to rewrite history and mislead taxpayers. Quite frankly, if David Friess did not realize he voted for a tax increase as an alderman in Red Bud, what makes anyone trust he’ll know what he’s voting for in Springfield?” […]
“I’m not sure where Jerry got his numbers. Over the last 4 years, our spending has been virtually stagnant. If anything, the city’s portion of the property tax bill has decreased because of our growing tax base in Red Bud. I wish Jerry would stick to the facts,” said Red Bud Alderman, Glenn Linnertz.
Sometimes the value of a house may be adjusted from year to year affecting how much the owner has to pay in property taxes.
The owner of a house that was worth $201,950 in 2014 paid $499 to the city in property taxes. That house then was worth $197,550 for the 2015 tax year, and the owner paid $502. In 2016, the house was valued at $200,530 and the owner paid $499. For the 2017, the house was worth $206,780 and the owner paid $509.
The levy went up, but rates went from $0.81 per $100 EAV in 2014 to a high of $0.85 in 2016 to $0.82 in 2017. So, they went up, then came down a bit. But we’re talking tiny fractions here and “He raised your property taxes by TEN WHOLE DOLLARS!!!” ain’t much of an ad. Liberties are often taken in these instances. And that’s why we need local political reporters to cover this stuff and explain it to people.
* Even though Friess probably has a right to be upset, voters too often don’t try to understand and therefore “don’t do nuance” and Costello’s new ad is even more brutal than the first one. Sorry for the video’s poor quality. It was sent via mobile phone…
Man, that’s an effective spot. Whew.
* Including cash-on-hand Rep. Costello has raised and/or others have spent (via in-kinds) a total of $601,554 this quarter. Friess’ number is $77,805.39. That’s almost 8 to 1, which is even more painful than those Costello hits. Friess has no money yet to put his response into his own TV ads. He’ll have to settle for an article in the BN-D. (That’s not a knock on the BN-D, by the way.)
Jerry Jr. will win re-election for a multitude of reasons. One of those reasons being that David Friess has run an awful campaign from the beginning. His campaign strategy seems to have been to fly under the radar and only speak when responding to his opponent. The guy just isn’t ready for prime time.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:12 pm:
Is his audio in the 2nd ad from a phone? Was that intentional?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:15 pm:
47th, I noted in the post that the quality of the video isn’t good because it was sent to me via phone.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:15 pm:
Like I read anything before commenting.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:17 pm:
Like, it shows. lol
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:19 pm:
I’m curious as to why he didn’t go for the old man’s seat in Congress.
The district was drawn for “Jerry Costello.” The voters probably wouldn’t have noticed the switch if he ran.
Heck, the Metro East folks voted for Mel Price all those years when he was on the milk carton.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:22 pm:
===why he didn’t go for the old man’s seat in Congress===
Lousy job, lots of travel and no outside income.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:46 pm:
–Lousy job, lots of travel and no outside income.–
Thanks. I should have figured the outside income angle on my own.
- Saluki - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 12:52 pm:
Jerry Jr. will win re-election for a multitude of reasons. One of those reasons being that David Friess has run an awful campaign from the beginning. His campaign strategy seems to have been to fly under the radar and only speak when responding to his opponent. The guy just isn’t ready for prime time.
- BlueDogDem - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 1:21 pm:
It’s a tough district for II. I think he holds on this time . About the same margin for Bost.
- BlueDogDem - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 1:37 pm:
….an article in the BND. seriously, I wonder what their subscription numbers are these days.
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 2:40 pm:
I’ll say, ouch. I assume Friess is not disputing his lousy attendance record.
- Motambe - Tuesday, Sep 11, 18 @ 4:43 pm:
The Representative’s ads are getting nasty with half-truths. Red Bud city council members are docked for missed meetings.