* Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) has been running this TV ad blasting his Republican opponent…

No Show David Friess

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?

Posted by Jerry Costello II for State Representative on Saturday, August 18, 2018

Ouch.

* The Belleville News-Democrat published a Joe Bustos piece about the ad today entitled “Costello and Friess both issue fact checks. Neither can agree on what the facts are”…

“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.)