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High-tax suburbia

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Illinois

Tax-raising suburban Republicans? Bigtime. Better call these guys and tell them that lots of locals aren’t following the script (not trying to pick on the CrossBloggers, but they take so many shots at the city that a little turnabout should occasionally be in order).

Suburbanites face an outpouring of new tax and bond referendums in the April 5 election from government agencies grappling with everything from overcrowded schools to understaffed libraries.

“I’m seeing some numbers in this election that are larger than anything we’ve seen before,” says Daniel White, executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections. […]

Plainfield School District 202, which saw its enrollment last autumn rise by more than 10% to exceed 22,000, wants approval for a $220.5-million bond issue to finance eight new schools. […]

Indian Prairie School District 204 in Aurora hopes to raise $130 million in its referendum, with $90 million of that for a new high school. St. Charles District 303 is seeking $86 million for two new schools. […]

The Will County Forest Preserve District is looking to raise $95 million for land acquisition, and Kane County is seeking $75 million. […]

Sales taxes are under pressure, too. The village of Itasca is looking to bump up its sales tax a half a percentage point, from 6.75% to 7.25%, which would raise more than $2 million annually and help pay for expansion of a wastewater treatment plant. […]

And even with those extraordinarily high taxes, they’re still a long, long commute from stuff like this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and, well, you get the idea.

And corruption? It’s not just in the city.

posted by Rich Miller
Sunday, Jan 30, 05 @ 3:08 pm

Comments

Good links. On the last link - related to the Gaming Board Staff tilting the deal toward DesPlaines - whatever happened with that one? Has anyone investigated staff there? Is Lisa Madigan going to come down on staff publicly as she did with Rosemont?

Why haven’t the major dailies given this story legs? You wrote about this in CapFax about a year ago, then it died. What gives???

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jan 31, 05 @ 5:42 am
I am here to defend the honor of the “Crossbloggers”!! ah… em…. aaaah…. well… ummm.. ok?… hmmm,

Hey, I’ll get back to you

Comment by Lance Stevens Monday, Jan 31, 05 @ 7:33 am