School districts plot sales-tax hike for DeKalb County
If a school facilities sales tax referendum was passed in DeKalb County, the 0.25 percent sales-tax rate could rise to 1.25 percent, a 400 percent increase.
An Illinois Policy Institute Freedom of Information Act request has revealed superintendents in DeKalb County have been discussing the logistics of launching a sales-tax hike referendum on DeKalb County voters.
Superintendents from school districts in DeKalb County have discussed the County School Facility Sales Tax, or CSFT, at four DeKalb County Regional Office of Education Superintendents meetings since the beginning of August.
In an email, Sandwich CUSD #430 Superintendent Rick Schmitt wrote, “my board believes it is a mistake that not all DeKalb County schools will hop on board to present it to the voters – or at least talk about it. We all know this tax makes sense and is sustainable, so they are asking ‘what’s the delay?’”
Higher taxes don’t make sense when Illinois residents already face some of the highest tax rates in the country. Illinois has the 10th-highest average sales-tax rate and the second-highest average property-tax rates in the nation.
A CSFT referendum can be placed on the ballot after school districts representing more than 50 percent of the county’s student population pass resolutions.
School districts representing more than 50 percent of the county’s student population must pass resolutions by Jan. 20, 2015, and the county clerk needs to certify the measure by Jan. 29, 2015, for it to be on the ballot for the consolidated elections on April 7.
Currently, DeKalb County doesn’t have a locally imposed county-level sales tax, and only receives 0.25 percent of the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax from every eligible purchase in the county.
If a school facilities sales tax referendum was passed in DeKalb County, the 0.25 percent sales-tax rate could rise to 1.25 percent, a 400 percent increase.
DeKalb County residents might be wondering why they haven’t heard anything about this proposed tax hike yet. One answer might be that school board elections are coming and the deadline to file as a candidate comes on Dec. 22, according to the State Board of Elections 2015 Candidate’s Guide. Board members could be waiting until after the candidate’s filing deadline has passed to announce plans for the sales tax increase referendum. If a candidate is running unopposed, it makes it easier for them to put the tax-hike referendum on the ballot.
Concerned taxpayers should start organizing now to defeat the tax hikes districts are moving to place on the ballot on April 7, 2015, and pressure school board members not place tax hikes on the ballot in the first place.
School districts voting to place CSFT on April 7, 2015, ballot
Kishwaukee Education Consortium