Vote April 1

Posted on March 27, 2025 by seektruth

April 1 is Election Day for local offices. These elections determine who will control your property tax dollars. Illinois has the 2nd highest property taxes in the nation, so how you vote matters.

A sample ballot and other election information can be found at the Kane County Clerk’s website here

Please investigate the candidates you have on your ballot. The Daily Herald has some candidate questionnaires if you have a subscription. The League of Women Voters has held candidate forums, with Batavia Library and School Board candidates here, and mayor and aldermen candidates here.

If the ballot says, “Vote for four”, but you only like 1 candidate, only vote for that 1 candidate. It really should say, “Vote for UP TO four”. Voting for other candidates you don’t really like dilutes your vote for the candidate you do like. For example, there are 5 candidates for Batavia School Board, 4 of whom arej; supported by the teachers union. If you want to vote for the 5th candidate, Rose McNaul (website here), who wants to shake up the status quo and make the school board more responsive to parents and the community, you may vote only for Rose McNaul and then move on to the next ballot question.

For your convenience, you may now vote at any polling place in Kane County. REMEMBER TO VOTE TUESDAY, APRIL 1!

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Public hearing Batavia Downtown Plan TONIGHT

Posted on April 17, 2024 by seektruth

From the City’s website:

“PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given to all persons concerned that on the 17th day of April, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., the Plan Commission of the City of Batavia will meet and a Public Hearing will be held pursuant to Chapter 5.2 and 5.8 of the Batavia Zoning Code to consider the adoption of the draft Batavia Downtown Plan as an Area Plan element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The Public Hearing will be held to accept and consider testimony from the public concerning the Downtown Plan. The proposed Batavia Downtown Plan would establish goals and policies specific to the downtown area.  It would be adopted as part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan for the Downtown Area.  The Plan will provide policy and land use recommendations specific to the Downtown Area through Functional Subareas.  The plan also included design guidelines and implementation elements specific to the downtown area.  

The Public Hearing Draft of the Plan may be viewed at: https://batavia-il-downtown-plan-hlplanning.hub.arcgis.com/….

…Public comments may be emailed to drackow@bataviail.gov prior to 5:00 PM the date of meeting for entry into the hearing public record.

All interested persons may attend said Hearing and will be permitted to comment on the proposal.”

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BPS to lose $ to Casino TIF?

Posted on October 23, 2023 by seektruth

Tomorrow night, 7pm, at the District Admin building, 335 W. Wilson, the Batavia School Board has an agenda packed with items you may be interested in.
Link: https://go.boarddocs.com/il/bps101/Board.nsf/Public

Of special note:

5.7 School Report Card

6.6 Capital Projects Plan Report

7.1 Approve Purchase of a Delivery Truck

7.2 Approve Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Aurora 

Please see the agenda items on the district website. 

The Intergovernmental Agreement is in regard to the proposed TIF (Tax Increment Financing) District that would host the Aurora Casino. The casino was in a TIF District in Aurora for 30 years, and now that the Aurora school district would finally start getting their property taxes from the casino, the casino wants to move and get MORE TIF money by moving into a new TIF in the Batavia school district (still city of Aurora). The proposed agreement calls for 10% of the TIF taxes to be set aside (instead of 100%) for the various taxing bodies, of which Batavia School District would get around $300,000/yr (instead of $3,000,000/yr). The rest is given as kickbacks to the casino developer. For at least 23 years. Maybe 35 years. Now look at the Capital Projects needs. Do you think the School District is getting a good deal with this TIF?

How does a TIF District work? Lines are drawn to create a district for development. The value of the property in the district before development is frozen. The taxes the school district and all the other taxing bodies will receive for the next 23 or more years is based on that frozen value. Any gain in taxes —the increment— from increased property value from development is taken from the taxing bodies and kept for use only within the TIF district, which in this case, since the casino will be the only property in the district, means for the benefit of the casino developer. The casino will be taking money from the schools, the police, the library, etc. for at least 23 years. The City of Aurora wants BPS101 to agree to this by throwing them some crumbs: Here, we’ll give you $300k/yr. Take it and keep your mouth shut (no bad-mouthing the casino project—it’s in the agreement). We’re being generous—we could give you nothing. Since we are buying up the properties in the TIF, you’ll get $0 in taxes if we don’t develop it.

And in 30 years, the casino can move again into a NEW TIF district, and the Batavia schools will have been cheated out of $70+ million that could have gone toward Capital Projects. It happened to Aurora school district; it can happen to Batavia.

More comments: compare the School Report Card (follow the link in the agenda item) to the report cards of Geneva and St. Charles.

Regarding the truck—With all the other needs, is this a need or a want?

If you want to comment at the meeting, be sure to get there before 7pm to fill out a slip to comment during Public Comments near the beginning of the meeting. Don’t be late or they won’t take your slip. You have 3 minutes to talk.

If you can’t make the meeting and want to comment in writing, email the Board at https://www.bps101.net/board/contact-the-board/.

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Garbage Contract

Posted on April 10, 2023 by seektruth

Tomorrow night, Tuesday 4/11, 7pm, the Batavia City Council Committee of the Whole will be discussing a new 5-yr waste-hauling contract. The contracts they will be discussing do not include stickers or “pay-per-tip” service, where you only pay for the garbage you put out. They are talking about flat monthly fees ranging from $20.25-$20.44/month to start, with annual increases. They would have discount pricing for seniors, $14.18-$16.35/month to start, with annual increases.

Details here: https://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/19130?fileID=14724

You can attend in person or remotely (instructions here:  https://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04112023-2076?html=true)

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School Referendum Voted Down AGAIN!

Posted on April 6, 2023 by seektruth

The $140 million school district referendum was voted down for the 2nd time, with a wider margin than the first: 695 votes on election night, 3966 NOs to 3271 YESes. As of Wednesday morning, 4/5/23, the County Clerk’s office said there were just 813 vote-by-mail ballots outstanding. By Thursday early afternoon, the count was 4028 NOs to 3329 YESes, a 699 point margin of victory. The NOs have won.

It looks like the teachers union’s candidates (Gonzalez-Thomas, Sligar, and Arulandu) have won the School Board race. If you had any doubt the union dominates the School Board contests, current School Board President Cathy Dremel came in last, after having been one of the top vote-getters in her previous elections every 4 years since 2011. This year she was not among the 3 who were union-endorsed.

Bell and Larson won Park Board seats.

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April 4 Ballot

Posted on March 18, 2023 by seektruth

Early voting for the April 4 election has already begun at the Kane County Clerk’s office in Geneva and begins Monday, March 20 at Batavia City Hall. For voting hours at both locations, click here

A  referendum on the April 4 ballot asks voters to approve the issuance of $140,000,000 in bonds for capital projects which may include building a new H.C. Storm School and a new Louise White School while demolishing the existing buildings. The referendum, if approved,  would also authorize  repair and alteration of other facilities. Approval of the new debt would allow for the bonds + interest to be paid off with higher property taxes.

Besides the Batavia School District referendum, there are races for local office and 2 referenda for the City of Batavia. To find your sample ballot, use the Voter Search at the Kane County Clerk’s website.

Batavia has a few contested races, for Park Board (vote for 2 out of 3 candidates), School Board (vote for 3 out of 7 candidates), and Waubonsee Community College Board (vote for 3 out of 5 candidates).

The League of Women Voters hosted several forums (if you are pressed for time, listening at 1.5x speed can be useful):

For Park Board candidates, view here

For School Board candidates, view here

For the $140 million referendum, view here

Batavians for Responsible Government delivered questionnaires to all the School Board candidates, with questions gathered from our mailing list and Nextdoor.com. The returned questionnaires can be found here (please check back periodically for updates as questionnaires are received). If you are curious where the School Board candidates stand on the school referendum, an indication, perhaps, is the first 4 candidates on the ballot (Gonzalez-Thomas, Sligar, Arulandu, and Dremel) all had “Vote Yes” signs in front of their houses when the questionnaires were delivered; the last 3 (Ekstrom, Rayman, and Fender) did not have any signs in their yards.

Finally, there are 2 referenda for the City of Batavia on the ballot. These are to eliminate the ELECTED Clerk and Treasurer offices, converting the Clerk into an appointed position, and the Treasurer’s duties assigned to the City’s Finance Director. Short, clear explanations for the proposed changes can be found at the City’s website page here. Please take the time to read it.

Posted in Park District, School Board | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Insider Corporation Funding “Yes” Campaign AGAIN

Posted on March 11, 2023 by seektruth

Lamp Inc, the construction company (Construction Manager) linked to the Batavia School District referendum, donated ANOTHER $5000 to the “Vote Yes” campaign. Pay-to-Play at its finest, Chicago-style:

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What will the $140 Million Referendum Cost Me?

Posted on March 4, 2023 by seektruth

Note: The chart has been updated using the calculations provided by the School District on their “Tax Calculator” page (which were slightly higher than our previous estimates).

Below is a chart of what the $140 million school referendum could cost homeowners in higher taxes. You may ask, “But didn’t the school district say it wouldn’t increase the bond and interest levy, so it wouldn’t increase my taxes?” The district is using current taxes as their frame of reference. We are using your guaranteed lower taxes if there were no referendum as our base of reference—a tax break you would see once current debt is paid off, starting with a partial reduction in 2024, down to full reduction in 2025. There is no such thing as free debt. Debt always has a cost to it. Here is an estimate of what $140 million in new debt might cost you per year and over 20 years, based on your home’s current value:

The 20-year estimate assumes bond rate and home value remain relatively the same (a highly questionable assumption) and that the School Board doesn’t break its promise, like it had in the past, to not raise the bond levy. The 20-yr estimate is only a best guess.

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April 4, Vote NO

Posted on March 3, 2023 by seektruth

Why do we recommend a NO vote (again) April 4?

There is way too much undefined in the School Board’s plan for $140 million in bonds ($180 million including their Capital Projects budget of $2 million/yr over the next 20 years). The only thing defined is $70 million total to tear down and rebuild 2 schools. That leaves $110 million of “other” that can include any building or grounds improvements, including a 2nd artificial turf field (see the bottom of p. 67 here, where the estimate is $5.6 million for the turf in the “Like to Do” category). We’re voting for a $140 million blank check. It’s obviously very easy for the Board to put a bond issue on the ballot, so make them come to voters with smaller, well-defined questions in the future, to give taxpayers more control over where our tax dollars go.

The School Board raises property taxes every year. Their annual operational tax increases are capped by PTELL (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law) at the lesser of 5% or the cost of inflation (CPI). The property tax levy the Board passed in December will see an increase of around 5.6% (5% capped + new construction), or approximately $5 MILLION. Following a NO vote, the Board could allocate some of these big tax increases to Capital Projects. They somehow found over $2 million to replace the football stadium’s bleachers in the summer of 2022, so if the referendum improvements are so direly needed, surely they can find more money in their regular budgets and/or dedicate some of their increased levies to them. If the economy of 2022 repeats in 2023, add another 5% tax levy increase ($5 million+) and between that and the 2022 levy, they would already have more from taxpayers in their standard budget than the $9.1 million additional they’re seeking from taxpayers through the referendum. With the student enrollment declining every year besides, funds should be further freed up.

THERE IS NO CAP ON BOND AND INTEREST TAX LEVY INCREASES. The Board promised the $75 million referendum in 2007 would not increase taxes, but then went back on their word 4 short years later in 2011. There is no guarantee that bonds as large as $140 million won’t increase taxes. In fact, they will already increase your taxes over what they would be when the current bonds expire. But then they could increase your taxes MORE. Bonds must be paid, with no limit to increases as to tax rate or amount. The School Board needs to rebuild trust before expecting the voters to gamble $140 million + interest on them.

For more detailed arguments, please see our post from the November election: https://b4rg.org/2022/09/26/vote-no-to-140-million-referendum/

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Déjà Vu

Posted on January 12, 2023 by seektruth

On Jan. 10, the Board of Education voted to place the same issue on the April 4 ballot that voters rejected last November.

The Board is seeking to issue $140 million in debt to fund the replacement of H.C. Storm and Louise White schools, along with maintenance and improvement projects at the other 6 school buildings.

One of the main reasons board members cited for placing the exact same issue before voters was that the April election is the last opportunity to issue new bonds that coincide with the retirement of current debt. In other words, the annual debt payment (approximately 10 percent of school taxes) would continue for the next 20 years or so if the referendum is approved. If voters reject it, they will be giving themselves a 10 percent cut in their school property taxes.

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