001000 we're requesting a 7.9% increase um which is over 5% we anticipate receiving 7.2% which allows us to all new construction and then our school tax rate will be going from 650 to $624 which is a 26 decrease in theh rate so that's that's all the information any questions for move on first is Jean Meer concerned Citizen and are you stating no to the tax increase Illinois has the second highest property taxes in the country this is not higher by a few1 but by thousands of dollars this causes along with corrupt politics such as being soft on crime to make Illinois be the number one state for people leaving each year clarifying that more people leave Illinois to live in another state than any other state in this Union housing sales have fallen to a
00210year low unlike the majority of the people in this room will our graduating classes have a chance to experience the Bounty this country has given to all people of any culture of any skin color that are willing to come here and work hard will our students be able to purchase homes like we have um like this generation like you guys selling or we are we selling them out with high property taxes that will put home ownership Out Of Reach for them those retired on fixed income struggle to keep their homes sure they can do a property tax freeze but is it moral to tax away what they worked hard to purchase and want to pass on as an inheritance where can citizens see and then have explained our school budgets have we really taken a
003good hard look at what items can be cut um start with the recently passed public relations firm obviously hired to help the taxpayers understand that we need to spend more money cut ad positions has the public really been given a timetable of selling the extra properties that we now own or the reality of selling off many of the excess Acres that were in the process of time um perhaps we should stick to education and not real estate we need to hear real discussion about this not just reassurances before I can that there is no correlation on the money spent per student and AC success and that's what school should be about is academic success Illinois spends $24,000 per student with dismal results the 2023 elois assessment of Readiness scores in math show just 42.7% of
004Central District 301 students me met or exceeded the standards yes compared to elois as a whole in which 27.1% of the students met are exceeded standards 42.7% seems high but 42.7% is less than half the students our rate of expenditure per student and property tax rates are not sustainable rigorous academics does not require Taj mahals bells and whistles it requires teachers hired and retained by Merit and hard work on the part of all something when you can't buy please vote to tax INE thank you the comments J good evening thank for speak it's kind of hard to comment on something after the fact because I think it's already going to be out there the next election in April March but um just want to State my comments and then we'll see what happens after so
005I was surprised at the last uh meeting to hear that the district is pretty for to another they're re for $195 million did some research on the K County site and looked at the referendums in K County there's only been six that been proposed for $100 million if the $195 million increase is approved it'll be the highest ever in K County back in 2019 um barington TR for $195 million fail the following year they reduced it $147 million and it did pass however if you look at bar District 220 you know it's much larger District district uh their estimated tax L for 20204 is $158 million versus I think 55 million for Central you know it's three times larger so obviously they can support more than that granted you know we have probably population generate
006more commercial tax revenue but the voters there didn't even want $195 million tax increase District 31 on the other hand the very limited commercial tax base places all the burden on the tax payers and homeowners and renters we're going to eventually end up paying for it as well as a taxpayer it' be nice to know how did the district come up with $195 million what is the breakdown for the buildings the field houses the stadium and so on is this information published in so that we could see it and finally you know what is the bottom line the cost per 100,000k assess property value what does come down to Dollars and cents there kind of theous why the district didn't put forth more reasonable referendum what around with 50 to $60 million you know phase
007approach of phase one we do something and then addal phases going forward um which shows some fiscal responsibility not bur tax all at once you know in the past you know we purchased some land Ro that was going to be for the new high school back in 2008 and none of you hear when those decisions were made so we come to find out it's not a viable site so the district back then paid 5 million for 100 plus acres we paid and now it's worth much less you know I've heard that property was sold to the district from a previous board member I don't know if that's true or not or if it was disclosed but seems like kind ofli the interest that that happened at that time in 2016 the district persuaded the voters
008to vote for a Fieldhouse $22 million this past now the field house being only 5 6 years old and become what the field house for the Middle School how many middle schools have in a BL at $22 million field taxpayers wouldn't vote for that today and finally um building we're building we want to build a new high school before the new addition is complete utilized so are we actually all this space and are we at an overcrowded situation you know enrollment keeps increasing but is it really pushing us to $195 million I'm in favor of Great Schools and supporting Community I will not vote for this proposed $195 million referendum I hope other concerned citizens will do likewise I'd be interested in hearing the board board's position on why $195 billion referendum is the best
009option [Applause] all right that's all we have for this meeting we need motion second oh wait there's a woman you want to talk in this meeting or the next one we have our regular schedule meeting at 6 it's regarding the taxes we can listen to it call does anybody else have any green cheets thank you hi this is Virginia kind of come out of the wood for this um I'm not usually I don't have kids in the district so I'm just one of those people that owns you know some little bit of acreage keep my horses there and stuff like that enjoy the farm community um there was a few things um I wanted to bring up I happen to look at the real estate contract and we've been told that um the board wants
010to purchase 160 Acres but yet there's four Parcels that total 307 so I didn't know what that was or if maybe I'm misten I read um the current building also the current High School from what I've been told um was in the intention of that was um it was purposely built so you could put a couple more stories on that building um that they seem to have some foresight uh for growth um and there were a couple things I I was I've listened to like the last three board meetings um kind of all in a ro but um one it was kind of interesting a comment one of the board members said about how or maybe it wasn't a board member um someone uh mentioned that they were out um other high schools to see
011what they had or whatever and they they went to nutrier I guess or WETA and they were talking about how they have like this $10 million a month budget but um that they they made the comment that they had more money than God and they had this great high school and I thought well gee it's kind of interesting because here we are people with modest incomes and a lot of people are working paycheck paycheck and you know are struggling homes especially at this point in time and here we are spending 195 million doar on a brand new high school that's going to be you know State ofthe art whistles and everything else so I don't know I it just kind of escapes me that you know and especially for Burlington Township being a farming Township
012and most of the people that I know of are are basically retired elderly people that have lived here all their lives and a lot of them are are struggling to stay in their homes even though they're paid for because the taxes are getting out hand them so I I'm just here um also oh there was a thing about the population um with the kids that how if things might be crowded now in certain areas of the schools but that um there you know as Jean pointed out um there is a decline in population and along with um kind of what they're teaching in the schools a lot of parents have told their kids out of public schools so that's another I guess point or question I have as far as all that goes and um
013just something I wanted to bring up and um I'm definitely voting no for this and I'm going to let everybody I know about that so thank you very much for your time now go Motion second to return second uh Fulk yes Hil yes Nolan yes papis yes V yes Forman yes motion is car around regular meeting another minut so