Like Madison County, St. Clair County has not passed PTELL – Property Tax Limitation Law.
PTELL not only limits the tax levy increase to the lesser of a) 5 percent or b) the rate of inflation (CPI), but it also practically gets rid of the tricky backdoor referendum.
Taxpayers in Missouri don’t have to worry about these “tax tricks,” because they have the Hancock Amendment, which requires that bond issues – that will be repaid with higher taxes – must be approved by the voters – at the ballot box.
Granite City District #9 and O’Fallon District 90 could have put these bond issues on the ballot – for the voters to decide – but they chose not to.
Why?
We’ve had the same problem in Madison County.
Some Republicans have said publically – in one way or another – that the people of Madison County are not smart enough to vote on PTELL.
Four times (2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023) I asked the county board to put PTELL on the ballot, and four times enough Republicans joined with Democrats to keep it off the ballot.
(And state law says that only the county board can put PTELL on ballot. It can’t be done by petition.)
Citizens in O’Fallon are organizing to collect 2,320 signatures, and if you’re interested to help them, you can call Steve Springer at 618-624-6983.
You probably noticed that O’Fallon District 90 chose to begin the 30 day period for collecting signatures on Dec. 20 – just before Christmas, when it’s dark, cold, rainy, and snowy.
I also noticed this in St. Clair County: Township High School District Number 201. $3.2 million working cash bond. Published on Dec. 18.
It’s all about being able to VOTE ON IT
Why would a school district not want it’s taxpayers to vote on getting into more debt – debt to be repaid with higher taxes?
And why would Republican county board members deny you the opportunity to vote on PTELL property tax caps?
In the spring of 2022, I supported Republican candidates for county board who promised to vote to put PTELL on the ballot.
And with that promise they defeated “Republican” county board members who voted with the Democrats – to keep PTELL off the ballot.
It was these sore loser so-called Republicans who then voted to take some of my powers away as Chairman.
I promised to fight for the taxpayer, and I’m still fighting for you – the taxpayer.