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<\/figure><\/div>\n\nLike Madison County, St. Clair County has not passed PTELL – Property Tax Limitation Law.\u00a0
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Why?
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We’ve had the same problem in Madison County.
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Some Republicans have said publically – in one way or another – that the people of Madison County are not smart enough to vote on PTELL.
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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.
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(And state law says that only the county board can put PTELL on ballot. It can’t be done by petition.)
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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.
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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.\u00a0
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I also noticed this in St. Clair County:\u00a0Township High School District Number 201. $3.2 million working cash bond. Published on Dec. 18<\/a>.
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It’s all about being able to VOTE ON IT<\/strong>
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Why would a school district not want it’s taxpayers to vote on getting into more debt – debt to be repaid with\u00a0higher taxes?
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And why would Republican county board members deny you the opportunity to vote on PTELL property tax caps?
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In the spring of 2022, I supported Republican candidates for county board who promised to vote to put PTELL on the ballot.\u00a0
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And with that promise they defeated “Republican” county board members who voted with the Democrats – to keep PTELL off the ballot.
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It was these sore loser so-called Republicans who then voted to take some of my powers away as Chairman.\u00a0
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I promised to fight for the taxpayer, and I’m still fighting for you – the taxpayer.<\/strong>
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