District 31 officials work to explain ballot question wording

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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:23AM

If voters in West Northfield Elementary School District 31 rely solely on the wording in a tax hike referendum question to help them determine how much it will cost them, they will seriously underestimate the amount.

That’s because the referendum question does not factor in the Cook County Multiplier which increases the amount by more than three times.

District 31 officials recognize that, and have provided accurate information on the district web site. In addition, Superintendent Alexandra Nicholson addresses that issue in a presentation she has been giving in the community and will give again at a series of meetings in the district prior to the March 20 vote.

The board voted in December to place a referendum on the March 20 ballot asking district voters to approve a 27-cent tax rate increase in hopes of raising an additional $1.55 million in revenue.

Without that additional revenue, officials plan to make another $800,000 in program cuts on top of $1.8 million already made the last two years.

Despite the wording on the ballot, the actual impact of the tax increase on individual homeowners will be equivalent to 89 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation. That is because the current Cook County Multiplier is 3.3.

Nicholson said the district has been trying to emphasize that point since deciding to go ahead with the referendum, providing information on the district web site, at meetings and at presentations in the district.

“From day one we have been telling people you have to multiply that 27 by 3.3,” Nicholson said Tuesday.

“State law assumes that every county has a multiplier of one,” Nicholson said. “Cook County doesn’t have a multiplier of one.”

The same issue came up last year in several Cook County districts that sought tax increases including West Northfield.

In Wilmette, one of only two measures to be approved by votes, the ballot questions asked voters to raise the district’s tax rate by .588 percent of property value, and estimated the increase would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an extra $58.80 a year in property taxes.

So the owner of a home worth, say, five times that amount might have mentally calculated the hit to be about $295.

In reality the voter should have multiplied the figure by 15 to take into account the multiplier.

Voters approved the request by 63 to 37 percent, but Wilmette school officials have battled a legal challenge and credibility questions since the referendum. When property tax bills arrived this fall, some homeowners felt duped.

Only Wilmette District 39 and Oak Park District 97 won voter approval of their tax increases. Though lawsuits challenging the results were brought against both districts by local plaintiffs and the Taxpayers United of America, two different Circuit Court judges in Cook County sided with the school districts based on a literal reading of state law.

The two cases have been consolidated on appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, but the court declined to expedite the timetable to allow an early decision.

Several Illinois lawmakers last spring tried to remedy the confusion and make it clear that the multiplier must be factored into the tax estimate. But House Bill 363 was still undergoing some revisions in late May and was not called for a vote before the legislature adjourned.

Nicholson said that without any changes in the law the only option left to the district is to provide a ballot questions with the lower number and then try to inform residents that the actual amount they would pay is higher.

The information, she said, has been included in the district newsletter and in all of the referendum information the district has provided residents.

The district’s financial presentation on the referendum emphasizes the actual cost, noting that homeowners will actually pay an additional $89 per $100,000 of market value if the referendum is successful.

The presentation itself calls the ballot “confusing” and notes that “this is written according to State law that includes county tax multipliers of one. Cook County uses a multiplier greater than one. District 31 is in Cook County.

“To calculate the impact of the referendum on a home within District 31’s boundaries, the $27 needs to be multiplied by 3.3, Cook County’s multiplier. This brings the actual impact to $89.10 per $100,000 fair market value.”

Nicholson said that voters who attend any of the presentations on the referendum, read local newspapers or who visit the district web site will be aware of the difference between what appears on the ballot and what the referendum actually means. However, she said, that may still leave out some residents who do not study the issue.

“In every presentation, I stress it,” she said. “The more people read about it the more they understand it.”