For the fourth time since 2009, Rock Island County voters will be asked to approve a 1 percent sales tax to be “used exclusively for school facility purposes.”
Voters defeated similar proposals in 2009, 2014 and 2015.
According to an Aug. 6 Dispatch-Argus article, “School officials say passage of a 1 percent sales tax is critical ... Along with infrastructure work needed in the districts, school officials say there is a potential loss of students and families to Scott County in Iowa which already has a 1 percent sales tax dedicated to improve district facilities.”
Business owner Pryce T. Boeye points out that what school officials say is misleading. “What they forget to mention is, with the school sales tax in Iowa, the sales tax is a total of 7 percent. ... That’s already built into their sales tax.” (Mr. Boeye is not an enemy of education; he serves as a director of the Rock Island-Milan Education Foundation).
What Mr. Boeye is saying is that the general sales tax in Moline and Rock Island is already 7.5 percent, but that each city already collects an additional 1.5 percent on sales of liquor and prepared foods. People who buy food at Mr. Boeye’s Hungry Hobos already pay a 9 percent Illinois sales tax. If the school officials get their way, it will be 10 percent. But the county is also asking the voters to pass its half cent referendum!
The bottom line is this: The Scott County sales tax totals 7 percent; if these two referenda are approved, the total general sales tax in Moline and Rock Island will be 9 percent; and the sales tax on liquor and prepared foods will be increased to 10.5 percent -- 3.5 percent greater than in Scott County.
In his Aug. 12 letter to the editor, Lawrence Bay, of Port Byron, writes, “The arguments for and against the 1 percent school sales tax remain as they were when the voters wisely rejected this tax in 2009, 2014 and 2015. It should again be rejected for the same reasons.”
But there are additional good reasons for voting “no” on the School’s 1 percent sales tax.
Look at your 2015 (payable in 2016) Rock Island County real estate tax bill. Mine shows a total tax rate of 9.3085, with a school tax rate of 5.1120.
That means 54.9 percent of my real estate taxes already go to Moline schools! District 40 already gets more of my real estate taxes than Moline, Rock Island County, and Black Hawk College -- indeed, everybody else combined! And whatever tax we pay to support the schools is never enough.
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, District 40 spent $97,748,395 on “Instruction, Support Services, Tuition Paid to Other Districts, and Debt Service,” to educate 7,370 students. That’s $13,263 per student. And that doesn’t include pensions.
We are told by school officials proceeds from the 1 percent sales tax will be “used exclusively for school facility purposes.” So why are they short of money for facility purposes? Is it possible that Moline District 40 is short of money because they just spent $17 million to “upgrade” Hamilton School (and closed Garfield and Ericsson)?
Mr. Boeye gives an alternative answer: “By and large, money is going to salaries, benefits, pensions. If facilities are a priority, they need to make that a point in labor negotiations. ... I think unions might be open to that.” Really? Good luck!
If you think, you are undertaxed, this is what the Huffington Post wrote on Feb. 25:
“Illinoisans pay a lot in property taxes compared to the rest of the nation -- the state has the second-highest property taxes in the country, almost double the national average. But what you pay depends on where you live, and some residents are spending a lot more than others ... “Rock Island County, IL: Median Home Value: $113,800; Median Annual Property Tax Payment: $2,455.”
As previously stated, 54.9 percent of our real estate taxes already go to the schools.
So, the schools want a 1 percent sales tax increase. The county wants a half cent. Speaker Madigan, D-Chicago, wants to raise the Illinois income tax from 3.75 percent to at least 5 percent.
Rock Island County has already increased real estate taxes 16 percent. Sewer and water rates are up in the cities.
It’s like dealing with spoiled children!
Posted: QCOline.com October 7, 2016
Copyright 2016, John Donald O'Shea
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