Prodded by dire warnings of wide-scale teacher layoffs and massive cutbacks to athletic and other extracurricular programs, voters in Arlington Heights turned out in force Tuesday and apparently approved a tax increase that will pump millions of dollars into the elementary schools.
”I think parents, this time, won it because they were fighting for their kids,” said Daniel Keck, superintendent of Elementary School District 25, who had seen the same proposal go down to defeat in November.
The referendum in Arlington Heights to raise the property tax 96 cents per $100 assessed valuation was the most fiercely fought issue in the northwest suburbs, but it was by no means the only one.
Voters in Mt. Prospect, for example, easily approved a property tax increase to build a new fire and police station. And in Rolling Meadows, residents voted on two proposals to change the way city government operates.
But it was the Arlington Heights battle that carried much of the drama and, supporters of the referendum said, the highest stakes.
More than 150 anxious parents, teachers and school officials crowded district headquarters on South Street to watch the returns roll in Tuesday night. Dejected faces turned hopeful, then jubilant, as ”yes” votes overcame the ”no” votes.
With 61 of 62 precincts counted, the measure appeared to have passed, 51 percent to 49 percent. In the November election, only 50 people in the missing precinct voted.
The slight margin of victory had foes of the tax increase talking about a recount.
Peter Kutulas, a spokesman for the Arlington Heights chapter of Northwest Tax Watch, said ”it`s quite possible” that the group will request a recount. After voters soundly defeated the tax hike proposal last November, school officials and determined parents mounted an extensive grass-roots campaign to overcome strong anti-tax sentiment and get the measure passed.
”We registered a lot of people,” said Karen Ehrenhofer, 47, a teachers` assistant at Greenbrier Elementary School and a member of Citizens Committee for School District 25. ”We canvassed door to door, we did phone calls last night to remind people who said they supported us to vote. It was an all-out effort.”
Supporters of the increase pointed out that District 25 had not raised taxes in 15 years, and school officials said the money was needed to bail the district out of a $2.8 million deficit.
District officials had threatened major repercussions if the referendum failed, saying the district`s 11 schools would have to slash teaching jobs, boost average class size from 25 to possibly 35 students and cut such programs as band and some athletics.
But opponents countered that the schools didn`t really need the money, that they just needed to concentrate on basics and do a better job managing funds. Hardest hit would be older residents on fixed incomes, opponents said. The tax hike would be phased in over 5 years. Residents with a home valued at $175,000 on the market would have seen an extra $128 on their tax bill the first year, according to school officials. Over five years, they would pay a total of $831 more.
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In other suburban referendums:
Mt. Prospect: Voters approved by a more than 2-1 ratio a measure to fund a new, $6.9 million police and fire station downtown.
The measure is expected to cost voters $10 more a year in property taxes over the next 4 years, Bennett P. Trapani, co-chairman of Citizens for a New Fire and Police Building, said.
Prospect Heights: About 70 percent of the voters in the Prospect Heights Rural Fire Protection District voted to allow the district to sell $1.15 million in bonds to pay for new firefighting equipment, including a 100-foot ladder truck, and remodeling and expansion of the existing fire station and crew quarters at 10 E. Camp McDonald Rd.
Passage of the referendum amounts to a $40 yearly increase of the fire district tax.
Rolling Meadows: Residents voted to limit the mayor to two consecutive four-year terms but rejected a measure to make the city clerk`s job appointed rather than elected.
Bartlett: Voters considered a Park District request to sell $2.6 million in bonds to construct an aquatic park.