Confronted with warnings about crowded classrooms, severe staff cuts and strained finances, voters Tuesday approved tax increases for two North Shore school districts, but they turned down a Lake County district for the third time.
Voters also rejected a property tax increase that would have built a library in Vernon Hills, according to unofficial results. In Highwood, voters narrowly defeated a measure to give home rule authority to the community.
North Shore voters approved property tax increases for two school districts in Winnetka. Without the additional money, officials in both districts had predicted teacher layoffs, increased class sizes and reduced programs.
Voters in New Trier High School District 203 approved a 41-cent increase in the maximum tax rate for the education fund. The owner of an $800,000 home will pay about $555 more a year in property taxes, officials said.
With 100 percent of the votes counted, unofficial returns showed the measure passed 61 percent to 39 percent.
“It was a terrific vote–we were cautiously optimistic,” said Supt. Henry Bangser. “We’re having a pretty sincere party going on right now.”
Voters in Winnetka Elementary School District 36 passed a 52-cent increase for every $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of an $800,000 home will pay about $745 more a year, district officials said. With the tax increase, the district expects to generate about $4 million in new revenue.
The measure passed by a vote of 58 percent to 42 percent, according to unofficial returns.
It was a different story in Lake County’s Gurnee School District 56, where officials failed for the third time to pass a 50-cent increase in the tax rate for the education fund.
Unofficial results showed the measure was rejected by a vote of 68 percent to 32 percent.
District officials have warned of staff cuts, crowded classrooms and fewer opportunities for students to take elective classes, such as drama and foreign languages.
But overall Tuesday, education tax increases fared much better than expected, especially in Cook County, officials said.
Of the 49 school-related tax increases on the ballot in the six-county region, at least 18 won voter approval.
In Lake County, voters approved three of seven school tax increase issues.
The results come as a welcome relief for school district officials across the state, who were bracing for bad news. Nearly 85 percent of the state’s school districts already are operating in the red.
“We are doing a whole lot better than we expected,” said Ron Gidwitz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, who was monitoring the returns. “I think voters are beginning to believe that our schools are in dire straits. I think voters recognize that we will have schools in catastrophic situations if they don’t get more money.”
In other ballot issues, Highwood voters rejected a measure that would have given the city home-rule authority and paved the way for a sales tax increase to 7.5 percent from 6.5 percent.
With 100 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed the measure narrowly failed by a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent.
Highwood officials and a group of community members in recent weeks pushed to convince voters that home rule was the best way to generate the money needed to plug a potential $400,000 budget deficit.
In Long Grove, officials asked voters in a non-binding referendum measure whether they would pay a property tax for a local police department. For nearly 30 years, the village has paid the Lake County sheriff’s office for police protection.
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With 100 percent of the votes in, the issue failed 81 percent to 19 percent.
In Vernon Hills voters rejected a proposal by the Cook Memorial Library District to sell $27.7 million in bonds to build a library.
The building would have replaced the overcrowded main library in Libertyville. In the 30 years since the district was formed, the residents it serves have increased from 2,000 to 57,000 in seven communities.
Voters defeated referendum measures in 1998 and 1999 that would have funded the library.