Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the Nov. 3 general election.
The race for a seat on the Kane County Board in District 23 in the Nov. 3 general election is between incumbent Democrat Christopher Kious and Republican challenger Emmanuel Thomas.
Kious, 74, of Algonquin, has served two terms on the board and said in talking to voters, concerns include taxes, safety and the environment.
“Taxes are a big issue. They always are. People are concerned and want their tax dollars spent reasonably,” he said. “The people I talk to say they want to be able to trust their public servants to spend the money that they are giving us to use on their behalf in a reasonable manner.”
In regards to safety, “people say they love living in our area and they love living in Kane County because it is safe,” he said.
“They are concerned in our area about roads being safe to drive on and having ICE in our communities here and what is happening on a national level,” he said.
When it comes to the environment, Kious said, the area is “blessed with the Fox River and we all support, very strongly, keeping a clean river and the open space.”
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“Voters are concerned about pollution and global warming as well,” he said.
If re-elected, Kious said he wants to focus on open land issues, making government and the process of administrating it more fluid, and continuing work on the board committee that oversees buildings in the county.
“I’m on the Administrative Committee and I want to work on the investment we’ve had in the county in buildings being protected and maintained so that we don’t have them and our jail deteriorating,” he said.
Kious said that in terms of the board and its procedures, “there are 24 people and it can kind of be a messy thing at times, so I want to work on getting things so that we have a little more consistency in terms of what we do as a board.”
Thomas, 56, of Algonquin, said in talking to voters, people in the district are concerned about taxes and safety.
“The number one thing is lowering taxes,” he said. “The taxes are too high and residents are being taxed out of their homes and communities. It’s my job to be one of the board members that would help lower them. They have been extremely high and people can’t afford gas, food or the property taxes.”
In regards to safety, “we’ve been in an area that has been very safe, proper policing, but public works is an issue.”
“People have been able to have a safe place and we want to make sure we keep that,” he said. “The police force out here is pretty good and people just want to make sure they cater to the residents’ needs.”
If elected, Thomas said he wants to work on lowering taxes, bringing more businesses to Kane County and ensuring fiscal responsibility in regards to the budget.
“My first goal is to vote to lower the taxes. I can’t do it myself because I’m not the only one on the board, but I would always vote to lower taxes to put more money into the county peoples’ pockets,” he said.
Thomas said he wants “to bring more businesses to the community because I believe when you bring more businesses it will definitely lower the taxes for the residents here because businesses bring in revenue and employment opportunities.”
A third goal is to have “fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget.”
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“If you’re a small business – if you don’t have the money to fund it – you’ll go bankrupt so the county should be doing the exact same thing,” he said. “They shouldn’t be raising taxes to balance the budget. We have people in place who are responsible for that.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.