HOMER TOWNSHIP – A referendum in Homer Township is seeking to require all taxing bodies in the area to receive voter approval by referendum before increasing taxes.
The referendum is being proposed by Will County Board member Steve Balich, R-Homer Glen, who said the proposal would be nonbinding.
However, one way he would “make it binding” is to publicize the names of elected officials who vote to raise taxes without going to referendum.
“It’s very important for the taxpayers – that includes businesses and the renters – to make their voice heard and vote yes to this referendum,” he said.
Balich’s referendum is one of three being proposed in the Homer area. The village of Homer Glen and the Northwest Homer Fire Protection District have also proposed their own referendums. Homer Glen Mayor George Yukich wants to limit the terms of his office and the Northwest Homer fire officials want to increase taxes to replace aging equipment and parts.
Balich said every year he visits local government boards and tells them not to raise taxes to no avail.
Everyone has been complaining about their taxes for years, and feel helpless in doing anything about it. We believe HOMER TOWNSHIP residents should have a say in their property taxes.
Help our petition gain the 3000 signatures needed to get on the ballot by walking with us.
Sunday July 26th 1pm meet at Tazza Restaurant 14065 S. Bell Homer Glen. Return for lunch with Joe Walsh and Steve Balich at 4pm.
Saturday June 27, 2015 I am asking as you to make a difference by helping me get signatures for the Property Tax Referendum.
We will meet at 10:30 at the Speedway on 151st and Bell. I will give you a clip Board and petitions. Some of us can walk both sides of the street getting signatures. Others will get a voter list for the densest areas of Homer Township. We will meet back at Mullets Sports Bar at 3pm to turn everything in. We will have a notary there.
If you can’t make it, please get a few petitions completed and mail them to me: Steve Balich 12259 Derby Lane, Orland Park, Il. 60467.
I am trying to make a difference and know you want to make a difference too. I believe property owners are fed up with the taxes, but feel like stopping increases in the Property Tax Levy is hopeless.
I believe we can make a difference by putting the question on the March 15, 2016 Presidential Primary Election. To accomplish this I need 2000 signatures. I need your help and your desire to make a difference. This is an advisory Referendum that sends a loud and clear message to the people we elect to office that we are fed up and not going to take it anymore.
If you Don’t Live in Homer Township passing this Referendum will inspire people in your Town to do the same as Homer.
Will County Board member Steve Balich wants taxpayers to send a message to all taxing districts in Homer Township — people are against any property tax increase, no matter how small.
He said local government spending plays the biggest role in whether property tax bills rise or fall because the governments boost their tax levy, the amount of revenue the district seeks to collect via the property tax.
“Candidates run for office and say they are against property tax increases,” Balich, R-Homer Glen, said. “They get elected and say the tax is only going up a little so the people won’t mind. They forget that a little is a lot when every taxing body raises taxes a little, and over time these yearly increases add up to quite a big amount.
“If people speak up loud and clear that they are fed up (by voting for this referendum plan) maybe elected officials will change their tune,” he said.
If a taxing district wants more money, it should only be able to raise taxes for a specific purpose by referendum and then end that tax increase when the money is not longer needed, according to Balich.
Taxing districts — such as counties, towns, townships and school, park, library and fire protection districts — are limited by the property tax cap, which allows an annual tax rate increase of no more than 5 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. But Balich called the tax cap a “scam” because most taxing districts raise their rates up to the legal limit.
Taxpayers also have the right to address tax issues during tax levy hearings that local governments are required to conduct every year, but Balich said no one ever attends.
The referendum is way for people to “express their feelings” about property tax increases, he said, adding that if the Homer Township referendum measure succeeds, he hopes the anti-tax-hike movement will spread throughout the state.
“Once people see that it can pass, others will follow,” Balich said.
JOLIET — Tom Joseph, a local watchdog for homeowners and real estate agents, is accusing Will County’s Land Use Department of conducting preliminary home inspections beyond the scope of individual permit applications — a practice he believes to be overreaching.
“If someone puts in (an application) for permit work, that’s the work that should be inspected,” said Joseph, who serves as the government affairs director for the Illinois Association of Realtors and the Three Rivers Realtors Association.
Joseph raised concerns earlier this spring to the Will County Board’s Land Use and Development Committee, saying the practice violates a homeowners’ fourth amendment rights.
“We don’t believe that’s the intent of the law,” he said.
But Will County Land Use Director Curt Paddock pushed back against the accusations Tuesday during a meeting of the Land Use and Development Committee. He pointed to the 2012 International Residential Code adopted by the County Board last year.
The department does not conduct inspections without the homeowners’ consent, he said.
If a code violation is “in plain sight” during a pre-inspection, the official has a right to cite it as a violation, he said. For example, if someone applies for a permit to put in a new water heater, he said, and the building official notices a live wire sparking while walking down the steps of the basement, that’s fair game.
“Their perspective is ‘You should have had blinders on,’” Paddock said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, committee member Steve Balich, R-Homer Glen, spoke out against the Land Use Department’s interpretation of the code.
“That’s simply not true,” he said, noting that the only condition triggering pre-inspections is a property owner’s permit application.
But Joseph alleges the department “on three occasions” attempted to or conducted pre-sale home inspections — a program not adopted by the county.
Alternatives were presented at the county’s Land Use and Development Committee Tuesday.