As I have explained many times before, the school district gets a raise every year that is 5% or CPI, whichever is less. So each December, schools and other taxing bodies levy as much as they can no matter what they actually budget to “maximize their revenue”. This is done whether the community can afford it or not. Watch the video at the Lake County website for more information on the Budget/tax levy cycle & assessment/tax bill process: http://lakecnty.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=266.

The school is already using their typical pass the levy or the cuts will be more drastic. See the following note from another forum:

To see some how the Grayslake High School District 127 has been overtaxing us every year as well see:

• Case study in how school districts overtax
• D127 EXCEEDS AMOUNT APPROVED
• TAXING U AND ME INTO EXTINCTION WHY?
• GRAYSLAKE D127 APPROVES LEVY
• (UPDATED) GRAYSLAKE HIGH SCHOOL LEVY MEETING
• GRAYSLAKE 46 AND 127 OVER DEBT LIMIT

**Note: The forcast shows that D46 will need to make $2.5 million in cuts for the 2010-2011 school year. That number will be $3.5 million if the board votes against a Levy.

If the school district controlled their labor costs better, they would not be in this situation. I have suggestion to them the past 2 contract negotiations that they limit raises to CPI. This would control their labor costs and thus their budget properly.

Here is the board agenda for tonights meeting including contact information for the board members. Please contact them today if you are not going to be able to attend the meeting.

Special Meeting Agenda
Board of Education
Community Consolidated School District 46
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Middle School
7:00 P.M.

A. Call to Order
B. Roll Call
C. Establishment of Quorum
D. Pledge of Allegiance
E. Public Comment
F. Discussion Item:
1. Review of PMA forecasts – Brad
2. Continued discussion of Levy
G. Action Item:
1. Approval of Taxation Hearing Resolutions Items:
• Certificate of Tax Levy
• Resolution Regarding Amounts Necessary to be Levied for the Year 2009
• Certification of Resolution Regarding Amounts Necessary to be Levied for the Year 2009
• Resolution to Levy Certain Special Taxes for Special Education District IMRF Purposes
• Certification of Resolution to Levy Certain Special Taxes for Special Education District
IMRF Purposes
• Resolution to Levy Special Education Tax
• Certification of Resolution to Levy Special Education Tax
• Resolution to Levy Working Cash Tax
• Certification of Resolution to Levy Working Cash Tax
• Resolution Publication Truth and Taxation Notice
• Certification of Resolution Publication Truth and Taxation Notice
H. Adjourn
Thank you for attending the meeting of the Board of Education. You are reminded that these are meetings held
in public but are not public meetings. You are welcome to address the Board during “Public Comment.” You
are asked to limit your remarks to under four minutes. Guidelines for Public Comment are available at each
meeting along with the current agenda. Board members and/or administrators may be contacted to respond to
specific questions at:

Board Members Schools
Michael Carbone 223-3540 ext. 5648 District Office 223-3650
Sue Facklam 548-2930/223-3540 ext 5565 Avon School 223-3530
Mary Garcia 223-3540 ext 5691 Prairieview School 543-4230
Michael Linder 223-3540 ext 5692 Woodview School 223-3668
Ray Millington 223-3540 ext 5678 Meadowview School 223-3656
Keith Surroz 223-3540 ext 5679 Park School 201-7010
Karen Weinert 548-0436/223-3540 ext 5664 Frederick School 543-5300
Middle School 223-3680

The District web site address is www.d46.org

• Avon
• Grayslake Middle School
• Meadowview
• Grayslake High School
• Illinois Schools

They asked parents to volunteer to lead after-school programs in drawing, painting, handcrafts, dancing, sports, cheerleading and chess.

“Kids would be interested in after-school programs and it would keep their minds off gangs,” explained Marissa Juarez, 11. “It would keep them inside and safe.”

The fifth-graders also may have hit on just what they need to help them heal from the effects of urban violence.

The physical, social and artistic outlets kids urged are among the coping mechanisms experts recommend for those touched by violence. Similar activities are used with children in war-torn countries.

I will agree that kids need recess. My question is why did the kids themselves have to come up with a solution? Why didn’t the teachers and administrators come up with a solution to have recess? The answer is simple, teachers and administrators are constrained by teacher union contracts and the need to make it appear they are in need of more money to pay for these basic programs. They are part of a government monopoly that has no incentive to innovate. They can just sit back and cry poor anytime parents and other question them.

Our public government schools are setup to thwart accountability. They prove this day after day with stories of corruption, pay to play, exhorbitant pensions, extravagant perks, over taxation, no bid contracts, and over spending.

Remember everyone, when the schools start crying poor, it is just a game to get more money. very little of that additional money will actually be used to help education.

If you don’t know what referendums are happening this year, visit the Local Ballot Measures on Ballotpedia. There are 15 referendums/advisory questions on the ballot in Lake County on November 4th. Get informed who is trying to raise your taxes.

Thanks to County Board Member Bob Powers for the following:

Deadline for Property Tax Appeals in Avon Township is: September 22,2008

Seven Easy Steps to Appeal an Assessment (For Residential)

1. Obtain the assessed valuation of your property.
2. Determine the fair market value for your property.
3. Discuss the assessment with your assessor.
4. Determine the basis for your formal appeal.
5. File a written appeal with your Board of Review.
6. Present evidence of unfair assessment to the Board of Review at the hearing.
7. Appeal the Board of Review’s decision to the Property Tax Appeal Board (in writing) in the event of an unsatisfactory decision by the Board of Review, or appeal directly to the Circuit Court.

Go to: Board of Review to download Residential Real Estate Assessment Appeal for Tax Year 2008 forms and Rules of the Lake County Board of Review. For more information regarding your taxes you can call Avon Township (847) 546-2146 or visit Chief County Assessment Office

To earn the trust of the voters they need to start levying only what they need. Then voters will be turst them and provide money when they really do need it. Until schools and other taxing bodies start levying only what they need and stop taking money just because they legally can, voters should reject all referendums. This inludes the 13 referendums that are in place for the February 5th election.

The Village of Grayslake just voted to raise their Levy by 9.5%. If you don’t like these increases go to the school boards meetings for District 46 schools on Monday night and District 127 schools on Thursday night and express your outrage at their practice of “maximizing their revenue” on the backs of the taxpayers.

There are many people complaining about how much there assessments have risen this year. They know this means their taxes will go up in the spring. I have heard many times that Lake County has the highest property taxes around. Well, that is true and it was recently confirmed by Forbes magazine in a report showing Lake County as having the highest property taxes in the Midwest.

Last week I attended the Citizens Action Project meeting help in Prairie Crossing. The meeting did not meet my expectations. The presentations on how to appeal your assessments were weakly presented. You can view their outline of the appeal process here or watch the video of the presentation. They were able to successfully highlight how different assessors do their jobs. This leads to multiple questions:

• Why do we have 18 elected township assessors?
• Why do we have townships at all?
• Why are there so many taxing bodies in Lake County and Illinois?
• Why do we need 892 school districts?

The group is trying to disconnect the assessment process from the tax process. This does nothing but direct blame at the wrong people. The Assessors DO NOT raise your taxes. They only raise your assessment. The taxing bodies raise your taxes. They get an increase each and every year. In fact if the assessor raises your assessment, but the taxing body does not increase their levy, your taxes would not increase. In fact, they may decline. You can view an explanation of how this works at the County Assessor website.

This leads to how the group really missed a great opportunity to tell the attendees why their taxes are going up so much. Your taxes are increasing so much because the taxing bodies are leving more and more each year. If you want your taxes to quit going up go to your levy hearings and speak out at their meetings and levy hearings. All taxing bodies in Lake County are having those hearings this month so they can give them to the County Tax Extension Office this month. Some bodies have already held their meetings.

Start by looking at your tax bill. Who gets the largest percentage of you tax money? This will be your local school districts. In Grayslake, the Levy Hearing for District 46 schools will be held at 7:30 pm on December 10th at Prairieview. District 127 does not have their agenda up, but their levy hearing will be December 13th, unless they call a special meeting for the day after Christmas like they did last year.

It is a shame that a taxpayer has to continually FOIA these documents and provide them to public instead of the schools themselves. They continue to ask the taxpayers to provide money for education and yet they refuse to trust the taxpayer with information that would show how well they are spending the money we provide and how effective this money is utilized to increase student performance.

In addition to not trusting taxpayers, District 46 continues to overcharge for FOIA requests.

You can use one of the following methods to send your letter of interest:

1. Email your letter to Superintendent Catherine Finger
2. Mail your letter to 400 North Lake Street, Grayslake, IL 60030
3. Drop your letter off at the district offices. The district offices have been moved to the Grayslake North Campus due to construction at Central

In todays Daily Herald we find out there is an opening on the District 127 school board. Russ Hagar, Board President, resigned Thursday night. Glen Eriksson will be taking over as board President. I have emailed Superintendent Finger and Mr. Eriksson asking for more details on the replacement process and time frames. I will post that information when I receive it.

From my knowledge and dealing with the school board here in District 127, Mr. Davitt’s job description fits here as well. I hope that will not be the case, but when you have a district who overtaxes its residents, exceeds debt limit and spends extravagantly on synthetic turf, it makes it hard to imagine otherwise.

The offer of publishing notes stands for any Lake County school district, not just D46 or D127.