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mokenamessenger.com news<br />
the Mokena Messenger | June 7, 2018 | 5<br />
School boards weigh putting new sales tax on ballot<br />
1 percent increase<br />
would fund facilities,<br />
maintenance in Will<br />
County<br />
Amanda Stoll, Assistant Editor<br />
A measure to place a<br />
question on the November<br />
ballot would ask residents<br />
of Will County for a 1 percent<br />
increase in sales tax to<br />
help fund capital projects<br />
and maintenance at public<br />
schools across the county.<br />
In order for the measure to<br />
appear before voters, proponents<br />
for the increase need<br />
to gain support from school<br />
boards representing more<br />
than half of the county’s students.<br />
Districts in the area seem<br />
split on the issue, with<br />
Frankfort School District<br />
157C voting to not support<br />
the measure, while Summit<br />
Hill School District 161 and<br />
New Lenox School District<br />
122 approved the measure.<br />
Both Lincoln-Way School<br />
District 210 and Mokena<br />
School District 159 are in<br />
the process of considering<br />
the proposal and are expected<br />
to vote on it in the coming<br />
months.<br />
According to information<br />
provided to the districts by<br />
Stifel Financial Corp., an<br />
investment firm based out<br />
of St. Louis, districts in the<br />
area are estimated to receive<br />
between $700,000 and $3.26<br />
million each year if the sales<br />
tax increase passes.<br />
The amount each district<br />
would receive is based on<br />
the number of its students,<br />
as a percentage of students<br />
in the county as a whole.<br />
Mokena D159 has an enrollment<br />
of 1,542 students,<br />
which is about 1.2 percent of<br />
the pubic school students in<br />
Will County, and is estimated<br />
to receive $720,254 each<br />
year if the measure were to<br />
Estimated income from County Schools Facility Sales Tax*<br />
School District Enrollment % of students in Will Co. Estimated annual<br />
income from CSFT<br />
Frankfort Community Consolidated<br />
School District 157C 2,474 1.9% $1,155,583<br />
Homer Community Consolidated<br />
School District 33C 3,721 2.9% $1,738,046<br />
Lincoln-Way High School District 210 6,971 5.4% $3,256,062<br />
Lockport School District 91 629 0.5% $293,800<br />
Lockport Township High School<br />
District 205 3,709 2.9% $1,732,440<br />
Mokena School District 159 1,542 1.2% $720,254<br />
New Lenox School District 122 5,211 4% $2,434,011<br />
Summit Hill School District 161 3,059 2.4% $1,428,831<br />
*Info from Stifel Financial Corp.<br />
gain enough support to be<br />
placed on the ballot and be<br />
approved by voters in the<br />
next election.<br />
Summit Hill D161 has<br />
an enrollment of 3,059 students,<br />
which is about 2.4<br />
percent of the pubic school<br />
students in Will County,<br />
and is estimated to receive<br />
$1,428,831 each year if<br />
the measure were to gain<br />
enough support to be placed<br />
on the ballot and be approved<br />
by voters in the next<br />
election.<br />
Lincoln-Way D210 has<br />
an enrollment of 6,971 students,<br />
which is about 5.4<br />
percent of the pubic school<br />
students in Will County,<br />
and is estimated to receive<br />
$3,256,062 each year if<br />
the measure were to gain<br />
enough support to be placed<br />
on the ballot and be approved<br />
by voters in the next<br />
election.<br />
In other areas of the state,<br />
49 counties have passed a<br />
County School Facilities<br />
Sales Tax, including Champaign,<br />
Peoria and Livingston<br />
Counties. Nearby counties<br />
— such as La Salle,<br />
Kankakee, and Iroquois<br />
— have all tried to pass the<br />
CSFT and each failed twice<br />
to gain voter approval.<br />
The tax would apply to<br />
sales within the county excluding<br />
cars, trucks, ATVs,<br />
boats and RVs, mobile<br />
homes, unprepared food,<br />
over-the-counter drugs, and<br />
vitamins, as well as farm<br />
equipment, parts and inputs.<br />
The tax would also not apply<br />
to services.<br />
Funds from sales tax revenue<br />
could be used by schools<br />
to pay for facilities and<br />
maintenance, including new<br />
facilities or renovations, security<br />
upgrades, technology<br />
infrastructure, architectural<br />
planning, durable equipment,<br />
fire prevention, land<br />
acquisition, parking lots and<br />
roof repairs.<br />
CSFT monies can also be<br />
used to pay off debt from<br />
previous capital projects and<br />
abate property taxes.<br />
The projected time line<br />
for the tax, if approved<br />
during the Nov. 6 election,<br />
would put the sales tax increase<br />
into effect July 1,<br />
2019, and school districts<br />
in the county would receive<br />
their first payment in October<br />
of next year. After that,<br />
districts would receive income<br />
monthly.<br />
District decisions<br />
Teri Shaw, chief school<br />
business official for Mokena<br />
D159, said the sales tax increase<br />
would allow Mokena<br />
District 159, as well as others<br />
in the county, the opportunity<br />
to decrease the district’s<br />
reliance on property<br />
taxes from residents by providing<br />
it with another source<br />
of income.<br />
“It would take care of all<br />
of the facility needs of this<br />
district in perpetuity,” Shaw<br />
said of Mokena D159 “It<br />
would take care of all the<br />
facility, buildings, grounds,<br />
infrastructure, technology,<br />
capital improvements — it<br />
would take care of all of that<br />
as long as this is in effect.”<br />
As someone who advocated<br />
for a similar measure in<br />
Grundy county, Shaw has an<br />
enhanced perspective of the<br />
challenges facing districts<br />
that support the measure in<br />
getting it passed by voters.<br />
“The biggest challenge is<br />
that we are not really existing<br />
in a tax-friendly environment,”<br />
Shaw said. “You’re<br />
asking the residents of the<br />
county to increase your sales<br />
tax by 1 percent. People<br />
don’t want to increase taxes<br />
in any way, shape or form.<br />
“...By increasing sales tax<br />
for everybody in the county,<br />
and everybody from other<br />
counties who come to our<br />
county to shop, what that<br />
has the possibility and the<br />
potential to do is lower our<br />
property taxes.”<br />
In Mokena, she said passing<br />
the CSFT would provide<br />
a source of income the district<br />
does not currently have<br />
to alleviate some of the tax<br />
burden the residents already<br />
agreed to for a 20-year referendum<br />
passed to build the<br />
junior high school.<br />
The debt from that capital<br />
project is expected to<br />
be paid off in the next year,<br />
and instead of asking voters<br />
to agree to keep the rate the<br />
same, the district could pass<br />
on the property tax revenue<br />
in lieu of the sales tax revenue.<br />
The Mokena School<br />
Board is expected to vote on<br />
the measure following a presentation<br />
by Stifel at its June<br />
finance committee meeting.<br />
Lincoln-Way D210 had<br />
the item on its May agenda,<br />
but tabled the vote to its<br />
June meeting.<br />
Brad Cauffman, assistant<br />
superintendent of business<br />
for Lincoln-Way D210,<br />
said he expects the board to<br />
make a vote at the June 21<br />
meeting but cannot say for<br />
sure if it will or not.<br />
“What we’ve told the<br />
board is, we would use this<br />
money to do those projects<br />
on that 10-year facility plan,<br />
and then if — you never<br />
know how financials are going<br />
to go — but if we were<br />
able to get that plan well underway<br />
and keep up with it<br />
and we had any additional<br />
funds, then we would use<br />
it to pay down outstanding<br />
debt that the district has.”<br />
In the next few years, the<br />
district is expected to see increased<br />
debt payments, and<br />
the CSFT would help alleviate<br />
some of that burden on<br />
the district.<br />
“I think the biggest challenge<br />
is getting the taxpayers<br />
to understand, even the<br />
board, to understand what<br />
are all the options,” Cauffman<br />
said.<br />
He said if the CSFT passes,<br />
and the board chooses,<br />
Please see sales tax, 9
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