To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here. Rauner again called out on AV Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 * Gov. Rauner was asked yesterday about his plan to end the “subsidies” for school districts under tax caps and within TIF districts… When communities choose to limit their tax base to fund schools that’s a choice that a local community can make. They’re entitled to make it, they should make it. But when a community chooses to take significant part of its property wealthy and take it off the tax rolls for their schools, that’s a choice, it’s a legitimate choice, but it has consequences. And it’s unfair to all the other taxpayers in this state and all the other communities and school districts in this state to say ‘OK, you took your property out of supporting your schools, so therefore we’re gonna spend a lot more money to send you extra to make up for your choice. That’s not fair to taxpayers, that’s not fair to other school districts that keep all their property tax base for funding their schools. So we need a more equitable system in that regard. * TIFs are a local choice (approved by the GA), but some of the state’s most populous counties do not have a choice about tax caps… By state statute, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties became subject to PTELL for the 1991 levy year and Cook County was added for the 1994 levy year. Public Act 89-510 allows county boards to put the issue before the voters by placing a referendum on the ballot. Home rule districts (primarily communities over 25,000 in population) are exempt from the law. Since 1996, 28 counties have approved PTELL. Nine have voted it down. * Back to yesterday’s press conference… GREG HINZ: In dealing with PTELL the way you are, aren’t you effectively busting the state’s property tax law by telling local communities that if they want to get full state aid that they have to go to a referendum that would raise their property taxes? Isn’t that counter to everything you’ve talked about in this? GOV. RAUNER: No. In fact, just the opposite Greg. It’s exactly what we need to do. What I’ve recommended is that we give, at its core, give local residents the ability to control their own property taxes themselves. This is at the core of what I’ve recommended and it’s part of what we were trying to negotiate with reforms in our budget negotiations. And what we recommended was to do a freeze, for some period of time, 2, 3, 4, 5 years, and, and then give local residents the ability through a simple referendum process, to either raise their total levy, reduce their levy or continue to freeze it, but give the local residents, for their own schools, for their own public safety and issues, to control that themselves. And this, our recommendations are very consistent with that. HINZ: Alright, but if I can follow up, if a community is property tax capped now, under PTELL, under your amendatory veto to get full state aid wouldn’t they have to raise their property tax? RAUNER: All the districts, um, are treated the, the same way under the amendatory veto that I’m recommending. HINZ: It’s still a property tax hike, and you’re supposedly against property tax hikes. RAUNER: I’m sorry, what we’re, what we’re doing, is allocating state aid for schools. And how a specific community chooses to handle their own property taxes, how they choose to, um, fund their schools themselves, that’s up to them. What we’re recommending is a equitable way to take the state aid, um, and and distribute it across the state in a fair and sustainable way. Again, lots of counties don’t “choose” to cap property taxes. And Hinz is right. Under the Rauner AV, in order to avoid a state school funding cut, local school districts under PTELL would have to increase their property tax levies. This is one bizarre amendatory veto, campers. And it appears directly aimed at CPS. - Posted by Rich Miller

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