Libertarian officeholder wants to give voters more power
“Carpentersville village board members should not have the authority to establish or raise fees, increase the tax levy or create tax increment financing districts without voter approval, one village trustee says,” the suburban Chicago Daily Herald reports.
“Trustee Doug Marks [a Libertarian] has drafted an ordinance that, if approved, would repeal that aspect of home rule and give voters the ability to decide taxing matters through a ballot question. Trustees will discuss his proposal Tuesday night.”
“Marks pointed to a pair of tax levies within the last two years as examples of out of control spending. The village issued $20 million in bonds last year to pay for street repairs and a public works building, then raised the property tax levy to pay it off. In 2009, officials raised the levy to pay for police pensions, per state requirements.”
“I just get so irate to see (that) no matter how you try to explain it, it’s just not understood that the citizens of this town cannot take on the burden of spending,” Marks tells the Daily Herald. “This is not something I dreamed up. It was something I was asked to do.”
