"Collectively, the school districts have single-handedly bankrupted the state with their early retirements, pensions and health benefits. They have literally bitten off the hand that feeds them."

Mr. O'Neil -- do you receive Social Security benefits? Teachers don't. Do you pay 10% of your monthly medical insurance? Teachers do. I am all for reducing the taxes in this town -- I have had enough. But I'm also tired of hearing that the common state/municipal worker -- whatever category -- has bankrupt this state because of their benefits. Maybe the administrations have; those that know how to work the system have. But the average worker that does their job, takes care of their families, pays their own taxes and hopes for a little something at the end of the day has not. These people pay into their pension just like the private sector employee pays into social security each month. The only difference is that instead of your private employer matching your tax/SS contributions, the taxpayers in the taxing body you work in have to match them because they work for you. Is it a perfect system, no -- but nothing seems to be these days.

George
I'm not sure where you live in Oswego for your taxes to go up. I do see the rate to the school went up on the tax bills, but on my tax bill the school got almost 200 less then last year, and over all I have a reduction in about 500 dollars from what I paid last year. Sorry yours did not go down.

If you paid an additional $549 in taxes this year, your home value suggests that you shouldn't be complaining about feeding your family and you are quite well off. My property tax went down $12 last year and an increase of $549 would be a 15% increase in my taxes.

The reason your taxes went up is because of the high rate of foreclosure in our area. We still have plenty of children going to school, but less revenue per house means that the school district has to get their money from somewhere so the taxes go up. Essentially the pool is there and is divided proportionally. We have a high tax rate not because of mismanagement but because our population has an inordinately high number of children per household and a small tax base to pull from. A perfect example is right next door: Naperville has one of the best public school systems in the state, if not the nation, and one of the lowest tax rates in the state. They also have an average of 1.6 children per household. If you want someone to blame, blame the people in our community who think large families are a good thing.

Charter schools have proven to be a failure in almost every place they are placed. They give the same education or worse but actually increase the cost of education. Apparently the government has done something right over privatization. You are still free to send your children to a private school but don't expect me to pay for it or your taxes to go down. They will put that money somewhere else.

i could not agree more with greg not george more .no the teachers dont get social security but they do not pay in to it i wish i didnt have to pay for some thing that i wont get

It has been interesting reading the letters and comments about property taxes over the last couple of days.
But a $1,300 increase over the last two years, wow...
Was all of that to the school district? Kind of curious what that would be in terms a % of your bill? I am assuming that your property was fully developed both of those years.
Seriously, considering my taxes have remained basically flat (we did get a lower assessment this past year and I know that helped) I am curious why some folks seem to have been hit so hard. There has been variation in the tax rate paid to the school district in each of the counties the district serves in the past, I wonder if that is still the case.

Mr. O'Neil is right on. It is time for privatization of the education system. The Feds, State and Local education system is out of control and more interested in the micro and not taking care of business of teaching math and science. Too many rules too much control and way too much money. I just watched Stossel with private charter schools. It is where we need to be. And Kathy I agree that we all deserve to retire in dignity. I will be getting my first social security check this month. I have worked for 45 years and paid all that time. Social security doesn't give you 75% of your salary. The education pensions are way out of line with reality and financially unsustainable. My social security is $1507 a month. Explain to me Kathy how I am supposed to pay $9500 a year on property taxes. School are $7073. For the math majors that is 791.66 per month for property taxes. Which is over half of my income.

Working as a greeter at Walmart used to be a joke for seniors now its a necessity. Know the sad part Kathy. I couldn't even make enough to pay the taxes.

But wait your turn is coming. Wait until you are older and there will be nothing. There aren't enough rich people to pay for all of you. Look at GREECE.

Please explain to me how privatization of our schools would work. I honestly don't see how the people that don't use them would stop paying into the district. Thanking all in advance.

Teachers pay into the pension system and no they do not receive 100% of their salary. They receive about 75-80%. The state of Illinois is responsible for depleting the pension fund because they "borrowed" from it to pay for other things. I do agree the board has to go though.

Please have Bill Walsh explain how he failed to record the meetings being held with potential new district administrators, five times and why the Kendall States Attorney's Office is now being asked to investigate the Oswego School Board for violations of the Open Meetings Act. The excuse currently being provided is "We couldn’t figure out how to run the recorder", it would seem to me one could have gotten it right after the second failure or the third or the fourth, but five times, please?

my tax bill went up $ 3000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No one has been discussing the land purchases that were made for the school district and have proven to be useless, Land off of Grove. How many millions have gown down the drain by the lack of good ole conservative forethought. To think Eastview wanted a new library when it was recently renovated. Thank God that proposal was nixed. How many Oswego students have managed to qualify and be excepted into big 10 colleges. I have a few neighbors that have sent their kids to college only to find them back home shortly after because they can't handle the work load. Is the Oswego school district sufficiently educating our children to have the capacity to thrive in the college environment or are these kids being funneled through the system without having any sense of obligation to the children's futures.

Thanks Todd Milliron for that comment on how the school board managed having FIVE meetings and blammed it on not knowing how to use the recorder. SURE!!!! They are a bunch of con artists and the Kendall States Attorney's office is simply giving the board a little nudge on the shoulder to not repeat the offense.

I've lived out for 40 years and every time there was a referendum and it was passed everyone in charge would start spending that money like drunkin sailors! Then when the money ran out what did they do? They started scaring everyone into another referendum! I've seen it happen time and time again. As for that monster of a school called Oswego East I could see having a huge school like that if it held 6000 kids but it hold no more that the old Oswego High! And seriously do the kids need a swimming pool! That's when I said I would never vote yes to another referendum!! Enough is enough!!

My tax bill in the Will County section went up $1300 in one year while the assessment stayed virtually the same. HHHMMMMMM!

Absolutely agree with this article! If you take a look at the district website, go to the school report cards and look at the school's budgets. Most of the budget goes to building maintenance and administrative costs. That is the real problem.

"I think the tax cap that 80 percent of us voted for is an illusion. What cap? How can the tax rates go from 5.08 to 6.657 over two years if there is a tax cap? That is over a 31.5 percent increase when the rates were not to exceed 5 percent or the CPI, whichever is less. There is NO tax cap!"

The reason the District 308 rate increase was able to exceed the tax cap two years in a row is due to a referendum that was passed in 2006 which allowed them to borrow nearly $450,000,000. As part of the referendum District 308 agreed to keep their tax rate locked at 5.06 for several years. Last year we witnessed the beginning of their plan to repay this enormous debt, part two is what we see in our hands today.

Where does everyone think that rate will go next year, it's going to go through the roof. We might have not used the 450 million but it's sure going to feel like it when we get an increase year after year. We're all going to be forced from our homes! Tax Cap we have no stink-en tax cap!

Cindy, is there any way to get those figures posted on Patch? Those maintenance cost will continue to rise as they continue to build. Someone should have looked into alternative energy and grant money, I know that takes work.

I have to say that Patch has been a great source of therapy and one I can afford!

My taxes have gone up $1700.00 in three years!

@Judith Vogt - sorry, but Privatization is not "right on", it's "Wrong Off" in a huge way - keep "Corporate" out of Education. They have ZERO understanding on how schools are different from Corporations [and why they need to be], and are more interested in making a buck than educating a child. If "Corporate" takes over, any kids with special needs probably won't be taken care of as they should or "special handling" costs would be pretty bad. The cost of educating a child would skyrocket. We don't need "private" industry, the makers of the BP gulf disaster, taking over schools. Just like traffic lights, we need rules sometimes.
Illinois is going bankrupt in part because,sadly, Federal funding has been chopped ,yet we can spend billions in other parts of the world and not ourselves - where are you, [Mr. Kirk and Mr. Durbin ????????] and budget mismanagement here at home. Regarding our taxes - maybe a tax cap referendum to get the county clerk to freeze the multiplier ?

The pension you speak of was robbed by the state legislature to cover its own financial mismanagement

We teachers now have to work longer, pay in more, with no safety the state will not steal from it again.

Teachers can't get social security even if we paid into it.

Health insurance that we are paying more for.

Salary that is among the lowest for college educated professionals.

Finally if you don't like the tax vote in representation to change it or move

hey Texson68 ,
I noticed that Judith Vogt posted to Plainfield patch as a homeowner about the same issue, back in 2011 very similar, : http://plainfield.patch.com/articles/wheatland-voters-say-no-to-new-town-hall-move-forward-on-needs-assessment#comments - to quote : "
9:29 pm on Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Judith Vogt
I have seen my taxes constantly skyrocket in Wheatland township. In 2010 the value of my home went up $1000 while all my neighbors went down, next door down $20,000. I am assessed $14.63 per square foot for a concrete patio which cost $10.00 per foot to build. That translates to a $30,000 patio which cost $20,000. Kelly Lord seems to think that is a fair value for Wheatland township. My taxes went up $1000 this year mostly to schools. This is just outrageous. I'm pleased to see some people are finally standing up and telling them no."
.........................

Just to clarify. I am NOT a teacher nor is anybody in my house. I am married to someone who works in the public sector who works hard and deserves benefits like everyone else. Whether pension or social security. I can't help how the system was set up years ago. I'm like someone who gets social security - I would like some of the money I paid in to be there when my husband retires. Our retirement is in jeopardy just like those who get social security. We have been screwed like millions of other workers in this state. I'm tired of people attacking those workers who are there for everyone, whatever the job.

My taxes are up every year --16 of them in this town. Our income is down; we pay more for services like everyone else. But for whatever reason the public workers can get kicked by anyone & everyone. Let's start yelling at the person who works at a gas station that it's their fault that gas prices are high.

Has anyone asked why the Village of Oswego makes it so difficult for larger businesses to open here. There could be huge tax revenues, but people are so afraid of losing the "small town" Cities like Naperville get a lot of money from corporations in their city. You can't have the best of the both worlds. And on a side note - I have a child who graduated from OEHS block system and is doing wonderfully in a difficult 4 year college. Block system is not my first choice and I am glad they are getting rid of it, but if you chose to make the best of it and make it work to your advantage, it was a good system. Instead, many students (and teachers) took advantage of it and used a lot of time for homework and the students lost prime teaching time.

Mr. O'Neill let me see if I understand this correctly. So you're saying if you to have to pay 100% into retirement and health insurance then we all should? Or is it just teachers and federal employees? Basically anyone who is paid through our tax dollars? And so u think privatization is the key because you will somehow be off the hook. Well guess what you're going to end up paying anyway you look at it. I have a corporate job. My company helps to fund their employees retirement and pays the bulk of our health insurance. You know who pays my salary and helps fund my retirement and health insurance? People like you. People who use the services of our client and buy their products because the money our client makes pays for our services to them. And believe me in the course of your lifetime i can guarantee you have used one of our clients services. So you would begrudge me my benefits because you didn't get such a sweet deal? How is that my fault? Sounds like sour grapes and not very in keeping with the Ideology of capitalism.

Collectively, the school districts have single-handedly bankrupted the state with their early retirements, pensions and health benefits. They have literally bitten off the hand that feeds them. This statement speaks volumes. When do the bonds come due for all this construction and has multi level district consolidation been even considered yet?.I see so much landscape too?

Unless your an idiot, you would know that that the reason for the increase is because our lovley state is not funding the local schools and owes 308 in particular over a million dollars.

WELL SAID GREG ! You are saying things that are running through a lot of peoples minds right now. It is AT that point of time NOW where this system is completely broken. Successful, productive people move here to live and end up sucked dry / penalized by taxation. As far as we knew when we moved here,Kendall Co / Oswego was a heavy Republican area. How, then, is this allowed to continue?

Greg's idea of privatizing is ludicrous at best. As the laws are now, D308 can't just "decide" to go off grid and stop public education. Instead of complaining, let's all work together to push the village to increase our commercial tax base to ease our property tax burden. We can't sustain this 83% residential base much longer.

Every single one of us needs to push our state government to live up to their obligations to education. Stop the unfunded mandates, and start paying what's owed to the districts!

Privatization has zero chance of working and shows a lack of understanding as to what the drivers of student success are, parents, good teachers, and an environment of high expectations.
You think your taxes are high now, wait until an unelected body gets control over them. Where will the accountability be. You think this BOE has had issues with open meetings and transparency what do you think would happen if it's all private. The public would cede control of education. Can you image how evolution, sex ed., special needs, etc would be dealt with in a private system. There are no private school systems (k-12) that deal with the amount of students Oswego has that aren't religious. Where is the model that shows this would work? After all we are talking about a system not one school.

I really can't believe what I'm hearing on this site lately. Eliminate the school district, those of us expecting school transportation for our children are "Obamaville" looking for handouts, and the big problem in this area is teachers, teachers, teachers. This is tea party wackitude pure and simple. This idea that you can held back your tax money for things you don't approve (school districts, health plans that fund contraception) of while continuing to collect benefits from the state and federal government for things you DO approve of (like social security, medicare, etc) is, at best, un-American. What's more, this world that people seem to envision in which the government pays for nothing and everyone has to fend for themselves is not and has never been America.

Eliminate the school district entirely? Give me a break. How about merely paying attention to local politics and electing a competent school board that is able to make good decisions with the money they have? I, for one, am happy to pay increased property taxes if the proceeds benefit my friends and neighbors and our community. Our local school district is the LAST thing I would want to see defunded or eliminated.

Well said, Robyn !
actually, though, we also need to push our Federal Government reps to re-fund the State's coffer as they used to before the roof fell in. If the Federal Government poured in what they used to, a lot of it would fix itself.

I just looked at a comparison of Oswego 308 vs. Naperville 203. The source I used says Naperville gets $6.235 million of federal funding through state. Oswego gets $1.969 million. Does anyone know why that is? Our districts are not that different in size. (Not looking for a political answer here, but curious about the process of how those amounts get determined.) Here's the info I'm looking at via Wolfram|Alpha, which I'm shortening into a bit.ly: http://bit.ly/IIUxlV

Robyn well said. If schools were privatized not everyone would have access to education. Those people would end up being a drain on our society. So we save on taxes upfront but then in the long run we pay for it In other ways. Internationally our students are being out performed which reinforces the importance of what Robyn said about demanding that our state government honor their obligations to education. And I think she's dead on regarding increasing our commercial tax base to alleviate the burden we are all under. I understand Greg's frustrations. I think everyone does but he's off base and his attack on the teachers is unfair. Anyone of us could question the other about whether or not we deserve the job benefits we have but all that does is pit us against each other.

If the school board was serious about saving money, they'd implement Year Round Education, purge the district of Behlow era adminstrators, and make sensible financial decisions on new hire administrators (their decision for the huge adminstrative pay increase is a disgrace to the taxpayers).

Then they'd get rid of another Behlow relic called Everyday Math which was a political payola that had nothing to do with educating our kids properly in basic math. Ask any Jr. High math teacher their opinion of whether their crop of sixth graders are adeqautely prepared for Jr. High math using everyday stinking math (end or rant).

@Joe, how does year round save money ? people are under the fallacy that Teachers get paid year round - they don't get paid for the summer!!!! their salary would basically go up, and cooling/airco would be kicked into full gear, food services, support staff, etc. everyone would be on the full bill. Research the cost of three months operating funds and you'll probably be surprised.
About Everyday math and all the new "approaches" I have to agree with you, we'd be better off not allowing kids NEAR a calculator until late junior high, dusting off the old school approach, periodically re-quizzing them on it. There are adults out there now that are *crippled* without a calculator in their hand because of all these revamps. On the other hand - we ARE competing internationally just fine when you compare us *equally*. Other countries in their statistics DONT use full inclusion as we were forced to do, which means if you make them include those stats of the kids they "tossed out" of the system [the special needs kids,dual language, etc.], our standing is pretty close to #2 on the international education list. Can I prove this ? go downtown Chicago to University of Illinois Circle campus, and find out how many foreign students from these "well educated" countries come HERE instead of staying out THERE for their degrees. We're still one of the best in the world.

I couldn't resist commenting on the everyday math. What a farce, what's more as a parent there are not even any text books we can use to assist our children with these ridiculous methods. Even my children’s' teachers in confidence tell me they wish they did not have to use this method. Oops, I may have let the cat out of the bag as I'm not using an alias.

meanwhile, downstate, de-funding continues....what's next? okay, they went after the schoolteachers, the policemen and the firemen so far to "cut costs", couldn't you almost hear "the garbage men are costing the state far too much money, period" from the 747 flying our state reps down to Puerto Rico for a vacat....ahem, I mean, "important trade meeting". Okay, sad attempt at humor....

I bought a home in district 308 in 2009. My taxes have gone from $7,900 to $10,700 over that span, up over 35%. I have now decided that enough is enough, and I am moving out of the district. I know I am not the only one that is planning on doing this, three of my neighbors are doing the same... Way to go district 308, you are successfully shooting yourself in the foot.

with taxes skyrocketing and the sherrif kicking grama and grandpa out of there houses for not paying taxes will this town become a boarded up vacant empty place like the old alexander lumber building? If so how will 308 surive they need our tax money

All I know is 3 people ran with ONE objective. No 3rd high school. After that they seem lost and clueless. Remember 3 names next election. Walsh, Lightfoot, and Swanson.

@Oswegoraised,
(1) No third high school - let's get to that for a second. In a perfect world [not having to pay through the nose for it] it's not a bad idea to have one. But we simply can't afford it.
(2) Walsh, Lightfoot, and Swanson - what about the others ? tell me, did you think outsourcing our busing [putting locals out of work] is a good idea? I heard a rumor that we're getting our Lawns mowed, etc. not by staff but by $private$ $contract$ ? how about snow blowing ? a lot of smaller towns usually have the coffee-drinking guy in the flannel shirt do a ton of that sort of thing, what's wrong that our Maintenance staff can't do it ? can we come to an arrangement with LeClerc and the township to help with these chores ? these are things that have occurred under the *old* guard, not all the problems happening are with the new board. How did the old guard vote in terms of these "raises" to new hires ? did they also raise the bar "back in the day" ? if so, why ? that's the pain of having to be objective. I try to remember that these guys aren't getting paid to do this, they do this out of their own personal need to make things better, which I respect. If you want to look for the guy in the black hat and boots, look to the one who raises the multiplyer - looks like people noticed already: http://oswego.patch.com/blog_posts/kendall-county-property-tax-revolt

1) I agree. Can't afford it. 2) I hear what you're saying, but the new was elected in to fix the old. I went through this school system when it was one of the best. That's what brought people here. More house for the money, lower taxes, and good school district. Not to mention the home town atmosphere. We all have our opinions on what happened to the middle two, but we can all agree something needs to be done. I read the article you supplied the link to and will be attending. Thank you for that information.

When I wrote this letter I knew very well that EVERYONE wouldn't like it, after all there are a bunch of freeloaders getting their services for a fraction that they cost others. They think thats fair!!! My address in no way represents "my fair share" of the tax burden. Its a flawed system that does more harm to people than good. I am glad that the topic elicited so much debate. I am really only hoping to appeal to 51% OF THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE VOTING IN FUTURE ELECTIONS!!!
BTW I'll be seeing many of you at Mark Johnson's taxpayer revolt on June 1, way to go Mark.