Politics & Government

Letters to the Editor: Mattingly, Krase Respond to Opponents

Send your letter to the editor to steven.jack@patch.com

Park Board challengers may be trying to deceive voters

Challengers want you to believe your park board voted to increase taxes by 7.8%. Not true.

The only factor taxing bodies vote on is the dollar amount requested through their Proposed Levy. The actual tax rate will be determined by the County Clerk using that proposal and the final EAV provided by the County Assessor.     T

Find out what's happening in Oswegowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

he Park Board did approve a 2.7% increase in the Proposed Levy to $5,548,118. With that and the assessor’s preliminary EAV, our finance team estimates our tax rate might be .3876/$100. But percentages and tax rates are not what taxpayers really want to know.

The question is, “how much will I pay in tax dollars?” I multiplied the assessor’s 2010 Net Taxable Value of my home (after exemptions) by this estimated .3876/$100 and came up with an amount payable in 2011 that is slightly LOWER than my 2010 amount.

Find out what's happening in Oswegowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All the information needed is at www.co.kendall.il.us or call me (630-554-8799). For more facts see www.oswegolandparkdistrict.org. Under “Information” click “Ask Your Park District”.     

Misleading information demonstrates the challengers either do not have a correct understanding of levies and property tax computations or they are deliberately trying to fool the voters. Mr. Wass has publicly “demanded” the Board sell riverfront property, but has failed to mention this in his campaign.

I prefer leadership to be responsible, truthful and working for all. Therefore I will be voting for Mattingly, Satlak and Slover for Park Board and encourage everyone who enjoys our parks and programs to do the same.

Deb Krase, Vice President, Oswegoland Park Board

Park District is good value for dollar

In their latest ad to assault the Oswegoland Park District, our opponents continued to give wrong information in making their point about our supposed high user fees. They used $7 million as our total fees when they were actually $5.8, and they used our total residents as 40,000 when the actual number of our OLPD residents is 49, 500.

This is just another example of misinformation. In regard to our user fees, our highest numbers come from Kid’s Connection (a nine month, three to five days a week program), Fox Bend Golf Course, and our Aquatics Center. What we charge for each of these programs is very competitive with others in the area.

We firmly believe that users of those programs should pay for their participation rather than what our opponents would have us do, which is to have all taxpayers pay more to cover user fees for some.

Since our opponents continually compare us to Batavia, Fox Valley, and St. Charles Park Districts, here are the 2010 tax rates for each: Batavia .4521, Fox Valley .4219, and St. Charles .4812. Ours was .3594!! In fact, in the past 10 years, our tax rate has been reduced by 32%, from .5715 in 2001 to .3876 for 2011.

As all of our surveys have indicated, our community has been very satisfied with the overall performance (94%) and the value (86%) that the Park District provides! Those people who use our parks and programs know the high quality at a good price they get from their taxes and their users’ fees. If you want to get the true numbers and facts, go to oswegolandpd.org for “Ask your Park District”.

Bob Mattingly, Oswegoland Park Board President


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here