Facts or Fiction about Home Rule in Freeport, Illinois?

Since learning that the certified population of Freeport, Illinois has fallen below the 25,000  threshold the Freeport City Council has publicly talked more about home rule the fast few months than in all the preceding 30-years, despite using the vast powers of home rule regularly and liberally.

A year from now, at the general election, Freeporters will be voting on whether or not they want to remain an Illinois' home rule unit of government.  As such it will be imperative for citizens to have credible and accurate information about the topic at hand.

Our current city manager has been seen on Rockford TV news and has written an article for the City of Freeport Newsletter for November on the topic of home rule.  In both these instances Freeport City Manager Randy Bukas has purported that losing home rule would cause the city to lose the sales taxes that the city council has created without referendums.  According to the city manager, this will cause property taxes to rise.  Here is an excerpt from Manager Bukas' column from the city newsletter.

First, Tutty, and the public at large deserve a more authoritative source than the current city manager.  Maybe this is true, maybe it is not, but in either instance the public should know how and why.

Second, Manager Bukas implies that property taxes will rise.  How will this happen?  Stephenson County voters approved the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) many moons ago.  PTELL limits how much local units of government can raise property taxes.  Because the City of Freeport is home rule they have not been bound by PTELL.  Losing home rule would cause the City Council to be bound by the same property tax laws as every other unit of local government and school district wholly contained within Stephenson County. 

What's more, if the citizens actually see a need for more revenue the Freeport Council could hold a real referendum and ask the public themselves how they feel.  Despite the fact Freeport has a page full of taxes and a mountain of public debt, there has not been one binding referendum on a tax and spend issue in Freeport in 40-years, thanks completely to home rule powers.

Third, in 1992 the Freeport City Council used home rule to create the property transfer tax.  Many other home rule municipalities had or did create similar taxes.  This caused the Illinois' realtor lobby to push for a change in state statute which would preempt the power of home rule units to create such taxes.  Just because the law has changed to now require a referendum to create such a tax, Freeport did not lose the ability to enforce a previously enacted tax.

The citizens of Freeport need authoritative answers to numerous questions, most of which the city manager alone is not equipped to handle.  Of course he wants home rule, what city manager wouldn't?  Home rule has been a financial get out jail free card for the Freeport City Council for the last 30-years.

Can citizens of Freeport count on the City Council to get us authoritative answers to these questions and many others?  What do you think.

As always, yours in honesty, tutty.baker.gmail.com 

"A Government Works Best When it Values Citizen Input" Really?

Most every registered voter in this vicinity received a mailing, at taxpayer expense, from State Representative Andrew Chesney, a Republican residing within Freeport.

Representative Chesney's oversized postcard urged his constituents to take a survey and noted that "A government works best when it values citizen input."  Here is a photo of the pertinent part of the mailing.

Tutty agrees wholeheartedly with our state representative, citizen input should not only be valued, it should be the driving factor behind the operations of any unit of local government, especially locally.

That said, can Tutty and his fellow citizens expect our representative to come out against retaining home rule power for the City of Freeport?  Clearly--and Representative Chesney has first hand knowledge--the City of Freeport has used home rule every way possible to completely exclude "citizen input" from the decision making process.

Without home rule Freeport would have a general obligation debt limit of  8.625% of its present equalized assessed valuation. (1)  Home rule units, because they have the power to tax, have no debt limit, therefore the Freeport City Council blew through this debt limit several years ago.

And not one single dollar of Freeport's massive debt load came as the result of a referendum of the taxpayers.  Not one single dollar.

Because of home rule the Freeport City Council  can not only borrow money without a referendum.  They also use home rule to skirt the requirements of Bond Issue Notification Act and don't even provide formal notice to Freeport citizens that they are borrowing money.

Now that Freeport's population is officially certified to be below 25,000 the "municipal clerk shall certify for submission to the voters of the municipality at the next  general election following such determination of population, in the manner provided by the general election law, the proposition of whether the municipality shall elect not to be a home rule unit" 65 ILCS 5/1-1-9.  This is the first time since Illinois adopted the Constitution of 1970 that a home rule municipality has fallen below this threshold, activating the cited statute. 

If Representative Chesney really wants to lead by example why does he not move to modify the Bond Issue Notification Act to preempt the power of home rule units? The General Assembly has the power.  Then, at the least, the City Council would have to provide himself and his fellow citizens with notice that they are borrowing money against our ability to pay taxes.

This is a perfect opportunity for Representative Chesney to walk his talk and to prove to his constituency that he,  and his fellow Republicans in Stephenson County actually do believe in limited government influence over our lives.

As always, yours in honesty, Tutty Baker tutty.baker@gmail.com

1) Home Rule and Intergovernmental Cooperation and Conflict, Kurt P. Froehlich, 2000, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education.