Rockford Sun

Steve Notheisen is willing to go that extra mile to preserve his way of life.

“As much as I would like to see my property taxes frozen, I believe that freezing everyone else’s taxes is dangerous to the survival of our community,” the Waterloo alderman told SW Illinois News regarding proposed legislation to freeze property taxes for two years. “I believe that the fiscal responsibility of small government is hurt by freezing property taxes. While the state has shown itself undependable with its spending habits, locally we do a better job distributing our tax revenue.”

In its latest, House-amended form, Senate Bill 851 would have established a two-year property tax freeze for Cook, Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will counties. The measure would allow those counties to increase property taxes only with voter approval. All other counties would be subject to referendums asking whether a property tax freeze should be imposed for 2018 and 2019 or that all governments within a county jurisdiction be subject to a property tax freeze over that period and to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law for levy year 2020 and the foreseeable future.

Bryan Smith, the executive director of the Township Officials of Illinois, had sent a legislative alert to township officials about SB851, asking them to urge state lawmakers to oppose the measure.

The legislation was not brought up for a vote before the veto session ended.

“Lawmakers should allow local government and local communities to determine if they want to freeze property taxes,” Notheisen said. “It is our money, it goes to our community and we are far more dependable with our money than the state.

“To not allow increases in property taxes, we will be hurting the ability of our local government entities to live up to commitments such as employee contracts, funding retirements and purchasing of needed equipment to protect our communities,” Notheisen said.

In the end, Notheisen said voters should be allowed to make their voices heard in the form of a referendum aimed at determining how local governments handle property taxes.

“Local townships will be hurt more by freezing property taxes than by not freezing,” he said. “If you want a safe, well-educated community, increases are necessary.”