Voters in Wayne will have a symbolic vote ahead of them in April regarding their property taxes.
School District U46 board member Cody Holt filed an advisory referendum this month for voters of the town of 2,200 that will go up for a vote in the April 4 consolidated election.
The measure will ask voters whether District U46 should require asking voters via referendum question approval of any property tax levy hikes.
“This referendum will give voters the power to send a message that they want the power back in the hands of the taxpayers and not special interest backed board members,” Holt said in a written statement Tuesday.
On Friday, Holt called the referendum “anti-tax.” He said he heard several complaints from Wayne residents while going door to door. Taxpayers there pay on average $14,000 in annual property taxes, he said.
“Ultimately what the people in Wayne want is to give the people the power to decide when to increase taxes,” Holt said on Friday.
It isn’t a Wayne issue, though, he added. Residents in other communities within the U46 boundaries have complained to him about the taxes.
However, the advisory referendum — a ballot measure that only asks of government bodies to take into consideration the results but not enforce new rules — is only up for a vote in Wayne, among the smallest towns or villages represented in U46.
“Would we have put it up for all U46, it would have been 12,000-13,000 signatures” needed for approval, Holt said. “They make it really hard to put it on a consolidated election.”
Even putting it up for a vote in neighboring Bartlett would have been challenging, as it would require extensive door-to-door canvassing given its much larger population than Wayne, he added.
Village of Wayne officials did confirm the referendum is filed, but were going through Freedom of Information Act procedures before disclosing the ballot measure. Holt shared the referendum and related documents on Friday.
Among the documents were the signature pages, which showed fellow U46 board member Jeanette Ward and school board candidate Enoch Essendrop assisted Holt in collecting signatures.
