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Enough is enough
Once again in Lake County, Warren Township High School District 121 has a referendum on the June 28 ballot that is seeking to raise property taxes. The last time this referendum saw light was in 2020, when the school board spent $85,500 hiring not one, but two public relations firms in its attempt to make their proposed tax hike palatable to voters. As an added measure, they paid $100 an hour to a third PR firm.
Despite the board’s best efforts (and the loss of funds that certainly could have been used better elsewhere), the referendum did not pass. That’s no surprise given that Warren Township’s property tax burden already stands upon a precipice with a width measurable in decimal points of becoming the highest in the country. This, despite the fact that the community has one of Lake County’s largest tax bases, with Gurnee Mills, the Hunt Club Road/Grand Avenue shopping corridor, Great Wolf Lodge, Great America, the Grand Tri-State Corporate Centre and others calling the area home, not to mention a huge residential tax revenue footprint.
All this considered, WTHS still places at the bottom of the list of Lake County high schools in terms of dollars spent per pupil. Everyone agrees that a good education for our youth is a priority, but Warren Township simply cannot bear the burden of more taxation in a state that has promised us property tax relief for years and failed to deliver.
Where has all the money gone? Why can’t leaders make ends meet in a township with such exceptionally high amounts of available revenue? Somehow the district manages to pay for a brand new fire station when it already has two filled with shiny, siren-blowing trucks and equipment. Is that more important than educating local children? Surely I’m not the only person suggesting such a thing when I say that funding for our schools needs to be reallocated.
District 121 school board members may do better by fighting to increase their share of the tax pie elsewhere, as property owners have already done more than their fair share of stepping up with hard-earned cash each time the hat gets passed. We’ve reached a tipping point, enough is enough. Before we get taxed off of our property and out of our homes, it’s time to vote no once again and demand a more fair and equitable solution.
Leslie S. Vinson, Libertyville
Time for action
To quote the famous line from the 1976 film “Network,” “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Enough. That describes my present state of mind regarding “gun safety laws.”
My background gives me some insight into this most important issue from many different perspectives. I’m an Illinois native. I studied for the priesthood before I became an educator. My dad was a Chicago policeman for 30 years. Growing up, I used to watch my mother begin worrying every time my father left for his shift. I don’t condone the response from Uvalde law enforcement, but I fully understand the hesitancy to match a handgun with an assault rifle.
My wife and I have over 60 years of experience working with elementary age students in a school setting. When I retired in 2001, there were no such things as “active shooter drills.” I was involved with a good government organization called Common Cause for a number of years. I gave a speech in various Cook County locations entitled “The Best Congress Money Can Buy.”
Moms demand action. Students demand action. Doctors demand action. Where are we with every elected official in Congress demanding the action supported by a majority of the people in this country? As a kid I never had to “March For My Life.”
We need gun safety laws, universal background checks, national red flag laws and a national ban on all assault weapons. I will never forget the interview with the only pediatrician in Uvalde, where he explained that DNA samples from parents were needed. Why? Because some of those sweet fourth graders were decapitated.
Everyone should be demanding action.
Patrick Patt, Lake Forest
