Dennis Grundler is new to being the McLean County chair and will be working this election cycle to get voter turnout higher for this Municipal Election, April 4 2023.
A question likely to appear on the ballot will be the tax referendum for Unit 5. A referendum that failed in 2022.
“People call it public schools, but honestly it is government schools,” said Grundler. “As a Republican party we took a stand that they need to be good stewards of our money in the last election. Although the people that are in there now are trying to be good stewards of the money…the people in the past weren’t.”
Turnout is typically smaller in Municipal Elections, especially ones where the mayor isn’t on the ballot.
In a press release sent by Unit 5, “Facing a nearly $12 million structural deficit this year, the Unit 5 Board of Education will hold a special meeting, to consider placing a question on the April 4 election ballot,” states the release. “This question is an effort to put Unit 5 on more stable financial footing and ensure our students continue to have access to the quality education they deserve.”
“If you’re someone like a business owner or a homeowner, if you’re out of money….you can’t keep just going to the credit card and saying, ‘I just need more and sooner or later I am going to pay this off.’ That’s the way they are trying to sell it,” said Grundler.
“A successful referendum would allow the district to stop using costly working cash bonds to fund the deficit. Combined with the payoff of previous building bonds, Unit 5 taxpayers would see the tax rate remain level the next two years and then start to drop off significantly. By 2026, taxpayers would see a 12.5% decrease in the current rate, which amounts to an annual $420 tax cut for the average household,” states the Unit 5 press release.
Grundler said it’s not that the party, who aren’t for the referendum, doesn’t want to see kids in school and properly educated but that that there has to be places where they can make cuts.
