A dozen votes that came in overnight, pushed Palos Heights School District 128’s request to raise its tax rate over the top on Wednesday.
Nine “yes” votes and three “no” votes raised the unofficial totals from 1,912 “yes” votes to 1,921 while three addition “no” votes pushed that number from 1,913 to 1,916 — a margin of five votes.
Results are not official until certified by the Cook County Clerk’s Office later this month.
“The election night results, as close as they were, really highlighted just how much the community came together to support the district and its children,” said Thad Paskert, who helped push the campaign for the referendum. “While the initial count showed the ‘yes’ being down by a single vote, we were very optimistic that additional mail-in and provisional ballots would lean towards ‘yes.’ By Wednesday evening, that appears to be the case with the ‘yes’ at 1,921 versus the ‘no’ at 1,916.
“We appreciate all of our neighbors that attended the district led information meetings to become informed. We loved engaging in conversation with our neighbors during door tagging.
“We want to thank all that came out to vote. We are grateful for all the community connections we made throughout the journey.”
The referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot asked for an increase its tax rate “by an amount equal to 0.590% above the limiting rate for levy year 2024.”
Supt. Jason Smit said that this was the first time District 128 had ever asked for a limiting rate increase and argued that it was necessary in order to finance the district’s day to day expenses, keep class sizes down, and maintain extracurricular programing options.
According to Smit, who has been with the district for seven years but is only in his first year as superintendent, the district has seen a 28% increase in student enrollment in the past decade. Currently, the district serves over 800 students with approximately four sections of each grade level, averaging 21 students per section.
“As our enrollment has grown, so have the resources needed to support our students, however, in Illinois, additional students does not mean additional funding,” said Smit, who noted that of 18 similar-sized peer districts in the area, District 128 has the lowest level of state provided annual evidence-based funding, and also spends the least per student on average.
Smit said the district was operating at a deficit of $1.7 million annually. The increased tax rate would have provided approximately $2.4 million in additional funds for the district annually.
Proponents said that the addition money would go towards “the purpose of providing educational programming and instruction, and operating, maintaining, and improving school buildings and facilities, and other school purposes.”
