Elections board continues hearing on Indian Trails

The State Board of Elections on Tuesday continued a hearing to review Buffalo Grove activist Rob Sherman's complaint against Indian Trails Public Library District about its actions to promote an April referendum for a tax increase.

The complaint says that the Wheeling library district and its affiliated groups spent more than $3,000 to push for a tax rate increase narrowly approved by voters on April 5 without filing the proper campaign disclosure forms with the elections board.

In the complaint, Sherman says that the Friends of Indian Trails Library District received a $10,000 contribution on or around March 7. “They didn't disclose it at all, and when they finally did, they did it after the election was over,” Sherman said.

An attorney for Indian Trails Library could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The State Board of Elections will reconvene on Oct. 18 at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago to hear the matter.

Meanwhile, a court hearing on a separate lawsuit filed by Sherman and four other Buffalo Grove residents against Indian Trails will be held Thursday morning. That complaint says that library officials improperly used public funds to electioneer in favor of the tax rate increase.

On July 29, Cook County Judge Mark Ballard dismissed the lawsuit, which sought to nullify the property tax increase for Indian Trails. On Thursday, the judge will hear Sherman's motion to reconsider on constitutional grounds.