Vote out those who favor U-46 tax hikes

If you live in the U-46 taxing district, your property taxes have increased year after year due to the elected school board members who keep approving annual budget increases inclusive of unneeded property tax increases. U-46 is close to 75 percent of your property tax dollars, and increases on that huge base need to stop — and be reversed.

This year, in addition to the huge dollar amount U-46 already collects from me, my U-46 taxing district line increased 8.7 percent. My other taxing districts stayed pretty flat. The numbers don’t lie: they are simple and they are real. These are outrageous increases being heaped on taxpayers yearly by people who obviously either don’t understand the tax impact of their voting or don’t care. Either is inexcusable from the perspective of my wallet.

Recently the board passed yet another budget with property tax increases, but this time two members voted no. The final vote was 4-2, so the budget passed, but the two new members who voted no, Frank Napolitano and Veronica Noland, could obviously see that approving that budget was financially irresponsible to the taxpayers. Happily their voices of financial sanity will be in place for years to come.

The simple way to end these increases is to vote out the board members who continually vote for these increases. Use your vote to help your wallet. The yes voters are Maria Bidelman, Traci Ellis and Jennifer Shroder. (Donna Smith is not up for re-election in 2014. Their yes voting is hurting taxpayers. A seventh board member, Amy Kerber, was absent.

I don’t know these people; this is simply about putting a stop to property tax increases by removing the people voting in favor of increases. Do what’s right to protect your property taxes — vote them out in 2014.

Steve Frei

Bartlett