Batavians ask for referendum on home rule, but signatures may be lacking

Some Batavians want to decide April 4 whether the city should keep its home-rule status.

But whether they got enough other people to agree with them was unclear Tuesday afternoon, the day petitions were due.

Carl Dinwiddie, a member of Batavians for Responsible Government, submitted petitions with 381 signatures to the Kane County clerk.

State election law indicates the group would have needed more than 1,100 signatures.

Clerk John Cunningham could not be reached Tuesday, however, to comment on whether he will automatically reject the petition, or if an objection is required.

Sylvia Keppel, who led the drive on behalf of BRG, noted in a news release that many who signed expressed concerns about some of the powers the city has with home rule, including the power to increase property taxes without a vote by residents.

Home-rule cities are not subject to the state's property-tax-cap law, which limits increases to 5 percent or the rate of inflation.

People were also interested in hearing that in a home-rule city, residents have little power to force a referendum on whether the city should borrow money to be repaid with property-tax dollars.

The latter is becoming an issue as city officials have stated the intent to borrow up to $14 million to finance work related to a private developer's proposal to build an apartment-and-commercial complex at Washington and Wilson streets downtown. That includes construction of a parking garage that would replace the current city garage. The redevelopment agreement calls for a tax-increment financing fund and a special service area on the property to repay the money borrowed, but if there isn't enough money from those, the rest of the properties in the city could be taxed.

Since 1999, there have been four referendums in Illinois seeking to cease a town's home-rule authority. Three of the attempts failed, most recently in 2006 in Downers Grove.

Batavia gained home-rule status automatically in 2009, when its population rose above 25,000. Smaller towns can only get home-rule powers by referendum.