Replace signs with website bios

The elections scheduled for April 4 have more of a direct impact on our local property taxes than the more publicized elections for state governors or national presidents.

If you look at the breakdown of your property tax bill, you will notice that your local schools, colleges, local roads, libraries and townships all combine to create and collect your real estate tax dollars. Even though Governor Rauner is pushing to freeze property tax bills, it will not affect state finances, only these local taxing bodies.

If you are concerned about high property tax bills, it is in your best interests to find out who is running for these local offices and vote for the best people. However, therein lies the problem. All the money candidates spend to put up signs urging you to vote for them tell you nothing about their reason for running or about their agenda. They only put out their names for name recognition. There are a few candidate forums scattered around the community, but at times they are hard to find.

Every one of these taxing bodies has a website or an internet presence. Why can't each candidate for that particular office of that taxing body create a short resume stating their reason for running and what they plan to address as their agenda. We are in the age of computers and this would save us from the annoying signs that seem to clutter up the landscape both for at least a month before and for weeks after the election.

For example, I could go to the school website, go to the school board candidate's tab and at my convenience read about the candidate and pick someone that I agree with. This could be entered on the township website, library website and so on. If this is offered to every candidate, there should be no legal impediments to doing this. Maybe this would even result in a better turnout for local elections.

Irene Wojtysiak

Pingree Grove