East Dundee should repeal home rule

How does a village of 3,000 people accumulate debt of $33 million? The answer is home rule. East Dundee was $33,014,603 in debt as of April 30, 2017. That comes to $11,000 per resident. Spending has more than doubled since East Dundee passed Home Rule in 2004. The only way to prevent such runaway spending and borrowing from occurring in the future is to repeal home rule.

Home rule gives municipalities unlimited power to tax, spend, and borrow. Home rule takes government out of the hands of the people and puts unlimited power into the hands of village trustees and administrators.

East Dundee trustees voted to increase property taxes by another 13 percent this year and recently enacted a trash tax that will cost each household $250 per year. Village officials promised residents when home rule was passed that they would use home rule sales tax to pay for trash collection and that they would never hike property taxes beyond limits imposed by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law. The village reneged on both promises. These are just two of the reasons why voters should repeal both the trash tax and home rule. It's time to make East Dundee village officials accountable again.

Julie Fox

West Dundee