Survey says, no ballot questions in Bensenville

Bensenville officials Wednesday decided to withdraw two advisory referendum questions from the Feb. 5 ballot.

Earlier this month, the village placed two questions on the ballot asking voters to weigh in on whether local school districts should continue accepting money from Chicago.

Since Chicago is planning to buy and bulldoze more than 500 homes in Bensenville to make room for expanding O'Hare International Airport, it is reimbursing the two school districts roughly $764,000 for property taxes on parcels in the acquisition area.

Bensenville leaders say the money should be turned over to the Bensenville Intergovernmental Group to assist its fight against the expansion.

When they placed the questions on the ballot, it caused some uproar. The questions' wording suggested the districts were destroying the community by accepting the money.

But village leaders Wednesday insisted neither public nor political pressure was a factor in their decision to withdraw the referendum questions

They say the referendum no longer is needed because the village just received the results of a community survey that answered the question.

"Clearly, residents support (the village) to move ahead and fight O'Hare expansion," Village Manager Jim Johnson said. "That makes the referendum unnecessary. Moving it to a ballot would only be additional reinforcement."

Roughly 350 registered Bensenville voters who are likely to vote in the primary were surveyed.

The survey, conducted by a firm the village hired, found 76 percent of voters still oppose O'Hare expansion, officials said. It also found that voters, by a 3-to-1 ratio, believe the school districts were wrong to accept the money.

Village President John Geils was not present Wednesday.

The rest of the village board unanimously agreed to zap the questions from the ballot after reading the survey results. Even Trustees Marianne Tralewski and John Williams -- who previously supported placing them on the ballot -- voted to eliminate the questions.

"We achieved (what we needed) by doing the poll," Williams said. "There's no reason to force the issue."

Tralewski agreed.

"We felt it would be a duplication," she said.

The survey also found that:

• 67 percent believe the village should continue the fight against expansion.

• 74 percent believe the school districts should use the money to fight O'Hare expansion.

• 51 percent believe the money from Chicago is a bribe to get the school districts to support the airport expansion.