Government finance watchers plan Geneva candidates' forum

A new watchdog group is sponsoring its first-ever Geneva candidates' forum March 25.

For Accountable Controlled Tax Spending, or FACTS, has invited candidates for city, township, library, school and park offices to the forum, which will start at 6 p.m. at the Sunset Community Center, 710 Western Ave., Geneva.

Candidates will have several minutes to introduce themselves, then answer three or four questions submitted in advance by FACTS. If there is enough time, the floor will be opened for questions from the audience.

Forum organizer Bob McQuillan is a regular at Geneva school board meetings, and has run for school board. FACTS started coming together in 2008 after several people responded to a newspaper column about forums the Geneva school district was conducting about whether to build an indoor pool.

There are now about 65 people who communicate with each other by e-mail, McQuillan said. Members attend civic meetings and send reports to other members.

FACTS main goals are to educate taxpayers about how governments operate, and to see if there is a way to get involved with budget decisions, McQuillan said.

The group particularly is concerned about what will happen to taxes as lower property assessments are filed this year and next. Taxing districts may hit their rate limits and not get the property taxes they hope for, or consider raising those limits, which could lead to a homeowner paying more taxes in 2010 on property that has less value than today, according to McQuillan.

"That's why I think the assessor and school board races are extremely important this year," he said.

The group can be e-mailed at taxfacts@sbcglobal.net.