Will Wheeling Township's do-over referendum make the ballot? Clerk not saying

State legislators insist that a bill signed last week by Gov. J.B. Pritzker prevents Wheeling Township from placing a do-over referendum on the March ballot, asking again if voters want a community mental health board and the property tax hike that comes with it.

But township leaders say a second referendum is necessary and they still plan to move ahead with the ballot question.

Whether the Cook County clerk allows it by placing the referendum on the ballot remains the question, and it's one the clerk's office declined to answer this week.

"The deadline for submission of referenda is early January, so we will be reviewing this matter and all other referenda submitted for the March election at that time," a spokesman for the office wrote in an email.

State lawmakers passed the bill this fall after questions arose over measures passed last November creating mental health boards in Addison, Lisle, Naperville, Schaumburg and Wheeling townships, along with Will County. The state legislation affirms the validity of those votes.

The boards, also known as 708 boards, are appointed panels that distribute revenue from a new property tax to local agencies that address mental health, substance abuse and developmental disabilities.

State Rep. Daniel Didech, a Buffalo Grove Democrat who sponsored the bill in the House, said it makes a second Wheeling Township vote moot.

"It won't be on the March ballot," he said. "That's the law. That's what we passed."

"The Wheeling Township board has been coming up with excuse after excuse after excuse on why they can't levy for the mental health board that their voters asked them to. And there's no more excuses," he added.

But township attorney Kenneth Florey said the legislation doesn't apply to Wheeling Township because its board approved the second referendum before the bill became law.

Township Supervisor Kathy Penner argues that the township could expose itself to a costly property tax challenge without a second vote.

She said the township goes "above and beyond" in providing services to those in need, but it also has a duty to protect its taxpayers, including seniors on fixed incomes who are struggling to pay their property taxes.