TaxFACTS' 5th Anniversary Request: Attend 5 Meetings

Geneva TaxFACTS, the citizen-based government watchdog group, is celebrating its fifth year by asking residents to attend board meetings of five taxing bodies.

In a recent press release, the group co-founded by 2013 mayoral candidate Bob McQuillan promised the group is "getting older, wiser and better!"

A citizens group of this size, tenacity and duration is rare in suburban communities. TaxFACTS has raised a number of controversial issues over the years, and the group's tactics at times have been criticized board members and educators as being overly aggressive, combative and negative. During the teacher-contract negotiations, teachers asked School Board members to "ignore the bullies" in reference to the TaxFACTS organization's call for zero-percent pay increases.

On the flip side, the group has been lauded by some members of the community for keeping an eye on local government spending — a watchdog function that happens less often as the news media continues to work with fewer staff members in a struggling economy.

Now, the group is asking citizens to help keep track of the spending practices at all elected bodies — not just the School District and city of Geneva.

"We need the gift of your time to be effective!" the group said in its release. "We need volunteers to attend one or two board meetings a year. Can you spare three hours a year to be involved?

"If 40 people commit, no one will need to attend more than two meetings — and, you choose the board meeting/s and the dates. (A short summary of anything significant should follow as soon as possible. Most meetings rarely last beyond 90 minutes.) Simply e-mail bobm@genevataxfacts.org with the meeting/s you can attend."

The urgency of the request has to do with the timing of tax-levy decisions. By the second week of December, each board must vote on the tax levy for 2014.

The group's website, www.genevataxfacts.org, includes 2013 financial information for each of the five taxing bodies, promising "a one-stop source of important taxing info!" 

Each taxing body meets according to the following schedule:

• Geneva School District 304 — second and fourth Mondays, 7 p.m., Williamsburg Elementary School

• Geneva Township — third Thursday of month at 7 p.m., Senior Center-Wheeler Park

• Geneva Library —  fourth Thursday of month at 7 p.m. at the Geneva Library

• Geneva Park District — third Monday of month at 7 p.m. at Sunset Community Center

• City of Geneva — Committee-of-Whole/City Council, alternate Mondays, 7 p.m., City Hall

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