ECC referendum passes
7 April 2009
RS
17 Comments
Voters approved the $178M Elgin Community College (District 509) bond referendum with 48% in favor of it and 46% against it. This means we can look forward to upgraded facilities at ECC and an expanded nursing program.
The winners in the ECC trustee contest appear to be Donna Schuring Redmer and Bob Getz. I say “appear to be,” because I’m not sure if the borders of the ECC district extend beyond Kane County, but those two candidates have won in Kane County with more than 10,000 votes each.
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509 extends beyond Kane County, but it looks like the results won’t change. I found it remarkable that Cook County supported the referendum at a higher percentage than Kane. In any event, its passage is great news for the community.
Ooops, I looked at the wrong Cook figures… With 10 of 11 precincts in, it looks like Cook voted AGAINST the referendum, 54% to 46%. Apparently not enough “no” votes there, though, to make up the six hundred vote lead for the referendum in Kane.
Thanks for checking the numbers, rm. It looks like the somewhat final result was a margin of victory of 29 votes.
http://tinyurl.com/cdonyx
Absentee votes have yet to be counted, and it won’t be until April 22nd that the vote will be certified.
A big thank you to all who came out to vote and especially all who voted for the ECC Referendum. I realize the hard times that so many are going through but if you are a property owner, improving ECC I feel, at a cost of less than 7 cents a day for a 200,000 house should add value to your property with the referendum passing by the narrow margin that it did.
It also will help many students who are attending or plan to attend ECC and it will provide needed construction and other type jobs for the local community.
The fact that so many opposed it leads me to believe that more people than I can imagine are being impacted by this economy to an even greater extent than I can imagine. My prayers are with you all that better days are ahead.
Congratulations to all the winners in the elections and thank you to all who chose to use their liberty to vote for Democracy and exercise their freedom of speech.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward - The Taxpayer’s Watchdog
There are many worthwhile projects, and although ECC has been a good steward of funds over the years you can see it narrowly passed. Folks just can stomach any more spending. As a resident, small business owner, father etc. we have to drastically cut back to weather this economic storm with no foreseeable end. Although I support ECC, I had to vote “no”, the argument of only pennies on the dollar argument does not hold water when we are nickle and dimed to death from every direction and if you bother to follow the drastic spending our new administration wants to pass in the coming years on a national level I fear we are leaving a legacy of “financial child abuse” to our future generations. I truly hope this funding will have a track able and positive impact on the community. Unlike the bloated Elgin Community Centre that was ram-rodded through by the Aurocratic council members.
I would have to think that the pennies a day that this referendum will cost us will be more than paid off in the fact that the local economy will be stimulated by many more jobs the referendum will produce and by the increased income that more nursing students etc. will have to pay for housing nearby. As I stated in other blogs in the past the pennies a day are not a cost but a positive investment that will increase demand for our nearby homes if you have the desire to sell. Someone who sells their home after the referendum improvements are in place will reap many times the small so stated “cost” of this referendum.
Just like you can’t put an actual dollar value on how the U46 class action lawsuit is depressing the value of our real estate with anyone who is an informed buyer you can’t put a dollar value on how much home buyers with more income because of education or good jobs will have on our property values but I believe it will be there as they go through finishing with all the referendum items they plan to do.
Thanks to all who had the common sense to come out and vote for this referendum.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward - The Taxpayer’s Watchdog
I totally agree with Anthony! We are destroying our childrens financial future 1 vote at a time! How many non-union jobs will be created Clarence Hayward? What about all the small non-union shops that have a lot to offer this community? I am willing to bet not 1 contract will be given to a non-union shop.
Is this the Dave Reinert who in the past was suppose to be a good steward of our Elgin Township tax dollars or is this another Dave posting?
If this is the Dave Reinert from Elgin Township days why don’t you fill everyone in on your background with Elgin Township in the past?
We have a tremendous amount of new people to Elgin and this would be a very beneficial history lesson.
Did Saul become paul?
“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” Jakie Robinson told the USA this quote. I like it so much I say the same thing to you guys who need to respect your elders.
I voted NO for ECC and so did my husband. Who wants higer taxes at this time? Especially PROPERTY taxes. We didn’t!
I hear reason on both sides of this issue. Yes, we’ll feel the two bucks or so a month because it’s just part of our taxes. But let’s get real. A) We’re not paying now because we are living extravagently. We’re paying because we lived in a dream before and thought we could cut taxes, go in debt, and still provide the services we expect of our government. We’re reaping what we’ve sown. B) The upside here is that the money we give to ECC stays in our community (and, if you believe the college’s research, gets multiplied by a factor of three). Unlike the national and statewide taxes, the money that goes to ECC stays in OUR community, benefits our students, pays our neighbors’ salaries, and directly improves our own property values. C) It’s starting to look like ECC has a national reputation for quality. I saw that USA Today picked one of their students as among the 20 best in the country last week. That has to be good for all of us. So, I think passing this referendum was the exception to the rule–a smart investment. Now, as suggested by others, we just need to keep an eye on how the college spends our cash.
That’s right. The Herald printed out all the donors to the ECC campaign, and it was an astonishing sight.
Anybody else concerned that we are over one week past the election, and we’re still waiting for all the votes to be counted? What’s going on? Can someone explain why this is taking so long?
The County Clerk has until April 21st to received all votes and count them before he certifies the winners including the ECC votes.
Now we will have 2 Public libraries being built at the same time in SW Elgin. Isn’t that special!
Create 4000 jobs! For that to be true the jobs are either part time, filled by non-union illegal immigrant workers, and/or no materials will used in construction. DO the math on 4000 workers times annual construction wages.
All costs stay within our community! Half the costs will be material. All the material will be manufactured in our community? You either believe I’m an idiot or those making that claim are idiots. I’ll leave it open that I’m an idiot - all you have to do is prove that all the construction material will be manufactured within the ECC district.
How many other lies were told by ECC proponents? Current ECC library is 800 sf? 20ft by 40 ft! About the size of my living room and kitchen combined! No, the ECC library is considerably much larger than that. Spare no lie in getting taxes raised.
‘Be civil’
Civility is in the eye of the beholder.
What does it say about the state of civility when outright lies are deemed civil while denuncation of those outright lies are deemed uncivil?