Friends of Peoria County Schools launched its 'Vote Yes’ Campaign at Richwoods High School Thursday. Many of the 18 school districts within Peoria County were represented, along with State Senator Dave Koehler and the Regional Superintendent of Schools.
Andrea Tortora is managing the ‘Vote Yes’ Campaign. She says the 1/2-percent sales tax is needed in the face of underfunded state aid.
She says it is another way to share the expense of school building improvements rather than relying on the property tax base. “Visitors to Peoria County, people who come for conferences, people who come to concerts, to stay in a hotel will pay into this sales tax. So it’s not just homeowners who are helping to support our schools it’s everyone who comes here.”
Tortora She says if the 1/2-percent Schools Facility Sales Tax doesn’t pass, at some point districts will have no other option than to raise property taxes. “In other states it’s been very successful, in Iowa and other places. It is new for Peoria County but 39 other counties in Illinois have already passed this and all of the school districts in those counties are benefiting from it.”
The 1/2-percent sales tax proceeds would be distributed based on enrollment. Peoria District 150 holds nearly half the county’s students and has about $40 million in building project needs. The estimated $4 million District 150 would receive annually from the sales tax would allow it to leverage bonds to handle the most pressing of its building maintenance needs.
The 1/2-percent sales tax would not be placed on things like groceries, medication and prescriptions, vehicle purchases or personal services like haircuts. This is the second attempt in Peoria County to pass the Schools Facility Sales Tax referendum.