By: Diane Benjamin
I got a message last night from a guy who fled Illinois for Florida. His home’s assessed value went up $7000, his property tax bill went up $5.83.
Florida has School Choice which means education costs are lower because schools have to complete for students. Unit 5 spends $16,000 per student, District 87 spends $19,000. If parents had a choice they wouldn’t be sending their kids to either! McLean County will never be affordable or well educated with numbers like these. Source: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
Local elections in 2025 had mayors on the ballot. The turnout was still dismal. The April 2027 elections will have even lower turnout if voters sit out yet another election. Local governments want absent voters! It’s much easier to get their preferred candidates elected if you do.
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Only 28% of registered voters bothered to show up. That is why property taxes were increased. If candidates ran on a platform of opposing property tax increases, they lied. Complaining on social media about unaffordable housing does nothing when the elected officials feel entitled to give government more of your money. Some switch flips when campaign mode ends, and the feeling of being special for winning turns into becoming a government insider.
Unit 5 and District 87 board candidates ran unopposed in 2025. Union picked them. It is now too late to file for city and town councils. It isn’t too late to run for other boards.
Offices you can file for:
School Boards, Library Boards, Heartland Trustees, Illinois Central Community College District 514, Parkland Community College District 505, Park Districts, and:
Regional Board of School Trustees: https://roe17.org/services/annexation-detachment-and-regional-board-of-school-trustees
Contact the McLean County Clerk’s office or the Bloomington Election Commission for information! Time is short to file.
Some info:
PDF page 28 and following
Monday, November 16, 2026
Consolidated election candidate filing – first day
First day for filing in the office of the local election official or Board of Election Commissioners original nomination papers (must include statement of candidacy and original sheets signed by voters and circulators) for:
- Independent and new political party candidates in municipalities;
- Nonpartisan candidates in township and municipal libraries, library districts, park districts, school boards, community college boards, regional boards of school trustees, fire protection districts, and forest preserve districts.
Nomination papers for the office of Regional Board of School Trustees in a single county shall be filed in the office of the county clerk. Petitions for the office of Multi-County Regional Board of School Trustees shall be filed in the principal office of the State Board of Elections. Fox Waterway Agency and Fox Metro Water Reclamation District candidates file their petitions with the State Board of Elections. (10 ILCS 5/10-6(2); 105 ILCS 5/6-10; 615 ILCS 90/5)
I can do you one better… We moved to TN over 10 years ago. Our assessed value and overall tax bill stays exactly the same from year to year. Both went up the year after we moved in after remaining unchanged for some years (so we were told.) Both remained unchanged thru the pandemic housing bubble and huge rise in property values. This year they reassessed all homes and the assessment increased 60%. People were losing their minds about what that was going to do to the tax bills. Well… we just got the bill and the total tax amount went down $64! And that’s after remaining unchanged for years. Not trying to rub salt in any wounds. Just sharing a personal example.