Illinois state Rep. Jason Bunting (R-Dwight), opposes widening airport tax base | repbunting.com
Illinois state Rep. Jason Bunting (R-Dwight), opposes widening airport tax base | repbunting.com
Illinois Rep. Jason Bunting said in a May 4 Facebook post that he opposes a bill to expand the property tax base of the Central Illinois Regional Airport from Bloomington and Normal to all of McLean County.
The legislation, Senate Bill 684, was passed by the Illinois Senate on a 38-18 vote on March 29 and is now under consideration in the state House of Representatives.
Bunting, whose 106th district includes part of McLean County, shared a link in his Facebook post to a longer statement on his official website, which said in part that he and three other members who represent parts of the county wrote to the chairman of the House State Government Administration Committee asking that the bill be delayed “until the people of McLean County can weigh in on it. Unfortunately, our plea was ignored and the bill has now advanced to the House floor. I will continue to oppose this effort to raise taxes on rural residents of McLean County."
The bill would dissolve the existing airport authority and put all its assets into a new entity under the same name. It would reduce the airport portion of property taxes in Bloomington and Normal and impose airport-related property taxes in every other municipality in the county, widening the tax base for the airport.
In April, the McLean County government considered opposing the bill but delayed voting on it. Radio Station WGLT reported at the time that Alan Senders, the chair of the airport authority, said the airport portion of property taxes in Bloomington-Normal would decline 33%, and an average homeowner outside of the two cities would see an increase of $55 per year. Farmers, he said, would pay $61 more per hundred acres of farmland.
Workers for the county had written a resolution saying most of the economic benefit the airport creates is inside the borders of Bloomington-Normal. “If this expansion takes place, there would be no additional representation of these disenfranchised property owners,” the resolution said of those living outside the Twin Cities who would pay the additional tax.
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