Politics & Government

Park District President: Vote 'No' to Our Referendum

Because of a glaring computation error, the Olympia Fields Park District is telling voters not to support its ballot question.

In a surprising turn of events, the Olympia Fields Park District is telling voters not to support its own referendum.

The ballot question, which voters will answer April 5, asks if residents would pay a tax increase of an estimated $13.60 per $100,000 in assessed property value so the park district can build a new athletic facility at Bicentennial Park.

The problem: that isn't the correct amount.

Find out what's happening in Chicago Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Recently Ali ElSaffar, president of the Cook County Township Assessors Association, revealed Olympia Fields residents would actually have to pay an increase of $45.83 per $100,000, more than three times as much as the referendum says.

Because of the new information, Park District President Richard J. Pozdol sent a letter Wednesday explaining why voters will see incorrect information on their ballots.

Find out what's happening in Chicago Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"The Park District Board would have preferred to have the ballot question corrected to accurately reflect the estimated amount of taxes per $100,000 of assessed value," Pozdol said. "Unfortunately, the problem was only recently discovered, making the correction on the ballot impossible."

In the letter, Pozdol goes on to explain the park district's preferred course of action.

"Since the correction could not be made on the ballot, the Park District Board would have preferred that the referendum be withdrawn," Pozdol said. "The Park District Board has been advised that this is also not possible. This is unfortunate."

Because the park district has not found a way to present the information about the tax hike to "each and every citizen," Pozdol ended the letter with a clear instruction for voters.

"The Olympia Fields Park District Board urgently requests that you vote NO on the Park District’s tax increase referendum on April 5th," he said.

At the the Feb. 28 Olympia Fields Village Board meeting, Park District Executive Director Denise Will showing the majority of responders would support a tax increase for a new athletic facility, although this was before the estimated increase had tripled.

The letter from Pozdol, in its entirety, has been posted to this article.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here