Schools
D39 Responds to Appeal, Says Spent $32K on Lawsuit
District 39 officials express disappointment about continued efforts to thwart will of voters.
will return to court as anti-tax advocates, who to overturn results of the April referendum, have filed an appeal.
A notice of appeal was filed July 7. Now resident Herbert Sorock and the Oak Park-based Taxpayers United of America will try to convince judges in the First District Appellate Court that ballot language misled voters as to the impact of the rate hike on their tax bills. It is uncertain when a ruling would be handed down.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Rita Novak , meaning that the only action that TUA can take in this case is to appeal. The was filed shortly after of the voters approved the rate hike.
Find out what's happening in Wilmette-Kenilworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Karen Donnan, president of the District 39 school board, called it unfortunate that they must continue to respond to this charge.
“This referendum passed by a significant margin. Now we have a community member who has aligned himself with an outside anti-tax group, and together they are trying to overturn the will of the voters,” she said.
Find out what's happening in Wilmette-Kenilworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
TUA also will appeal Circuit Court Judge Mary Mikva’s ruling of July 1, which tossed out the suit against Oak Park Elementary District 97, also with prejudice. That suit was filed after voters in the community passed the rate hike by nearly 1,000 votes.
Peter Barber, District 97’s school board president, expressed disappointment at TUA’s action.
“We are disappointed that these individuals have chosen to appeal Judge Mikva's decision to dismiss the referendum lawsuit—a decision that supports the fact that we have been fully transparent about the financial impact of the referendum since we adopted the resolution on January 18, 2011. We are also dismayed by their attack on individuals (board members and judges) who have dedicated their lives to serving the citizens of Oak Park and Cook County,” Barber said.
The group’s attorney Andrew Spiegel has said the group would try to consolidate both cases, a move that waslate in May by another Cook Circuit County judge.
Both districts have expended considerable resources to defend their suits – District 97, upwards of $47,000; District 39, $32,000.
