CUSD 300 - My Perspective
I met some very nice people from Community Unit School District 300 this past weekend at the Algonquin/Lake In The Hills Expo. Allison Smith, Communication Services Supervisor for the district, and School Board President, Mary Fioretti and I had a great discussion about our local housing market, the district's growth and local media during our time together. These two intelligent and articulate women asked me for my opinion on the housing market and, if I felt compelled to do so, my perspective on some recent media attention the district had received. Following is that perspective, for what it's worth. There are some educated guesses in the text and these are strictly my opinions, based on my knowledge and my experience.
Nobody enjoys paying Real Estate taxes. They are necessary to keep our communities infrastructure, including schools, inline with our population demands. Ideally, all growth would be planned, managed and controlled. While our municipal bodies do a very good job with these complex issues the vast majority of the time, occasionally, there are unplanned or unforeseen occurrences that impact what was believed to be true at a given point in time. This seems to be what has been at issue regarding the D300 referenda that voters approved in March of 2006 and reports of a slow Real Estate market in our area by local media more recently.
There is a pervasive belief that the Real Estate market is slow. My experience and that of my office, Huntley Realty, disproves this belief each and every day. While there may be a slight correction happening at the national level, our local market has not been affected by this. Now, having said that, many things effect developers’ timelines, including national housing trends. Many builders today are large, national companies with developments happening in many different markets at the same time. A down tick in another market can have an impact on their ability to continue developments here. I do not know if that has slowed development in our area or not, but it is certainly a possibility.
More importantly to the issue at hand is the fact the referenda were proposed to fill a need for the next 5 - 7 years based on projected growth. We won't be able to determine how well the plan matched up with the forecast until the end of that time period. Looking at it now, or for any short period of time in the future, isn't relevant or accurate. Having been involved with the media for a number of years before starting my Real Estate career, I am fully aware of their too frequent desire to create a story where one does not exist. Taxes are a hot button for voters and readers. Newspapers, while generally very good at reporting the news, are businesses and they must attract readers. Picking a topic about an unpopular subject and sensationalizing it in a way that makes a taxing body look inept, often attracts readers.
What I do know as a Real Estate professional is that people are attracted to live in an area by its schools. In just the last 24 hours I have had two clients whose primary interests in particular properties were the schools their children would attend if they purchased the property. Additionally, one of the factors in attracting developments is the quality and reputation of an areas schools. Schools are a critical part of the economics of an area. It is vital for continued growth and development that our schools have a reputation of setting a standard above the average. Creating and maintaining that standard relies heavily on the investment tax payers are willing to make in the future of our schools. Taxes, while painful to us all, serve the greater good and ultimately, through continued investment in our area schools will increase our property values.