Four taxing bodies—Helen Plum Library, Villa Park School District 48, Hinsdale School District 181 and Bloomingdale Park District—all passed referendums in November, but because of alleged errors, all four may be potentially null and void. A lawsuit will reportedly take place by these four to get a judge to validate the election. Any voter in one of these districts can appeal the judge’s ruling and have it overturned. Let's hope they have to redo the library referendum so we can all vote no. It is a permanent tax increase in Lombard that will cost millions, forever. No bonds for a new library until this issue is settled, hopefully a new library board will be in place by then and they will have common sense and reduce this ridiculous amount of a tax increase to fix what they have. 

Calls to the DuPage County Election Commission for clarification were not immediately returned. Inquiries were referred to the commission’s attorneys.

As of press time, according to attorney Patrick Bond, there is no judge’s ruling. He explained that there is a provision in the election code for publishing a notice of public (i.e. referendum) questions, which is no more than 30 days nor less than 10 days prior to the election. The public notice was published 33 days in advance.

As a result, counsel for one of the bond-issuing agencies brought that information to light when, as Bond described, there were concerns that the three-day-early public notice “doesn’t strictly comply with that window.” Since then, Bond added, one taxpayer in School District 181 has filed an election contest based on the early notice.

The attorney noted that the election commission’s law firm, as well as attorneys for both the governing bodies and bond-issuing agencies, are working together to find a compatible date to “go before a judge and ask the judge [for] his or her seal of approval.” Bond said that if that doesn’t happen, the next step would be to address the matter at the state level.—JAC

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The results of the 2016 presidential election have been certified. Hillary Clinton received about 65.8 million votes. Donald Trump received about 62.9 million votes. Clinton won about 2.86 million more votes than Trump. She earned about 4.27 million more votes than Trump in California. Outside of California, Trump beat Clinton by about 1.41 million votes. Trump won 30 states, while Clinton won 20 states and the District of Columbia. Some people might not like our electoral college system, but it's been around for nearly 230 years, and it isn’t going away anytime soon.

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Last year Rauner made $188 million dollars.  That is more than a half-million per day. He just put $50 million into his campaign fund.  He says that it is just a start.  If we can't help save the state by adding a new tax on millionaires, can we at least charge a hefty tax —maybe 40 percent—on political advertising?

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Hello. I see that Deb Conroy introduced and passed a law to put civics education back in the classroom (letter to the editor Dec. 29). Well, whoop-dee-do. Conroy will get a pat on the back from me when she and her Democratic colleagues get a backbone and start standing up to Mike Madigan and pass a budget. But don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen. I know I won’t be.

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To the person who called the Democrats bleeding-heart liberals because we're fearful of Donald Trump, why sure the market's going up, but you know, what goes up must come down. When you put a person in office who apparently has no concept of what he's doing, who puts people in positions who totally disagree with scientists, with people who are actually mindful of what you should do and how you should spend money, I think we have a lot to be concerned about. And here again, nobody seems to realize that this man has never done anything right in his whole life. He's seemingly managed to bully his way through everything, he's managed to pay people off and now he wants to be president of the United States and do the same thing.

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Hi. I'm calling to respond to the person who said, “Grandma, I was in a terrible car accident and I need you to send me money.”  That also happened to my mother. Someone called and said he was my son; he had to leave work because he had the flu, got pulled over by the police who found cocaine in the car and was being held in some facility and needed $4,000. My mother almost did it. Senior citizens, you really have to be careful. Be very, very careful, older people, if you have caller ID, use it. Thank you very much.

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I felt about Obama like many now feel about Trump. However, the difference is we did not need safe spaces; spoke out against policies we disagreed with, often by contacting our legislators; and didn’t take to the streets in violent and destructive protests. I decided to give Obama a chance to see where his “hope and change” would lead this country. I believe I am worse off than eight years ago, and while I did not support Trump, I am at least willing to give him a chance for even a slight improvement. So far we’ve only heard words. Like many of us did with Obama, let’s give Trump the benefit of the doubt instead of trying to play clairvoyant and assume what the future will hold. We won’t know until it happens. The voters have clearly stated they don’t want four more years of the liberal agenda, and Trump will have to be held accountable. That is something we can all agree on.

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To the person who is seeking her cat, I hope he has been found. For everyone, when you're seeking a lost animal, please give a description of the animal and what part of the area it might be lost in. Example, northwest side of Lombard. Thank you.

Editor’s note: That information was included in a lost and found ad in the Lombardian, to which the caller referred in her message.—JAC

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Hey, Lombard. Beautiful Lombard with high taxes calling. We can say that now that we don't have a politically correct president-elect. Times are changing, thanks. To all the college students, all the people who don't work, all the people who want to live off of my money, maybe it's right-wing to you, but it's just the truth. I work hard. I work a couple of jobs. I didn't get here illegally. No matter your ethnicity, do it the right way. People who support the people who are lazy and don't want to do it the right way, party name? Democrats. People who support higher taxes, government agencies, IRS snooping into people's business illegally? Democrats. People who have been cutting the military? Democrats. You've got a great team.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I'm reading the Pride winter 2016 edition. Another property tax levy? The tax levy that is partially due to lower than expected returns for the investments for the pensions for fire and police? I'm self-funded for my retirement and when I get lower than expected returns it means I live on less. Why doesn't the pension fund fluctuate like mine does? You want me to pay to cover your loss? I don't have it to give. I'm leaving this town as soon as I can and I suggest you get a better investment group.

Your comments were forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: “Unfortunately, elected officials at the local level have no say on pensions. The state legislature sets pension benefit levels for all employees of local governments, even though it is the local governments that have to fund those pensions.  Furthermore, last year the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution protects pensions from being ‘diminished or impaired.’ This means that once an individual begins work and becomes a member of a public retirement system, any changes made to that retirement system cannot be applied to employees already in that system, and would only apply to new employees.  There is no doubt that pension costs are a strain on municipal finances, and are a major reason that budget changes were needed. But again, it is an issue that local elected officials have no say in. This will need to be resolved with the State Legislature, the governor and the Illinois Supreme Court.

“The Village of Lombard receives less than 8 percent of your property tax bill in order to staff and run the police department, fire department and public works department, which includes streets maintenance, utilities, water and sewer services. The remaining 92 percent of your tax bill goes to five other taxing districts. For more information regarding the breakdown of your property taxes, please visit www.villageoflombard.org/propertytaxes.”—JAC

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Thanks to all my neighbors in Villa Park for the beautifully decorated houses they put up for Christmas. Some blocks were completely dark but some blocks went all out. For those who did, thanks, thanks, thanks for the wonderful joy you brought to all of our seniors and children and everybody in between. Thank you again.

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We've had a Democrat as president for the last eight years. He's about to be replaced by a Republican. You know what that means? For the first time in eight years, the media will play up the plight of the homeless. For the first time in eight years, the media will play up the plight of the struggling Americans working two or three jobs to make ends meet. For the first time in eight years, the media will express concern about the president's authority to use executive orders instead of working with Congress. For the first time in eight years, the media will worry about our nation's multi-trillion-dollar debt. For the first time in eight years, the media will dig deeper into unemployment statistics and wonder if an official rate of about 5 percent might be misleading.  For the first time in eight years, the media will highlight the exorbitant costs of presidential travel and vacations. For the first time in eight years, the media will scrutinize the first lady. For the first time in eight years, criticizing the president will be viewed as patriotic instead of racist. And so on.

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Hello. This is for all the people trying to reason with the Trump supporters. I think we are wasting our time. They seem to think like him; so sad. No worries—they will be singing a different tune before 2017 is over. Let's just hope we all survive this because of their poor choices. Let them keep trying to sell us on him. I'm sure we will stop seeing comments on how great he is very soon. Dump Trump and make America great again. God bless.

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I saw a story online that upwards of 37,000 people left Illinois between July of 2015 and July of 2016. I don’t blame them one bit for leaving. People are fed up with getting taxed to death here and their businesses are being overregulated and overtaxed. How long can this state continue to fund a pension system where over 7,000 retired school administrators and teachers are receiving six-figure pensions every year? That’s absolutely ridiculous.

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To the caller who said he or she wants to talk to us after Jan. 20, specifically on Jan. 21 when her Social Security gets “cut in half” and Medicare gets cut, yes, do call back on Jan. 21. By the way, under Obama, my Social Security for 2017 went up a whopping $3 a month.

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Hello, I'm calling regarding Lombard. I want to know if there's an ordinance for mold in the home or violations against a landlord. Thank you.

Your inquiry was sent to the Village of Lombard. The response is as follows: “Concerns regarding mold are not uncommon. Mold is not unlike a fever—it is not the problem itself but rather a symptom of another underlying issue.

“Neither the DuPage County Health Department nor the village regulates the amount of mold that can be present in a building. However, the village’s community development department can help residents or tenants address the matter by identifying the possible causes of mold, such as moisture penetration through roof leaks, plumbing leaks and the like. Once identified, owners can seek a proper remedy to correct the mold problem.

“For specific questions pertaining to village codes or conditions at a specific property, please feel free to call the village’s code enforcement hotline at 630-620-5757.”—JAC