CARBONDALE, IL (WSIL) -- Home Rule is on the ballot in Carbondale this November, a status the city has govern by for the past 50 years.
But now they have to vote on it because of a change in census data.
Home Rule automatically applys to municipalities with a population of 25,000 or more the ability to solve issues locally with only some limitations from the State Constitution and legislature.
After the 2020 census, the city's population declined by more than 4,000 people since the last count in 2010.
Carbondale city manager Gary Williams says the city has used the rule to spread its tax burden from primarially residents, to anyone shopping in the district through sales taxes, gasoline taxes and other local taxes.
"If the ballot initiative were to fail," explains Williams, "If voters say they didn't want Home Rule, the following week the city council will be considering a real estate tax levy."
Williams says the levey would be needed to make up for the loss in local sales taxes, which would end if residents vote to remove Home Rule.
"No one wants to go to real estate and use that as a primary source," says Williams. "But it's really a question of, how do you pay for the services that we currently have."
Carbondale calculates a loss of more than $19mil in annual sales taxes, says Williams, and impact the City's ability to finance new infrastructure, road repairs, and projects like the Multi-Modal station, which rely on matching funds.
"The real question is," explains Williams, "Do voters want to have local control, do they want to empower local elected officials to make decisions for them at the local level based on conditions that might be different in carbondale... Or are you more comfortable letting the state make those decisions for us."
Sheila Simon, an assistant law professor at SIU has worked at both the local and state level of government. She says she favors Home Rule for its ability to let local governements improve their communities.
"The best example of a tax we used in Carbondale, allowed by Home Rule taxes, was a tax that supported the studying, planning and architecture for the new high school here in Carbondale," explains Simon, adding that a sales tax made it possible.
The measure on the ballot ask voters to vote "No," if they would like to keep Home Rule, and vote "Yes," if they would like to end Home Rule.
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