Citizens for Rebuilding Rockford

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April 12, 2007 (ROCKFORD, IL)...The Citizens for Rebuilding Rockford (CFRR), an independent group of business owners and residents who seeks to move Rockford forward with a keen focus on the need to improve its infrastructure, is calling for the opposition to the April 17th Road Referendum to correct their false and misleading ads and messages.

While the CFRR committee, supporters and volunteers have made a substantial effort to inform the voters and provide factual information regarding the Road Referendum, it is necessary to address the misinformation and false accusations being put forth to date from the opposition.

The anti-road referendum campaign has made every effort to create a "fog of war" message full of half truths and misstatements of fact, including:

Tim Emert and the Winnebago County Taxpayers Advocates (WCTA) circulated a "plan" that included a scheme that would urge the county government to use part of its sales tax to fix Rockford's roads. He has continued to spread this misinformation despite the fact that, according to the County States Attorney, the county has no legal mechanism in place to use dollars raised through a county wide tax to pay for local roads.
The WCTA has suggested repeatedly that it was wrong for the issue to be put on the April ballot and instead supports a "stall tactic" saying that the issue should have been put to a larger voting base on a November ballot when there, in fact, is no November election this year. Emert has wrongly cited the mythical "November 2007" election when, in fact there is no election in November of this year. He has referenced the November election continually despite being consistently corrected on this misstatement of fact.
Contrary to their misleading ads and messages, the WCTA has stated the sales tax is the best way to address the issues of fixing our roads. They have admitted that the property taxes and the City of Rockford's past practice of debt financing our infrastructure improvements need to be changed; however, they fail to address that issue in any of their ads.
In true "fog of war" form, WCTA has used fear mongering as their primary message. They have thrown numerous taxes and issues into their campaign commercials, never directly addressing the issue of how we are going to pay for the needed repairs to our roads and infrastructure including flood abatement. None of the issues that the anti-Road Referendum individuals have raised have anything to do with solving the problems that we face.
Specifically, the WCTA suggest that local sales tax dollars will be spent on a "riverwalk" when no local sales tax dollars will be spent on a riverwalk as clearly outlined in the City's published and readily available Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).
The opponents suggest in television ads that 'the city fixed the roads in the past without the sales tax' but failed to mention that the city increased property taxes in the past to fix the roads instead of sales tax. They also fail to mention the direct, annual savings to City of Rockford taxpayers by switching to sales tax.
The opponents also suggest in television ads that the 1 percent sales tax is equivalent to a 1 percent reduction in wages but this is absolutely inaccurate. Additionally, the opposition fails to correct falsehoods that "everything is going to be taxed" when, in fact, the tax does not cover such items as the multitude of services we buy such as haircuts, legal work, financial planning, auto repair labor and it does not cover such retail items as groceries, medicine, medical equipment, cars or other titled vehicles.

Furthermore, Emert and the WCTA have claimed that Road Ranger's interests were about losing business from their Rockford gas stations to other communities because of the one-cent tax on their products. Road Ranger, in fact, has more than 50 locations across the country including some in neighboring communities. They have only five in Rockford.

Emert has offered up the smokescreen that the one-cent sales tax would be "too much" on top of the total tax burden across the board. Emert did however lobby the Rockford City Council to place the old Property Tax increase referendum on the ballot instead of the sales tax. His proposal would not only add to the overall tax burden of Rockford taxpayers but it would continue the misguided practice of debt financing and cause the taxpayers to pay more for less.

Additional facts about the leading opposition to the referendum:

In addition to the numerous false and misleading assertions, the leading opposition to the Road Referendum, the WCTA, is not even a citizens committee at all, but is made up of a handful of special interests.
In fact, the WCTA is made up of few supporters primarily funded by one man "behind the curtain" Dan Arnold, owner of the Road Ranger gas stations, has been the primary funding and organizational source for the anti-Road Referendum campaign. Arnold was quoted in the Rockford Register Star at the onset of the campaign that this would "get ugly" and as the items detail above indicate, he has delivered on that promise through perpetuating false and misleading statements about both the referendum and the supporters of the referendum.
The primary spokesperson of the WCTA is Emert, an emplyee of Arnold. To date the WCTA committee has not filed any information as to wether or not Emert's paid position also includes the organization of the anti-Road Referendum campaign. In fact, if he is working on this effort in a paid capacity the entity that is paying him needs to report an "in-kind" contribution to the WCTA
The CFRR is a grassroots organization made up of hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life. The WCTA is a special interest group representing a handful of retailers, but primarily Road Ranger. The WCTA to date has raised about $70,000, of which $60,000 of those dollars come from Arnold's Road Ranger business.

The WCTA and specifically Road Ranger are spending tens of thousands of dollars on a misinformation campaign. They must know that if their efforts are successful that the people of Rockford will suffer with yet another year going by with no funds to fix roads and abate flooding. The message voters are getting from the WCTA offers no solutions.

Ted Biondo, a former school board member known for is tight fiscal policies, stated that "the sales tax is the most efficient and frugal mechanism for the City to fix its roads and clearly better than the old way of bonding for roads which substantially increased our property tax rate."

The Citizens for Rebuilding Rockford will continue its door to door, mail and television campaign to inform voters. Its members are proud of their campaign and the positive message that has been put forth.

February 7, 2007
CONTACT: Rebecca Kopf, (815) 621.8295

Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford Demonstrates its Support for 1 Percent Capital Project/Road Referendum
and Announces Committee Chairs

ROCKFORD, IL (February 7, 2007) — In response to the Rockford City Council’s January 29, 2007, 13-1 vote to put the 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum on the April 17th ballot, the newly formed Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford today announced its support of the Referendum. The Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford is an independent group of business owners and residents who seek to move Rockford forward with a keen focus on the need to improve its infrastructure.

The Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford also announced committee chairs:
•   Brian Brown, owner of Atlanta Bread Company and previous President of the Rockford Hotel/Motel Association;
•   Tracie Burress, an entrepreneur, mother and member of the Mayor’s Council for Minority Issues;
•   Bob Trojan, local manufacturing leader;
•   Margie Veitch, local neighborhood leader and mother
•   Ted Biondo, retired business leader

“The Referendum was voted down in 2006, but this was because it was misunderstood,” explained Brian Brown, Chairman of the Committee for the Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford. “One of the Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford’s primary missions is to ensure that Rockford residents understand the merits of this referendum and help them help themselves and Rockford by voting Yes to the 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum on April 17.”

The core tenets and attributes of the 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum include:
•    Provides for a “PAY-AS-YOU-GO” capital financing plan for capital projects that is sustainable and dependable.
•    Revenue generated by this referendum can only be used for infrastructure.
•    The proposed 1 percent Capital Project Referendum will replace the annual road referendum that was paid for by increasing property taxes.
•    Rockford taxpayers will pay $1 million less annually for the proposed capital plan because the burden of paying for services and infrastructure is shifted to non-residents.
•    Reduces the tax burden on residents by having non-residents who utilize our services and infrastructure pay their fair share for capital projects. Approximately 35 percent of sales income generated in the City of Rockford comes from nonresidents.
•    The referendum also will have a five-year sunset provision in which the public can assess just how well the council is spending the funds each year in infrastructure improvements. After five years, the sales tax will cease and will have to go to voters again to either retain the 1% sales tax, lower the sales tax, or eliminate it.

“As individual investors, if someone asked you whether you would rather pay $650,000 to get $1,000,000 in public improvements, or would you rather pay $1.4 million to get $1,000,000 in public improvements, I think we all know what the answer would be,” said Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey. “Not only does the 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum allow Rockford to pay for improvements without incurring debt and huge interest payments, it enables Rockford residents to share the burden of funding our infrastructure with all of the other people who spend time in our community – roughly 35 percent of our total sales tax is paid by non-Rockford residents – and in the long run it will lower Rockford property taxes.”

The 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum will raise Rockford sales tax from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent. The 1 percent Referendum replaces Rockford’s Annual Road Referendum that increased the property tax rate annually. The revenue generated by the Referendum must go directly to investing in public infrastructure.

Items that will not be taxed under the Referendum are:
•    Personal property which is titled by the State of Illinois (cars, boats, etc.)
•    Food (other than that prepared for immediate consumption)
•    Prescription and nonprescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances, etc.

“It will have such a small impact on day-to-day purchases,” said Tracie Burress, a mother and member of the Mayor’s Council on Minority Issues. Literally, a dime on every $10, but the capital investment that will occur through the passage of the 1 percent sales tax will have a lasting impact on Rockford’s neighborhoods, businesses, and the future of our children.”

The 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum will allow Rockford to pay cash for its Annual Road Program, and pay off its bond debt within the next 10 years. Paying off that debt, and eliminating borrowing is what will eventually allow Rockford to lower its property tax rate.

“Currently, Rockford residents pay for 100 percent of the Annual Road Program; that’s the entire bill. Yet, analysis shows that 35 percent of our retail sales come from residents outside of the City,” explained Brown.

“As a business man in the manufacturing industry, I know what it takes to attract and maintain new businesses,” said Bob Trojan, manufacturing leader. “If Rockford wants to take the city to the next level and attract more and more businesses, then it needs to provide an infrastructure that supports new businesses and the transportation needs of their suppliers, customers, distributors, and/or employees. It also needs to demonstrate that it is a fiscally responsible City that provides a stable business environment now and far into the future. The 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum is a fiscally responsible way to pay off debt and fund infrastructure improvements.”

“As a mother, I care about the future of Rockford and what it means to my children’s future,” says Margie Veitch, neighborhood leader and committee chair for the Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford. “The 1 percent Capital Project/Road Referendum shows that Rockford is building a community that offers a great quality of life for residents and is an attractive destination for visitors and investors.”

The Citizen’s Committee for Rebuilding Rockford is an independent group of business owners and residents who seek to move Rockford forward with a keen focus on the need to improve its infrastructure.