" The real reason for the increase? Because they can. "

" In these times, what's a mere 19 percent? I'm sure my employer will be happy to give me a fat raise to cover this increase. That place is becoming a drain on the taxpayers of east central Illinois. "

" I have been keeping a tally on property tax increases published in the paper because of the mininum required, and right now for Edgar and Coles there are 8. That does not take into account increases by many levying districts because their percent increase is below the mininum for the public's right to know, and thus, be in the paper.

It is frankly shameful to have these increases right now. We have to cut back personally, possibly without a job in many cases, and are asked to pay more for expenses we haven't asked or agreed to. "

" The real reason for the increase? A Governor who has so seriously underfunded higher education that we give back money each year from a budget that is the same as it was 8 years ago. All of our costs in higher education have gone up - salaries, food, utilities, but we get less money from the state each year. The money has to come from somewhere and if we have to keep raising tuition no one will be able to attend our colleges and universities. "

" @ Early Bird: You must not make any money at all or have a billion dollar home if you can't afford this. The raise is less than $20 per $100,000 of assessed value. "

" @ BW: No. It is because they need it. "

" @ Beaches: Do you want the Governor to raise taxes? "

" @ SoyBeanPod: Your comment is confusing. "

" Higher education has increased at a greater rate than housing, personal income, medical care, food and transportation.

Further, the method of teaching higher education as we know it has become obsolete. The internet as a training tool is far more effective and affordable.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CQyU4ayBifw/STl6ymOwSbI/AAAAAAAAB7M/71f3mp1bkQU/s1600-h/tuition+costs.jpg

Enough is enough. "

" READ THE ARTICLE!

READ THIS: "The $1,046,000 investment in new renewable and safer systems could generate a sizable savings on energy costs for the college."

THEN READ THIS: The useful life for some of them was only 25 years. Were losing on energy costs each year. And putting more money in maintenance is like putting it into a black hole, Rieck said.

NOW READ THIS: We are hoping for energy savings of 50 percent with these changes. It is hard to put it in dollar figures but that could mean savings of $250,000 per year, he said.

THINK ABOUT IT THIS: LLC can take out a loan for $1,000,000, fix the HVAC system, and with their savings on energy bills, have it paid for in 5 years with interest to the bank. In 6 years they can get their new computers they want, and in 7 years, they can all give themselves a fat, $250,000 bonus. Over the next 13 years, they can spend the remaining $3,000,000 on whatever - books, parking lot, signs, etc.

This, however, is not what they want. They want YOU to come up with the $1,000,000 in cash to pay for the HVAC upgrade and some change for the computers. The savings on the HVAC will generate a savings of $6,000,000 over the next 25 years. Minus the installation and new computers, that is still $4,500,000 they can save after taking out the loan.

AND THIS: Don't forget, that tax increase isn't going away during the next 25 years. During that time, they'll have another $24,000,000 to spend on whatever plus that $4,500,000 they will save due to the HVAC upgrade.

OR THIS: Alternatively, LLC could levy a $20 tuition increase and generate $148,000 for the next two years to generate almost $300,000. Combined with the savings of $500,000 over those two years, this would be around $800,000 of the initial principle borrowed. Realistically, the college could then pay off the loan in three years. Thus they could use the added savings to procure their other items two years ahead of the scenario outlined above.

IF YOU PEOPLE CAN'T FIGURE THIS OUT, YOU DESERVE TO BE FLEECED ON A YEARLY BASIS...

These are not great economic times. People are trying to hold their own, and now is not the time to raise taxes when there are clearly other options. Of course, these other options don't generate $30,000,000 over the next 25 years. Of course, I'm sure the water system will need to be saved in 2014, they will throw some numbers at the ignorant people of Coles County, and they'll gladly hand over $20 or $30 because it isn't very much and it will be so needed by the college.

CALL RIECK AT 234-5223 AND TELL HIM NO. "

" The point is that it's just another increase. My property taxes have doubled in the last 10 years and I don't like it.

By the way, I googled the term cleaveland steamer. I have to say I found out how disgusting some people can get when it comes to find a posting name.

Only a genuine reprobate would use such a name. "

" Steamer-am sorry I was confusing, but tax levies are confusing. For taxing districts to be required to publish, their increase must be over 5% of the previous year. So no doubt there are more than the eight I have identified with some sort of tax increase for us, because they are under the 5% increase for publication.

By the way, in last night's Paris paper there was another increase of 19% for a taxing body, my tally is now 9 (those over 5%) and who knows how many under 5%?

The newspapers need to do a story and list these possible tax increases for us to see in one grouping. "

" Steamer: From reading the article, it looks like Rieck just now suddenly discovered that hvac systems have limited useful lives. A little prudent planning and foresight could have gradually provided for replacement instead of all of a sudden. When you take RCC's "$20" increase and add increases for all the other taxing bodies it will surely be significant. At least they don't use the old $60,000 home comparison that was used for many years. Since you apparently have ties to RCC or another taxing body it seems your view may be somewhat skewed. I repeat, they raise our taxes this much because they CAN. "

" I took EB's advice and googled cleaveland steamer. I'm not normally one for censorship, but come on monitor, that one goes over the line a bit, don't you think? Vulgarity has never been allowed on this site, so why start now? "

" This is too delicious.

Liberals in here complaining about the tax and spend Liberals in the Liberal out of control school system; taxing and spending like all Liberals always do!

Oh but hey, it's ONLY $18 dollars MORE on your $100,000 home. And then next year they'll want ONLY $20 dollars MORE for something else. And then the next year they'll want ONLY $30 dollars MORE on top of that. And then the year after that............ "