Zealotry in local governments

Most people do not realize how much property tax is taken from them, details of how it is spent, or whether communities in other States are getting the same quality social services provided, but for significantly lower costs.

In Illinois collar counties, most taxing body are governed by a board of persons elected from the community. The Board is typically not paid.

Those who run for such Boards--library, parks, conservation districts, etc.-- are people who are passionate about that cause.
That becomes a big problem when zealotry meets hard cold economic reality.

When the Board of, say, the conservation district decides that nothing is more important than the environment, and no amount of money is too much in pursuit of that holy cause, you get a taxation policy of enormous overspending the means of the taxed community.
Other Boards feel just as passionate about their own sacred missions to spend as much as possible on ( library, schools, local government, fill in the blank).

This has happened in our northern Illinois region over the past dozen years. Our home values were devastated and cannot recover. Our property taxes are ~4% of fair market values.

Learn from us; the canary in the coal mine.