Woodstock Tax Hikers Spends $45,000 on Unicom ARC - St. Louis Tax Hike Consultants

The Woodstock District 200 School District tax hike committee, officially called Citizens for District 200, has reported how it spent its money to pass the over $200 million bond issue that will raise real estate taxes next year.

It spent $66,227.04, of which 68%--$45,127.35, to be exact--went to St. Louis campaign consulting firm Unicom ARC.

The out-of-state hired guns were given something of a down payment ($6,670) on January 27th, four days before a statement of organization was filed with the State Board of Elections.
District 200 vendors primed the pump with $15,000

· $10,000 from life safety vendor IHC Construction Companies LLC of Elgin and

· $5,000 from insurance and benefits consultant Fringe Funding Inc. of Rolling Meadows.

Since the check was not reported having been received until Jan. 30th, Unicom must not have cashed the check immediately.

The next payment was not made until March 6th, two weeks before the election. It was for $16,464.76.

On election day—March 21st—a check for $6,660 changed hands. (Nothing Biblical there, right?)

Finally, after the victory, on April 12th, Unicom got 15,332.59. That included a “meal expense” of $192.69 that Unicom paid and was, apparently, reimbursed for.

McHenry County Blog has already reported who financed the campaign. Two words explain most of the contributions:

developers (see also here and here and here)

and

school district vendors (see here and here).

The committee was what I call a “pop-up” committee, undoubtedly a strategy to forestall opposition by pretending nothing is happening until the last minute.

(This pop-up committee at least reported prior to the referendum date, something the Pecatonica tax hike folks, led by German-American Bank vice president Jeff Sterling, did not.)

I was astounded to see that the tax hike committee actually rented space from School District 200. It was only charged $320 for “Canvassing Expense Building Rental.”

Local radio station advertising cost $2,410, while the Northwest Herald pulled in a similar amount--$2,394.01.

The Woodstock Independent charged $3,820 for ads, but rebated $770 on May 30th. (Maybe there was a double billing or the committee paid the same bill twice.)

Besides these three local media, other local business people getting a significant part of the action include

· Indepth Graphics and Printing of Woodstock - $3,658.02 for signs, probably the yard signs and
· Vision Mailing Services Inc. of Huntley - $3,940.97.

Oak Park’s Purple Monkey Studios Inc. was paid $1,680 for “Professional Services Computer – Access.”

The election night victory party at Pirro’s cost $800.

Three names of apparent committee members appear as having been reimbursed for expenses:

· DeMartinis, Anthony & Cathleen, for $188.19 for the election reception and
· Larson, Maureen, for $194.72 for canvassing expenses.

The tax hike committee has $7,368.40 left for future tax hike efforts.

Want to learn more about Unicom ARC?

Go here to Kevin Killion's Illinois Loop.

Anyone know more about Unicom ARC?

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The top illustration is from a tax hike committee mailing. Next is the front page of the Unicom ARC's web page.

The "boom town" logo is from Kirk Homes. Kirk gave $15,000 to the tax hike committee--more than any other contributor. That amount is less than it profit on one home, however. Kirk scored a new school campus in Apple Creek Estates after the referendum's passage. Get ready to have your wallet blown out of your pocket, Woodstock taxpayers.