You have an important decision to make regarding the future of Fieldcrest on November 7th. I am asking you to approve a $0.65 increase in the Education Fund rate.

If you vote YES the Board and Administration are committed to:

* Lowering the tax rate by $0.02
* Restoring elementary P.E. and art
* Adding high school courses for advanced and vocational students
* Reducing participation fees by at least 50%

If you vote NO the Board and Administration are committed to:

* Taking out a $1,500,000 loan
* Using your tax dollars to pay $325,000 interest on this loan
* Not restoring the programs described above
* Not reducing participation fees

The taxes you will pay to Fieldcrest will not change either way you vote since the cost of paying back the loan is also $0.65. If this involved the finances of your personal household and you could choose between having more income to purchase something important or taking out a loan just to pay your current bills the choice would be obvious. Therefore, why not vote YES to allow Fieldcrest to improve opportunities for students and to maintain financial stability?

As the superintendent of the Fieldcrest School District I will carry out our commitments and fully expect to be held accountable should I not.

Randall S. Vincent, Superintendent
One Dornbush Drive
Minonk, IL 61760
(309) 432-2177

As a volunteer with Minonk Ambulance and a member of Minonk Ambulance Association, I volunteered to bring us up in the times and design a website. www.minonkambulance.org is up and ready to accept visitors. We have a section listing our members, pictures, training, links to websites we found of interest to the public, meeting schedule and minutes. We also have a section for members, which includes our on-call schedule and phone lists. We're still adding content, so we encourage visitors to check back often.

Just a reminder to the public, Minonk Ambulance is always accepting volunteers. There is information on the website if anyone is interested.

We are currently in the middle of our annual Home Interiors candle fundraiser. Half of the money raised goes to the Minonk Ambulance Association. Please see a member if anyone is interested.

Feel free to add the link to the City Hall menu and where ever else you would like to add it.

Enjoy!

Sherry Willis
Member
Minonk Ambulance Association

That statement is misleading. It's based upon comparing the annual cost of a passed referendum to the $325,000 TOTAL cost of interest fees for the bonds it says it must purchase if the referendum fails. People are being wrongly convinced that their money will either go to education or taxes. For a true comparison, the proponents should be honest and cite the ANNUAL interest payment. Further, those bond payments, by definition, end after a fixed number of years. The increased tax rate from a passed referendum, on the other hand, does not expire. They carefully have omitted these facts. The taxpayers deserve to see a detailed financial analysis of the cost/benefit of the options. Instead, all they've received is marketing talk from the referendum's proponents. This is an insult to the intelligence of the taxpayers.

Woodford Pundit responded...
Listen my friend, you're preaching to the choir here.

The thing that gets me is every school district with a pending referendum, and their 'committees' write the same 'letters to the editor' saying one must be "uninformed" if they don't agree with them and have not attending their propaganda meetings.

In other words, we're just stupid if we don't want to "give them more money".

I've taught; my wife teaches - we also pay skyrocketing property taxes. We want the schools properly funded. We have kids. But as you say, we don't want to be insulted. Unfortunately, these consultant purchased media campaigns (with our tax dollars) seem to work for them.

Jim Irvin

Thank you,
Jennifer Brooke 309-242-3249

Jim Ghiglieri
207 N. Via Ghiglieri
Toluca, IL 61369
815-452-2256

I'd like to pipe in concerning the referendum. One of my main concerns for quite some time has been that our district population did not support two junior high schools. We were duplicating services when we could not afford to do so. It took a while and the current Board began the realignment process. The current Board has done a good job with our tax dollars. There are still areas that I think need to be addressed, like bussing, but the current Board has done well with what they have to work with. I will, therefore, be voting yes on the referendum. I don't particularly like the idea of my taxes going up either, but sometimes it is a necessary evil. I hope to persuade friends and family to support this increase. I'd rather my tax money go into school district operated funds than into the portfolios of those who hold the bonds floated to sustain Fieldcrest.

Thanks for you time

Jeff Geringer

Our U14 and High school teams have been competing this Fall against top opponents from Central Illinois. With the indoor season before us, we are recruiting players for a year round experience. We will guarantee playing time, and participating fees much less that district costs.

If anyone is interested in participating, or needing further information; please contact Mike Zimmerman at 309-432-3057 during the evenings or at 309-527-1515 during the week days.

We are also looking for area businesses to sponsor our Club.

We want to thank Jay Hurd at Country Financial and the American Buildings Company for their sponsorships.

Thank you for your support,

Mike Zimmerman

Thank you!