Incumbent Cody Holt lost his bid for reelection to the Elgin School District U-46 Board of Education, garnering 33.5 percent of the vote.
Holt finished in fourth place among those running, losing to Melissa Owens (66.01 percent) and incumbents Donna Smith (63.45 percent) and Veronica Noland (65.52 percent). Enoch Essendrop received 22.57 percent of votes. Owens, Smith and Noland will serve four-year terms on the board.
Holt campaigned on the idea that voters weren't being heard, specifically about property taxes being too high.
“The No. 1 thing I hear when I knock on doors is that property taxes are too high,” Holt told the DuPage Policy Journal. “People are crying, they are sick and tired of all the outrageous increases.”
Holt led the effort to get an advisory referendum on the ballot in the village of Wayne that asked voters if they want the power to approve future tax increases levied by the district, which passed with 87.9 percent (384 total votes) voting Yes.
The question on the ballot read: “Shall Elgin School District U-46 be required to seek voter approval by referendum prior to increasing its annual property tax levy?”
“It’ll only be on the ballot for the people of Wayne because it’s quite difficult to get an advisory referendum on the ballot, especially for a consolidated election,” Holt said. “But it’ll be hard for my colleagues to ignore a referendum passing that says we want a voice before you raise any more taxes.”
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