Tolono, Ill. (ECWd) –
Public bodies are prohibited from advocating for or against ballot measures or candidates for public office (electioneering), but that doesn’t stop some of them, especially in Champaign County.
The Tolono Fire Protection District placed a tax increase referendum on the ballot, which passed by majority vote during the November 2024 election. This increased the tax from 23 cents per $100 to 35 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
Good for them. Hope they put it to good use.
The problem comes when the district used public resources to campaign in favor of the referendum, which is prohibited electioneering. Sure, a public body can produce and publish “factual” information regarding referendums, but they cannot cross the line into electioneering in favor of or against a referendum.
The district used its building and official social media pages to electioneer in favor of the referendum in the following ways:
- Posting “Vote Yes” signs on their official Facebook page at least three times – signs that “appear” to be located inside of the firehouse at the time of the photo
- Conducting a livestream “informational session” on the referendum from inside the fire district building, which is perfectly fine to conduct such a session, however, they crossed the line while also electioneering in favor of the referendum by wearing a shirt that said “Vote Yes” among other things (See screenshots of the 10:58, the 22:50, and 22:53 marks in the video).
We have submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for more information but have not received a response yet.
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