Letter: Can no longer sit on the sidelines

keyboard, letter to the editor

To the Editor:

About two months ago, I had no intention of running for Kendall Township supervisor. But sometimes, you become enlightened to some of the issues happening in your own backyard and you can no longer sit on the sidelines waiting for someone else to address the problems.

Recently, my wife and I were cleaning out some filing cabinets and we found our closing paperwork from when we first moved here. As I looked at our property tax bill from that time, it struck me that we have seen our taxes increase by double. How many of us have seen our household incomes increase by double? How many of us are just now getting back to the same property values we had in 2005-08, yet we have seen our taxes have increased substantially? How does that happen?

Throughout my professional career, I have managed multimillion-dollar budgets and dozens of people. Unlike political entities, the private sector does not have endless reserves of revenue. Companies cannot decide to increase the tax base for a community like ours to fund its activities. Elected boards, behind closed doors without proper transparency, can. My goal is to work with the Kendall Township Board to run the way you run your household or company, within budget and responsible to the bottom line.

I graduated with my Bachelor of Science from Western Governors University and my MBA with Distinction from Keller Graduate School of Business. My work history spans technology, agriculture, plumbing and retail industries. There is little that I have not experienced in the business world. My goal is to take that experience and put it to work for my fellow neighbors.

By bringing transparency to each board meeting and posting easily accessible minutes, each resident of Kendall Township can decide if their township is working for them or whether the taxpaying residents of Kendall Township are working to support their township. I pledge to work with the trustees to bring transparency to the Kendall Township Board so every citizen can make their own informed decisions.

I hope to garner your vote April 6. If elected to the Kendall Township supervisor position, I will advocate for you as my neighbor.

Thank you for your consideration.

Vernon Fatima

Yorkville