Kendall County Board candidate and watchdog activist Todd Milliron spoke during the public comment section of last week’s Oswego Village Board meeting regarding a residency claim of a village board member who is running for county office.
Milliron alleges that village board member Kit Kuhrt registered the Oswego home he resides in as well as a Sangamon County home he vacations at as his primary residence. Kuhrt is a candidate for Kendall County Treasurer. By registering each home in this manner, Kuhrt has received a homesteaders exemption that reduces his property taxes in each county. State law allows for one residence to be claimed and only the principle residence in which a person lives can be claimed for the homestead exemption.
Milliron gave this opening statement to the village board.
Milliron provided real estate tax documents from Kendall County and Sangamon County to Kuhrt and the Oswego Village Board at the meeting. According to Milliron, the Sangamon County documents, obtained by Milliron via a FOIA request, is an affidavit that appears to be signed by Kuhrt declaring the Springfield home to be his primary or principle residence. The Kendall County document is a PTAX real estate tax document obtained by Milliron with a FOIA request. According to Milliron, the PTAX document shows a checked box indicating that the Oswego home of Kuhrt is his principle or primary residence. According to Milliron, the Kendall County document is allegedly signed by Kuht’s spouse.
Declaring both residences as a primary residence entitles the owner to real estate tax deductions. By law, a homeowner in Illinois can only declare one residence as a primary residence. Another portion of Illinois law allows spouses to live in separate homes and declare each home as a 50% primary residence and claim only 50% of the tax savings at each home. According to Milliron, both counties have stated that Kuhrt and his spouse did not apply for the 50-50 spouse split.
Milliron provided WSPY with an email from Sangamon County stating the tax exemption, which has been in place for over 15 years, has been revoked. Milliron told WSPY this occurred after he provided the Kendall County tax documents to Sangamon County showing the homestead exemption had already been taken at the home in Oswego.
WSPY contacted Kuhrt for comment regarding the allegation. Kuhrt stated he would call WSPY back with a comment and has not called back, as of Tuesday. Kuhrt did tell WSPY at the conclusion of the board meeting that he did not believe it was a campaign attack against him since he is not being opposed by Milliron.
Milliron is a candidate for the Kendall County Board, running as an Independent. Kuhrt is running against incumbent Kendall County treasurer Jill Ferko in the Republican primary election.
