Incumbent Kurt Prenzler was elected Madison County Board Chairman for a second term, defeating Democratic opponent Bob Daiber 53 to 47 percent.
"It was a good night for the citizens of Madison County," Prenzler said. "I want to thank the taxpayers for their vote of confidence in what we have done by reducing property taxes and increasing employee accountability. The voters overwhelmingly approved out tax cut referendum. And the voters increased the Republican majority on the county board from 15-14 to 18-11, a pick up of 3 seats."
With all 225 precincts reporting, Prenzler received 70,539 votes while Daiber received 62,327 votes.
By comparison, Prenzler received 62,499 votes, or 50.2 percent, when he was elected chairman in 2016. His Democratic opponent Alan Dunstan received 61,993 votes, or 49.8 percent.
“A sincere thank you to all of the supporters that helped me along the way,” Daiber wrote on his campaign’s Facebook page. “Unfortunately we came up short. I appreciate all of the heartfelt support. It really meant a lot to me.”
The campaign between current Chairman Prenzler and Daiber, who is the former Madison County regional superintendent of schools, was a heated one.
After the county board voted almost unanimously to terminate the employment of former county administrator Doug Hulme and IT Director Rob Dorman in response to allegations that they spied on internal emails and breached data, Daiber called for a stronger response despite no charges being filed.
The two candidates also sparred over property tax reform. Prenzler, who is also a certified public accountant, attempted to put a Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) referendum on the ballot. The law would have capped the total amount certain property taxes may increase year to year by the lesser of a consumer price index of 5 percent. Anything beyond that increase would have to be approved by voters.
The Madison County board voted against including the referendum on the ballot, and Daiber suggested a plan that would freeze property tax assessments, establish a committee to develop an intra-township assessment procedure, and amend the farmland assessment valuation process.
Prenzler responded that Daiber “earns an ‘F’ in the basic fundamentals of property taxes,” adding that he can’t “wave a magic wand” and freeze property tax assessments. Property values are sent to Springfield for review. If property assessments are lowballed, the state adds a multiplier to raise it back up.
Daiber and Prenzler also differed in their views on the now-terminated Working Cats program, which involved the release of cats within the Metro East Sanitary District to keep away moles, voles and other burrowing animals.
Daiber claimed the program was an attempt to make it look like fewer cats are being euthanized by Madison County Animal Control and said the cats “were left to be hunted by coyotes, resulting in their violent deaths.”
However, Prenzler said the program was approved by the local Humane Society and saved cats deemed unsuitable as pets.