2024 Voter Guide: Candidates for Madison County Board chair Republican primary
Kurt Prenzler
Age as of March 19, 2024: 68
Campaign website or social media page: www.kurtprenzler.com
Office seeking: Madison County Board chairman
Are you an incumbent? Yes
Have you run for elective office before? (Please list previous offices sought.) Yes. Ran for Madison County treasurer (lost in 2006 and won in 2010 and 2014); and Madison County Board chairman (won in 2016 and 2020).
Occupation: Madison County Board chairman
Education: Certified public accountant with bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania; and juris doctor (law) degree from University of Illinois.
Please list highlights of your civic involvement:
2011, 2017 and 2018 — Three times led campaigns that defeated 1% sales tax.
2013 — Led collection of 23,600 signatures on petitions to defeat backdoor referendum, blocking an $18.8 bond issue and keeping the county debt-free.
2016 — Led collection of 10,000 signatures on petitions to put tax cut referendum on ballot. Voters approved (4 to 1), reducing general fund tax rate from .25 to .20.
2022–2023 — Opposed drag queen story time held June 2022 in Collinsville and Glen Carbon libraries. Led collection of signatures to put this advisory referendum on the Glen Carbon ballot: “Shall tax-supported libraries and schools promote drag queen events to children?” Seventy percent of Glen Carbon voters said “NO.” Helped elect four family-friendly library trustees in Collinsville.
Who are your top three campaign contributors? Betty Steiner, Highland; John and Michele Hopkins, Edwardsville; and Erb Equipment Co., Mitchell.
Why are you running?
To keep fighting taxes and protecting our freedoms: a) Second Amendment, b) COVID freedom and c) Protecting us from Chicago migrant policies.
I will continue to push the County Board to put PTELL (Property Tax Extension Law Limit) caps on the ballot. Board members have resisted my request four times: 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023. (Republicans joined with Democrats to keep tax caps off the ballot.)
And we need this! Taxing districts in Madison County just passed property tax hikes: 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15.4% (Collinsville Community Unit School District 10) and even 17.15% (Granite City Community Unit School District 9).
COVID freedom: I led the County Board to reopen the county in May of 2020 — against Gov. Pritzker’s one-size-fits-all lockdown policy. I led the board to pass resolutions for mask freedom and against forced COVID shots.
Second Amendment: We put a resolution on the November 2018 ballot that asked, “Shall Madison County be a Second Amendment sanctuary county?” Voters said “yes” 2 to 1.
Chicago migrant policy: Chicago and Gov. Pritzker are inviting illegal migrants to Illinois. I support legal immigration, but I will not spend county money for illegal migrants.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it?
Taxes. People trust me to fight taxes, because I’ve done it.
Reduced cost of treasurer’s office by 30%.
In first year as County Board chairman (2017), cut the county government property tax levy by $1.8 million to $30.8 million and haven’t raised it.
As a result, the county government tax rate went down 34% from $.73 per $100 of equalized assessed valuation in 2015 to $.48, and it’s going lower next year.
Why should people vote for you?
Because I have reduced taxes, defended our freedoms (Second Amendment and COVID freedom) and exposed and fixed corruption, helping to send Democrat Treasurer Fred Bathon to federal prison due to unethical tax sales, saving taxpayers $1 million per year.
I invite anyone to call me on my personal cellphone at 618-514-2599.
Chris Slusser
Age as of March 19, 2024: 46
Campaign website or social media page: www.voteslusser.com and Chris.Slusser on Facebook
Office seeking: Madison County Board chairman
Are you an incumbent? No
Have you run for elective office before? (Please list previous offices sought.) Yes. Ran for Madison County Board (won in 2008 and 2016); Madison County Board chairman (lost in 2012); and Madison County treasurer (won in 2018 and 2022).
Occupation: Madison County treasurer
Education: Roxana High School; Lewis & Clark Community College (associate of applied science in criminal justice); and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (bachelor of science in speech communication and business administration).
Please list highlights of your civic involvement:
I am the past president and a current advisory board member for Riverbend Family Ministries in Wood River and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Baptist Children’s Home & Family Services. In August 2021, I was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Illinois Metropolitan Investment Fund (IMET). I am the past president of the Board of Directors at RAVEN (Rape & Violence End Now) in St. Louis, past vice president of finance for the SIUE Alumni Association and a former trustee for the Baptist Foundation of Illinois. I previously served as both chairman (2014-2016) and treasurer (2008-2012) of the Madison County Republican Party.
While on the Madison County Board, in 2010, I introduced a plan to put our county’s “checkbook” online, so that citizens could track every single penny of county government spending. We became only the second county in Illinois to do this. I served from 2013-2014 as chairman of the former Wood River Township Hospital Board, where I oversaw the return of more than $8.5 million in refunds to taxpayers in Wood River Township once legislation was finally passed to dissolve the former taxing district. I have been involved in nearly every countywide tax referendum issue in Madison County for the past 15 years, helping lead efforts to defeat sales tax increases and needless borrowing by county government. These campaigns have saved county taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
I attend First Baptist Church in Bethalto, where I serve as a deacon, assistant church treasurer, security team member and Africa mission team member. My wife and I have been active supporters of Thrive Metro East and The Restore Network. I am a member of the National Rifle Association and the Illinois State Rifle Association.
Who are your top three campaign contributors? Friends of Tom Haine; Plummer for Illinois; and Bold Enterprises.
Why are you running?
Property taxes and economic development. They go hand in hand. The only way to reduce our property taxes in a meaningful way is to change the way we fund schools. Period. End of story. Sixty-five to 70% of your property tax bill goes to the schools. Gimmicks like PTELL (Property Tax Extension Law Limit) will not lower your property taxes. In fact, you would see a massive increase in the first year under PTELL. Indiana built the model on property tax reform 15 years ago, and Illinois should follow it. It shifted the vast majority of school funding away from property taxes to state sales taxes. It also enacts true property tax caps, not the misleading property tax “caps” that the current chairman falsely claims will happen under PTELL. The Indiana model caps property taxes at 1% of your home’s assessed value. When the Illinois legislature passes this reform, it will cut our property tax bills IN HALF, immediately. I have already begun to lobby legislators in Illinois to make this change.
Economic Development: In my six years prior to becoming county treasurer, I worked in commercial real estate for one of the metro-east’s largest developers. I have a great understanding of how economic development should work and also what doesn’t work. I have built relationships with developers, real estate agents and business leaders, and I think it’s important that we develop a regional strategy among our communities in Madison County, so they’re not all competing against one another and just desperately throwing incentives at businesses without having a plan and engaging in property negotiations. We haven’t had this type of leadership in the county chairman’s office, and our region has suffered as a result. It’s time for our county to start reaching its full potential, and that will start under my leadership.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it?
My track record as county treasurer and as a County Board member speaks for itself. As treasurer, my office came in under budget all seven years I’ve been in office, and we’ve returned money to the general fund every year. I overhauled the county’s underperforming investment portfolio. It earned just $4.5 million in interest in six years under the current chairman, and we’ve now earned more than $34 million under my leadership. This additional revenue has allowed the County Board to keep the county’s portion of the property tax levy flat for the past seven years.
I actually have a vision and a plan to restore order in our county government and focus efforts on economic development that will benefit every community in Madison County. The current chairman and I agree on 99% of the issues, but not on execution. I’m involved in activism as well, but my first obligation to the taxpayers is doing the job they elect me and pay me to do first and foremost. I will actually communicate with County Board members so that they can be properly informed and on board with our agenda, and our meetings will no longer resemble a circus or a Jerry Springer episode. I plan to begin our County Board meetings with a prayer. I will also repair damaged relationships between the current chairman and the law enforcement community, including the sheriff’s and state’s attorney’s offices. This is why I have received the endorsements of the following Republican elected officials in Madison County: State’s Attorney Tom Haine, Sheriff Jeff Connor, Circuit Clerk Tom McRae, Auditor David Michael, Regional Superintendent of Schools Rob Werden, State Senator Jason Plummer and many others. It’s time for a new generation of conservative leadership in Madison County.
