How the Bourbonnais Library Tax Question Lost, Precinct by Precinct

Unofficial. These are election night totals from the Kankakee County Clerk. Late mail and provisional ballots can still be added, and results become official at the county canvass later this month. The outcome will not change; precinct numbers can move a little.

The short version

No in every precinct. All 14 precincts in the library district voted No. The best showing among whole precincts was Precinct 1, at 31.6% Yes. The worst was Precinct 7, at 23.3%.
This isn't a town that never says yes. In November 2024, voters in these same precincts approved the Bourbonnais Fire Protection District's rate increase (53.8% Yes overall) and the BBCHS $62 million building bonds (54.9%). The library got 28.5%. In each of the 13 precincts that also voted on the fire question, the library ran 21.3 to 30.2 points behind it.
It wasn't the electorate. Voters in these precincts were less Republican this year than in 2024 (Bailey 54.6% of the two-party vote for governor, against Trump's 59.8% for president) and there were fewer of them (52% turnout against 76%). If a different crowd of voters were the reason, the library should have done better, not 25 points worse.
The vote followed party lines, more tightly than before. Precinct by precinct, the library's Yes share tracks the governor's race closely: the more a precinct voted for Bailey, the lower its Yes (correlation -0.94). Tax questions here split that way in 2024 too, just less sharply (fire district −0.78, BBCHS bonds −0.83, against the same Bailey shares). In these 14 precincts, the road district vote tracked the governor's race more loosely (0.67).
The ask was large. An 85% rate increase: about $126 more a year on a $300,000 home by the Daily Journal's math, or $44.67 per $100,000 of value by the library's. It would have been the library's first increase since it became a district in 1982.

What the library asked for

The question raised the library's limiting rate under the state's tax cap law. In plain words: let the library collect a bigger slice of the property tax bill.

Current rate	0.1567% of equalized assessed value, the library's figure for 2025. The ballot counts the increase from the 2025 limiting rate, about 0.156%.
Proposed rate	0.290% for levy year 2026: 0.134 points above the limiting rate, about 85% more
On a $100,000 home	About $44.67 more a year, roughly 12 cents a day (library's figure)
On a $300,000 home	About $146 a year now, $272 with the increase (Daily Journal)
New money	About $1 million a year, $10.3 million over ten years (Fight for Illinois compilation, reported by the Kankakee Times)
Savings on hand	About $44,000 in the general fund, roughly 4.25% of a year's operating costs, per the 2025 audit (Daily Journal). Finance officers recommend at least two months of operating costs, about 17%.
Building needs	$415,779 in major repairs and replacements over eight years, from a late-2024 building assessment: parking lot, roof, heating and cooling
History	Same rate since the library became a district in 1982. The last time it asked voters for more, around 1987, it lost.

The question as printed on the ballot:

Shall the limiting rate under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law for the Bourbonnais Public Library District be increased by an additional amount equal to 0.134% above the limiting rate for the levy year 2025 and be equal to 0.290% of the equalized assessed value of the taxable property therein for levy year 2026?

What the library said a Yes would pay for

Keep current hours, services and staff
Replace the parking lot, roof, heating and cooling on schedule
An expansion: group work rooms, study rooms, quiet reading areas, a bigger children's space, a drive-up book drop, a new parking lot and patio
More e-books, audiobooks, print books and a Library of Things

What it said would likely happen with a No

Shorter hours and fewer staff
Fewer, cheaper programs
Fewer new books and longer waits; a smaller digital collection
Less money for computers, printing, faxing and notary service
Repairs put off; no expansion

Every recent tax question in these precincts

Yes share among voters in the library district's 14 precincts, on every local tax question since the county redrew precincts in 2022. Village questions appeared only in Village of Bourbonnais precincts.

How far every precinct moved

Each arrow compares the library's Yes share with the Yes share for the fire district's rate increase in November 2024, the closest match: the same kind of question, in nearly the same precincts. Every arrow points left, toward No. Longer means a bigger drop. Switch the baseline to the BBCHS bonds, or color the map by any of the three votes. Tap a precinct for its numbers.

Tap a precinct to see all three votes side by side. Dashed gray precincts are in the Bradley Public Library District and didn't vote on this question.

2024 and 2026, side by side

Same precincts, same kind of question. Darker shading means a wider margin.

Nov. 2024: Fire district rate increase

Yes wonNo wonNot in fire district

Nov. 2026: Library rate increase

No won (14)

Every precinct dropped, by 21 to 30 points

Yes share for the fire district in 2024 (gray) and the library in 2026 (blue), precinct by precinct. A drop this broad points at the question more than at any one neighborhood. It was a little smaller in the most Republican precincts, which started lower.

Fire district rate increase, Nov. 2024Library rate increase, Nov. 2026

Precinct 18 isn't in the fire district, so it has no 2024 comparison.

The more Republican the precinct, the lower the Yes

Each dot is a precinct: Darren Bailey's share of the two-party vote for governor (left to right) against the library's Yes share (bottom to top). Bigger dots cast more votes on the library question.

Correlation -0.94. A value of −1 would mean a perfectly straight line. Precinct 18, the most Democratic precinct, gave the library its best showing (though only about a quarter of its voters live in the library district), and Precincts 7 and 12, the most Republican, its worst.

Find your neighborhood on a street map

The library district's precincts over a real street map. Zoom in to find your street, and tap a precinct for its numbers. Gray precincts are in the Bradley Public Library District.

Every precinct

Tap a column to sort. Change is the library's Yes share minus the fire district's 2024 Yes share, in percentage points. Precincts 13, 17 and 18 are only partly in the library district; see the notes below.

Same night, elsewhere

Momence Fire Protection District

No 61.8%

1,155 to 715. Asked for a rate increase to pay for full-time staffing and to take over ambulance service.

Bourbonnais Township road district

No 59.5%

Voters kept the road district. Our precinct analysis

Illinois libraries

3 of 5 lost

Fondulac (operating) and O'Fallon (bond) also lost. Bartlett and Berkeley bonds passed. Nationally, 41 of 60 library measures tracked by EveryLibrary passed.

What happens now

The tax rate stays at about 0.1567%. The library keeps operating on its current revenue.
The library said a No would likely mean cuts to hours, staff, programs and new materials, delayed repairs, and no expansion. It hasn't said publicly which comes first; the Daily Journal's Nov. 4 story carried no comment from the library.
It can ask again. A library district can put a rate question on a later regular election ballot. The next one is the consolidated election on April 6, 2027.
Persistence has paid off here before. The Bourbonnais Fire Protection District lost rate questions five times from 2020 to 2022, then passed one in November 2024 with 53.6% in Bourbonnais Township precincts. Ahead of that vote it ran a weekly public question-and-answer series.

How every precinct voted on the road districtThe same night's other big local question, precinct by precinct →

How we did this

Results: Kankakee County Clerk unofficial election results, Nov. 3, 2026, final election night update, all precincts counted. Earlier results are the Clerk's posted results for each election.
Same precincts: The county redrew precincts in 2022, so every comparison here uses 2022 or later and the same 14 precincts. Totals for earlier questions are summed over those precincts, not each question's full district.
Split precincts: Precincts 13, 17 and 18 are partly in the Bradley Public Library District. Only library district voters saw this question, while the comparison questions include everyone in the precinct. Precinct 18 is outside the fire district.
Party lean: Bailey's share of the Bailey and Pritzker vote for governor; Trump's share of the Trump and Harris vote for president in 2024.
The ask: rates, ballot wording and the library's plans from the library's referendum page; the $300,000 home example, reserves and history from the Daily Journal; the revenue estimate from Fight for Illinois via the Kankakee Times.

Disclosure: The Bourbs did not take a position on the library question. Every number on this page comes from the sources above and can be checked on our live results page.

Sources: Bourbonnais Public Library referendum page · Daily Journal, Oct. 7, 2026 · Daily Journal, Nov. 4, 2026 · Kankakee Times · Country Herald · EveryLibrary via Library Technology Guides · Kankakee County Clerk

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