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Joliet REALTORS® can make an impact on their city’s 2016 budget by contacting their city council members this week and urging the elimination of a proposed property transfer tax increase, says IAR local Governmental Affairs Director Gideon Blustein.

Under the proposal, homeowners would pay $5 per $1,000 to the city when they sell their homes, instead of the current rate of $3 per $1,000.

Monday is the next scheduled city budget meeting, says Blustein, and support for the proposed transfer tax increase could be waning after an IAR Call to Action, a letter to the Joliet City Council and Blustein’s testimony at a previous city budget meeting.

Even if the proposed increase was included in the 2016 budget, it would still need to be approved by voters via referendum, he said at that meeting.