6 Comments - Cassandra - Thursday, Mar 1, 07 @ 9:02 am: So, let me understand this. The “expanded homeowners exemption” means that I will have to pay higher property taxes because I’m not a veteran, young person, low-income senior or whatever other category legislators plan to add…dog owners, perhaps? There’s no free lunch. If you aren’t in the exempt groups, you pay more. Since when did people have a right to live in communities they can’t afford? And how many of these good seniors and other low-income residents actually went to the polls and voted against the exorbitant property taxes they are now demanding protection from. How many wrote letters and called their elected representatives? Not too many, I bet. There are a multitude of reasonable, safe housing options in Illinois. I don’t expect the government to pay for me to live wherever I want. If I couldn’t afford the property taxes, I’d complain, but if that didn’t work…I’d move. I wouldn’t expect the state of Illinois to bail me out. Although I do wish the Legislature would start subsidizing foreign travel…… - Southern Man - Thursday, Mar 1, 07 @ 9:03 am: The headline above about the Cook County budget is misleading. If you read the editorial, it’s very critical of the Stroger’s budget for protecting all the politically-connected people, balancing the budget instead on the backs of front line workers. It also notes some unusual alliances, which should raise a boatload of questions for reporters to chew on in the coming months. For example, why was the new chairman of the Cook County GOP, Liz Gorman, leading the charge for Todd’s budget, with its cuts in suburban law enforcement and protected Chicago Machine patronage? - Gene Parmesan - Thursday, Mar 1, 07 @ 9:35 am: “The 7 percent solution is a step in the right direction because it protects working families, senior citizens and longtime residents and puts predictability into our property tax bills without any significant shift in tax burden to other property classes.” — This isn’t even remotely true. While the 7% “cap” does give taxpayers an idea of what they can expect (7% per year and 21% per triennial reassessment), it absolutely shifts the tax burden to commercial, industrial, and any rental properties that are not afforded a Homestead Exemption. So, this “7% cap” only applies to the home in which a taxpayer lives. This “cap” is horrible legislation and will continue to drive business out of Cook County and right over the line into DuPage County. - One_Mcmad - Thursday, Mar 1, 07 @ 11:34 am: Well, sexual harassment works both ways. Males harassing females and females harassing males. For many years, men have been afraid to make sexual harassment claims against women for fear that others may questions his sexuality in refusing to accept unwanted advances. Well Mr. Estes has taken a stand and I commend him! Neither a man nor a woman has to subject him or herself to sexual harassment for fear of loosing their job. There are laws in place and hopefully justice will be served for the aggrieved party. - Squideshi - Thursday, Mar 1, 07 @ 1:40 pm: Public financing of judical races is an excellent idea. I’m glad that came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now I’m waiting to see what Blagojevich does about campaign finance reform, other than just talking about it. - i d - Thursday, Mar 1, 07 @ 2:57 pm: More “trash” legislation moving through the system while the important stuff continues to be clogged up in the bowels of government. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.