Morning shorts
Monday, Sep 22, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* State AG opposes ‘conscience’ rule
* Madigan: Federal rule would limit women’s health care
* Credit crisis piles on pain for local gov’t
Even before this week’s Wall Street meltdown, local governments were suffering from a bad case of financial heartburn. Now, the diagnosis may be full-fledged angina.
Revenues from economically sensitive taxes are dropping at the same time that borrowing has become more problematic, forcing everyone from the state to City Hall and the Chicago Transit Authority to ready cuts.
* Cook makes Will the land of milk, honey
So. Explain once more why Cook County must borrow $3.75 billion just two months after the county sales tax doubled?
* How Chicago’s property tax increase smacks you
“Unfortunately, people are going to see an increase in tax bills that is not related to a change in the assessment in the city of Chicago and not related to city spending,” Houlihan said. “It’s like the speaker of the House is reaching into your pocket and taking $700.”
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown dismissed Houlihan’s criticism, saying the assessor needs to get out of his office and make more accurate assessments of neighborhoods, going one home at a time.
“He’s just like Gov. Blagojevich, trying to find the bogeyman and blame him,” Brown said. “The real problem is a function of a poorly run assessor’s office. You can’t just sit in the Loop with a fancy computer program and base assessments on one sale for every 10
* Duncan urges income tax hike
“The only honest way to provide property tax relief is to increase state funding so that school districts have less pressure to raise local property taxes,“ Duncan says.
* Chicago Crime Up As Police Clash With New Boss
“Self-initiated calls,” in which officers decide to stop or question someone, were down by 3,700 so far this year, compared with last year, according to an Associated Press analysis of department data. The department made 103,589 arrests (not including those for outstanding warrants) from January through August, compared with 117,971 for the same period last year, Bond said. The city logged 322 homicides through Aug. 21, 42 more than last year. That included a fatal gang-related shooting during the city’s annual Taste of Chicago festival and Fourth of July fireworks downtown.
* Time to deal with the death penalty
* City’s environmental plan short on details
* Capitol tragedy recalled
- Z - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 9:02 am:
Imagine my surprise this morning when I saw no mention in ‘Morning Shorts’ of the playoff bound and Division Champ Cubs. Go Cubs!
- Kevin Fanning - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 9:05 am:
Lol- I tried to sneak one in, but it must have gotten lost in the shuffle….
- Vote Quimby! - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 9:18 am:
It’s OK KFan….we’ll save it for about one month from now! It was sweet to clinch against the Cards.
- Bill - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 9:35 am:
According to Brown, nothing is ever the Speaker’s fault. It is always some other elected official. It’s Rod, it’s Emil, it’s Houlie, it’s Cross. This guy is an expert at slamming other Dems. The Speaker has been in office for almost 4 decades and has never made a mistake. He carries none of the water for the mess this state is in. Must be nice to be sooooo perfect even if it is only is Steve Brown’s mind.
- Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 10:49 am:
Bill, it’s Brown’s job to portray his boss in a positive light. And let’s face it, the transgressions of other leading state officials give him plenty of material to work with, even though Madigan is no saint himself.
- Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 10:55 am:
Also, were there seriously only FOUR VOTES on the Cook County board against that multi-billion loan — and did four of the five Republicans seriously vote with Stroger???? So much for Republicans, they’re evidently part of the problem at County Hall.
As a firm believer in local government, I hate to say this, but I think the time has come to consider radical centralization of our state’s governance. There should be strict debt limits on local authorities and a tax swap — take away local authorities’ rights to levy sales taxes, in return for local government aid financed by a slightly increased income tax. That way local governments will have a strict set of limits to work within. Some states have the political culture in which local governments generally act responsibly. Unfortunately, we don’t.
- Anonymous - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 11:05 am:
Angry Chicagoan - did you actually look at what the borrowing was for? mostly capital projects and working cash funds. You don’t pay those out of operating revenues, which is what the sales taxes are for. I’d imagine that’s why the 4 Republicans voted for it. They knew it was routine - the only opponents were the show-boaters.
- Teve - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 11:28 am:
Showboaters? After getting hit with a record sales tax increase, tweleve commissioners were corrupt enough to give Stroger and his cousin unlimited authority to borrow billions of dollars without any over sight. The fact that Stroger is looking to use borrowed money to cover operating deficits even after raising taxes is troubling to say the least. In a lousy economy Stroger raises taxes and borrows money. I for one would like to thank the “showboaters” for having enough sense to see the “Titanic” of county government sinking and voting against giving inept Stroger billions of dollars to fritter away.
- Judgment Day Is On The Way - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 12:08 pm:
“The real problem is a function of a poorly run assessor’s office. You can’t just sit in the Loop with a fancy computer program and base assessments on one sale for every 10″
Yes, you can. In fact, that’s basically how the IL DOR does their sales ratio reporting, which is the starting point for calculating a Countywide non-farm equalization factor (multiplier).
Basically, the logic is:
If everything that sold is assessed at a certain percentage (say .30% of value, versus the legal requirement of .333% of value, then everything (non-farm) which didn’t sell is also assessed at that same percentage level.
Now, there’s some really large assumptions being made there, like that all properties are assessed equally, but that’s a different matter. And IL DOR isn’t moving on it.
Well, once you have a median level of assessment (the middle 50% point of all valid non-farm sales), you take a three year average (not including current year) of the median level of assessment, and there’s the magic number you get to play with.
So, let’s assume the “Magic Number” works out to be .300% (the 3 year average). It will take a 1.1100% equalization factor applied to all non-farm property to raise the assessment level up to the .333% level (.333/.300 = 1.1100%).
So for this year’s Cook County tax bills (2007, pay 2008), your countywide equalization factor is based upon valid real estate sales occurring in years 2004, 2005, & 2006. Nice, huh?
Now, just to further “simplify” the process so it’s totally incomprehensible to everybody, Cook County really goes and screws the process up with their real estate assessment classification system.
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Sep 22, 08 @ 6:30 pm:
If AA lived in Cook County, I wold be mighty outraged over paying the highest sales tax in the country and then seeing bonds floated to pay for LAST YEAR’s pension payments.
One can put perfume on a skunk but it does not change the animal’s essential characteristics.