Johnny Cash would have turned 87 this week. To honor the Man in Black on his birthday, folk singer Todd Snider unveiled the new single “The Ghost of Johnny Cash” from his forthcoming album Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3, which will be released March 15th via Aimless Records/Thirty Tigers.
The dark ballad was co-written by Snider and John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny Cash, who died on September 12th, 2003, and June Carter Cash, who passed away just months before her husband in May of the same year.
Snider recorded his acoustic-driven new effort at Johnny Cash’s Cash Cabin Studio (now owned by John Carter) in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The album’s latest release, anchored by sparse, country-blues picking, nods to a recording session at the same studio a few years earlier, when Loretta Lynn made her 2016 album Full Circle. In an interview with Garden & Gun shortly after her album’s release, Lynn claimed she saw the deceased Cash walk into the studio while she was singing.
Lori Lightfoot says she’s running as the change candidate, but the only thing she’s trying to change right now is her record of looking out for powerful interests.
Lightfoot, who likes to talk about how she is the “change” candidate, was appointed over and over and over to political appointments by politicians Rahm Emanuel and Richard Daley. Is that change? In those roles, she overruled her own investigators to justify police shootings.
So today, the campaign for Toni Preckwinkle released an ad to tell the truth about Lightfoot’s record. Because the only thing Lori Lightfoot is trying to change is her story.
You just knew something like this was coming soon. Lightfoot has gained serious momentum from her first round win. Preckwinkle has to stop it as soon as she possibly can before the momentum gets out of control.
* Tom Kacich regularly answers questions from readers. Here’s his latest…
“So, using the math in the plastic bag article our new governor (J.B. Pritzker) states there are 400,000,000 (that’s 400 million bags) the stores provide each year in Illinois. Seriously?”
The city of Chicago has a 7-cent bag tax (from which the city gets 5 cents and the retailer keeps 2 cents).
The city collected $5.6 million in 2017 and $5.9 million in 2018 from the bag tax.
Since Chicago’s population is about 21 percent of the state’s population, Pritzker’s budget team probably multiplied $5.9 million times 5, calculated for some loss from consumer behavior (primarily customers opting for reusable bags or no bags) and arrived at approximately $20 million.
That’s probably close, but part of the proposed state bag tax will be retained by retailers, like it is in the city. And, man, that’s a lot of bags. Whew.
* The Question: Do you support a state tax on plastic shopping bags? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who received payment after claiming she had a sexual encounter with now-President Donald Trump, will appear at Deja Vu Showgirls nightclub, 3220 Lake Plaza Drive, on March 22. […]
Earlier that day, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, will take part in a protest against the Live Adult Entertainment Facility Surcharge Act, a “sin tax” that was enacted in 2014, at the Illinois State Capitol.
Wait. What?
Money raised by that tax goes to the Sexual Assault Services and Prevention Fund, which assists victims of sexual assault and helps pay for sexual assault prevention programs.
* Some strip clubs appear to have been dodging the tax for years. From April of 2018…
A state law sometimes irreverently called a “sin tax” requires all strip clubs that sell alcohol to collect $3 from each patron or pay a flat fee based on income that goes into a fund to support rape crisis centers.
But a survey by the BND of active strip clubs in Illinois affected by the Live Adult Entertainment Facility Surcharge Act found at least 58 clubs open for business — which is 19 more than paid into the fund in 2016.
When the Live Adult Entertainment Facility Surcharge Act was enacted effective in 2014, supporters estimated that more than $1 million per year would be collected, but last year, about half — $532,000 — was collected, the state reported.
While clubs regularly open and close down, making a precise, year-to-year comparison difficult, the BND’s total reflects an increase of 49 percent over the number of clubs that actually paid last year and 29 percent over 2015.
Based on the per-club average collected in 2015-16, or $11,745 per club, non-payment potentially cost rape crisis centers tens of thousands of dollars in 2016 and 2015.
Sen. Toi Hutchinson, who introduced the legislation, told me today that Daniels and others are “welcome to protest and identify another source of funds to go to sexual assault centers across the state. They still need help.”
* I was just in a conversation about Daniels the other night. I did not express my love for her. But I’d forgotten that she claimed she and her daughter had been threatened if she didn’t stay quiet. I can definitely understand her anger.
However, I don’t understand her involvement in this protest aside from the possible monetary benefits of shilling for the interests of strip club owners while on a tour of strip clubs.
…Adding… From comments…
Maybe a reporter could ask her about the statement she made just a few months ago- Stormy Daniels: I’ll seek new lawyer if Avenatti domestic violence allegations prove true. {sigh}
She was willing to fire her attorney if the allegations were true, then why is she protesting a funding source that helps victims? Or maybe a reporter could ask if she is willing to donate a portion of her IL profits to fund the victim services.
* 89 were civil service positions (plus nine employees who have had their retirement contract term lengths reduced)
* 2 were Admin positions
* 29 were faculty members
* 12 were Academic Support Personnel […]
* Most Admin and ASP personnel, depending on the length of service, will have 6 months notice, but some ASP’s are contractual and their notices span 3-9 months depending on service.
* Unit A (tenured and tenure track) faculty get a full year notice. They will teach the 2019-2020 academic year, and be complete by the end of Spring 2020 semester (May 19, 2020)
* Unit B faculty (non-tenure track) will finish the semester (May 14, 2019).
“As a result of the current budget situation, including decreased enrollment, it is necessary to reduce our expenditures, including position reductions across the University. We have pledged to work with employees to provide career counseling and assistance with employment searches,” said WIU President Jack Thomas in a statement.
The university has struggled with declining enrollment for several years. A last-ditch effort, #BuyIntoWIU, sought to stave off the layoffs.
“Unfortunately, 20 years of state disinvestment and 12 years of unimpeded enrollment decline have brought Western Illinois to the point we are today. In order to avoid a potential catastrophe in the fall when the university may be unable to meet payroll, WIU caused a catastrophe now, the largest layoff in its history,” said Bill Thompson, president of the WIU chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois union. “This announcement is devastating on all fronts. We encourage the university to rediscover its mission and head toward a future that does not include layoffs and all the havoc they will bring to our community. Our union will protect our members’ rights during these layoffs and, as always, help lead the way into the future.”
* From the Illinois Federation of Teachers…
IFT President Dan Montgomery said:
“After years of intentionally starving our public colleges and universities of critical resources in order to push a rejected political agenda, we are finally seeing the fruits of Bruce Rauner’s labor coming to bear. The cuts announced today will be devastating to Western Illinois University. We know that Governor Pritzker and the state legislature recognize the importance of undoing Rauner’s damage and appreciate the recent budget proposal to increase investment in higher education. Unfortunately, this funding won’t come soon enough. We strongly support our members who serve students at WIU and join them in calling for an emergency appropriation to help their community through this difficult chapter. It is critical that Western Illinois University remain strong not only for the faculty and students who call it home, but for the broader region that relies on this vital economic engine.”
UPI President John Miller said:
“For the third time, Western Illinois University has announced layoffs of faculty, staff and employees. These cuts will have a negative impact on WIU and devastate families and the broader communities of western Illinois. We join with more than 4,000 students, supporters, and alumnae who have signed the “Buy Into Western Illinois University” petition to call on Governor Pritzker to quickly appoint a new WIU Board of Trustees and support an emergency appropriation for the University. Emergency funding would mitigate these cuts and begin to undo the harm caused by the chronic underfunding of our public universities over the last two decades. Further, Western Illinois University needs to develop a new vision and direction fulfill its mission as a regional, comprehensive institution where students earn a quality degree and secure a bright future. Our students, communities, and employees deserve nothing less.”
I’ve asked the Pritzker administration for comment.
*** UPDATE *** Pritzker administration…
After years of cuts, the governor has proposed increasing funding for higher education and is working to pass a fair tax so the state can make investments in higher education for years to come. The administration has been in contact with stakeholders like IFT to see how best to address their immediate needs for their members and students.
I’ve asked the IFT for comment.
* Related…
* WIU Program Elimination Review Committee Makes Recommendations: There is a list of 18 academic programs at Western Illinois University being considered for elimination. A report reviewing each of them has been turned over to the administration and decisions are expected soon.
“We’re shortly going to be having conversations with leadership about rate structure, for the graduated income tax, to make sure we have a fair tax system. That’s the very first thing we’re going to go after over the next week or two, we’ll be having those conversations,” Pritzker said. “I’ve said all along that you need to negotiate the rates and the breakpoints for a new tax system in the state so that middle class taxpayers will pay less. So we can offer a real estate tax break for people all across the state. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
One place that really, truly needs property tax relief is the south suburbs. But I’m not sure if more state money is the sole answer there. Something needs to be done about the way property tax money is distributed in that county and the region needs some serious economic development assistance.
* From Crain’s, here’s the tax bill on houses sold for $330,000…
In Wheaton, which is about as far west of downtown Chicago as Flossmoor is south, a house on Burning Trail that sold Feb. 12 for $510,000 has a property tax bill of $11,240, or less than half the Flossmoor home’s $23,420 bill. The same distance north of the Loop, in Highland Park, a house on St. Charles Place that sold for $500,000 on Feb. 20 has a property tax bill of about $13,200.
Tax rates in south Cook County municipalities are, on average, about twice those in western and northern towns. […]
A key reason for south Cook County’s higher property taxes is the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana areas in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, which has shifted the tax burden onto homeowners. In the years after the housing bust, south Cook County was hit hard by foreclosures. At the height of the crisis, about 1 in 20 homes were in foreclosure in many south suburbs—Calumet City, Hazel Crest, Markham and Olympia Fields among them—compared with a countywide peak of about 1 in 33, according to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. The foreclosure crisis left homes empty or decrepit, further shifting the tax burden to the owners of viable homes.
And then the state made it worse by giving seniors a huge tax break that left the few remaining residents paying full freight.
Chicago mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot released her first TV ad of the runoff election, “Change.” Filmed primarily at Lightfoot’s election night celebration, the ad captures the grassroots momentum that propelled Lightfoot to first place and highlights the importance of electing an independent reformer to bring needed change all across the city. This is Lightfoot’s second TV ad. Lightfoot released her first TV ad, “Light,” on February 6th.
Toni Preckwinkle started running a TV ad on Thursday.
“I traveled across the city and saw people struggling with repossessed cars and rising rent,” says Lightfoot in the ad. “With underfunded neighborhood schools and gun violence on their blocks. I know, on a deeply personal level, that we need change. This election is about demanding an independent, accountable City Hall that serves the people, not the political machine.”
Human error caused the switching system issue that brought rail traffic to an almost standstill at Union Station Thursday, affecting tens of thousands of Amtrak and Metra passengers, Amtrak said Friday.
“The root cause was human error in the process of deploying a server upgrade in our technology facility that supports our dispatch control system at Chicago Union Station,” Amtrak said in a statement. “We failed to provide the service that Amtrak customers, Metra commuters and the general public expect of us. We own the system. We will fix this problem.”
Metra and Amtrak service returned to normal for Friday morning’s rush but it was an entirely different scene at Union Station on Thursday, as more than 60,000 Chicago-area commuters either faced crowds and long delays.
* From Sen. Richard Durbin…
I talked to [Amtrak CEO and President Richard Anderson] this morning and in blunt terms, asked him what happened in Chicago yesterday? Why did thousands of commuters see their service interrupted? He was honest and direct, and admitted that Amtrak made a series of errors.
The most important error they made was to decide to do a server upgrade to their computers during peak hours of service. This should be done in the middle of the night when only a handful of trains are running. Along with that, a worker fell on a circuit board, which turned off the computers and lead to the interruption of service that went on all day long.
Today, Amtrak issued a public apology to the people who were inconvenienced in Chicago yesterday. Mr. Anderson also told me there will be changes made when it comes to computer programming and upgrades in the future. But my job in Washington, along with Senator Tammy Duckworth, is to ensure that these federal agencies are held accountable. Amtrak failed yesterday, but I appreciate their honesty.
Emphasis added because… holy moly, how irresponsibly stupid can you get?
The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition on Thursday announced a comprehensive clean energy bill that would bring the state to 100% renewable energy by 2050 with a carbon free power sector by 2030.
The Clean Energy Jobs Act (SB 2132) calls for the procurement of at least 16,500 MW of solar and 7,300 MW of wind by 2031 to reach 50% renewables. It’s divided into four “pillars” — reaching 100% renewables by 2050, gaining a 100% carbon free power sector by 2030, drastically reducing emissions from the transportation sector and creating thousands of clean energy jobs. […]
The state’s original clean energy mandate was to generate 25% of its electricity from renewables by 2025. Gov. J.B. Pritzker ran his campaign in part on doubling the mandate, making the new bill, introduced one month into his term, a more ambitious undertaking. […]
The bill also aims to drastically reduce emissions by expanding electric vehicle infrastructure and incentives, with a goal to reduce pollution levels equivalent to getting 1 million gas vehicles off the road. It also directs the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to place more stringent emissions caps on power plants ramping them down each year until they reach zero emissions in 2030.
Putting more renewables on the electric grid also makes it easier to clean up our transportation sector, which is now the largest source of carbon pollution in Illinois. Although electric vehicles already pollute less than gasoline-powered vehicles, as the electricity we use to charge those vehicles gets cleaner, we can reduce pollution even more. At the same time, electric vehicles paired with smart charging technologies can help our electric grid run more efficiently. The Clean Energy Jobs Act aims to take advantage of these opportunities while removing the equivalent of one million gasoline-powered vehicles off the road.
New incentives and infrastructure to support electric vehicles would help spur this process, including support for “light duty” electric vehicles like cars and trucks, which can save drivers money and create 70 percent less pollution than similar gas-powered vehicles. It would also include incentives to transition towards electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which is critical in part because many of today’s heavy-duty vehicles run on diesel and cause serious health problems for people in communities with heavy truck traffic. The bill also pairs electric vehicle incentives with smart charging programs to ensure that electric vehicles can charge at “off-peak” hours (such as late at night) when electricity is relatively cheap, plentiful and clean. Finally: in addition to expanding electric vehicles, Illinois should expand non-motorized transportation options like walking, biking and mass transit, which could be included in a capital bill.
That would certainly cut in to Motor Fuel Tax receipts.
If passed, an estimated 40 million solar panels and 2,500 wind turbines would be installed, adding an estimated $30 billion to Illinois infrastructure according to the release.
* Requires that 45% of power come from renewables by 2030 and 100% by 2050;
* Continues growing rooftop solar by expanding the existing Adjustable Block Program and rebate program to compensate homeowners and businesses for adding solar to the grid;
* Ensures the continued growth of community solar;
* Expands the Illinois Solar for All program, which works to provide access to solar for low- and moderate-income communities;
* Requires utilities to engage in a transparent and comprehensive distribution system planning process to identify opportunities to use customer-sited distributed solar and storage to improve grid reliability and reduce grid maintenance costs; and
* Requires the Illinois Power Authority to procure capacity to meet the state’s resource adequacy requirements, thereby mitigating PJM market rules that serve to prop up fossil fuel plants and delay emission reductions.
The new bill would incentivize “on-site distributed generation in projects that are 100% low-income subscriber owned, including low-income households, not-for-profit organizations, and affordable housing owners, as well as projects 100% owned by households located in environmental justice communities,” as a bill summary notes. […]
The bill creates an electric vehicle program targeted specifically at low-income communities, including through low-cost electric vehicle car-sharing and “carbon free last mile” programs where electric shuttles or cars, bikes and scooters would be available to help commuters get from home and work to public transit hubs.
And the bill calls for a “just transition” to help communities and workers where coal plants may close or the energy transition otherwise has an economic impact. […]
The bill would create “energy empowerment zones” with tax incentives and state economic development resources aimed at supporting workers and communities where coal plants close, and cleaning up and reusing the sites. […]
The bill calls for the creation of a $25 million clean jobs workforce hub, wherein labor unions, employers, frontline organizations and other stakeholders would work together to train and provide direct assistance to communities of color and underserved communities in accessing renewable energy-related jobs.
It also calls for an “Expanding Clean Energy Entrepreneurship and Contractor Incubator” program to provide support to “disadvantaged businesses and contractors,” including through low-cost lending and help with insurance and other financial requirements.
* Citizens Utility Board…
The Clean Energy Jobs Act is the only legislation in Springfield focused on keeping a lid on energy costs for Illinois utility customers. For instance, it would defend against a threat by out-of-state fossil fuel power generators that want to slam most Illinois consumers with higher electricity bills. Because the declining price of clean energy has eaten into their profits, for years now those generators have been on a campaign to change the rules of the PJM capacity market, undermine Illinois’ successful energy reforms, and make most electric customers in Illinois pay more for power they don’t need. To answer that threat, the Clean Energy Jobs Act would put the Illinois Power Agency fully in charge of the state’s clean energy policy, creating the opportunity to save consumers money while greatly expanding renewable energy investment in the state.
The Clean Energy Jobs Act would boost gas and electric efficiency programs, reduce peak electricity demand, and take advantage of the falling cost of wind and solar power. Such improvements are always good for consumers, proving that Illinois can keep utility bills in check as it moves down the path to 100 percent clean energy.
* This is a brand new bill and it will undoubtedly be amended further…
Although the bills have many sponsors and much support across the state, Castro addressed the concerns with how ambitious they appear.
“This legislation outlines our goals, these are not set deadlines,” Castro said. “We want to strive to meet these goals, but most importantly we want to see progress in our state by using more renewable energy, even if it may take a little longer than expected.”
A spokeswoman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in an emailed statement: “Governor Pritzker applauds the Clean Jobs Coalition’s previous work, and looks forward to reviewing the bill.”
* Related…
* How this ComEd power play is blocking an archrival - The Chicago electricity giant is taking extraordinary steps to kill a deal to sell 20 miles of high-voltage lines in Rochelle to the nation’s largest wind-power generator. Here’s why.
* With smart grid completed, ComEd budgets as if it never happened - A new four-year capital plan shows ComEd spending even more per year than it did on its smart grid. That means higher rates, but this time ComEd is short on specifics of what we’re paying for.
Illinois’ people problem is worsening. And it’s driven by residents leaving for greener pastures.
From July 2017 to July 2018, Illinois’ population shrank by more than 45,000 people, behind only New York for the worst raw population decline in the nation, according to data released Dec. 19 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The largest driver of Illinois’ population decline? More people are leaving for other states than arriving from other states. Over the year, Illinois lost 114,000 people on net to other states, or roughly 313 residents per day.
* That sort of focus is driving pretty much all media coverage. Tribune…
Mary Miller lived in Illinois for all of her 44 years until July, when she and her family left their north suburban Wauconda home to resettle in Florida.
“It’s taxes. It’s corruption. It’s politics,” she said. “And I don’t mean Republicans or Democrats, it’s all of them.”
Miller wasn’t alone in her departure from the state. Illinois has declined in population for the fifth year in a row, losing an estimated 45,116 residents from 2017 to 2018, according to the latest Census Bureau data released Wednesday.
That was a greater drop than the previous year, when Illinois lost about 40,000 people — as well as its spot as the fifth-largest state in the nation to Pennsylvania.
* But nobody seems to be looking at the overall growth and decline rates. Pew Charitable Trusts…
All but two states—Illinois and West Virginia—gained residents over the past decade, even as population growth nationally continued to slow. Following the long-term trend, the United States in 2018 grew at its weakest pace in more than 80 years, with nine states losing residents. Population trends matter to both state government finances and economic growth. […]
Illinois and West Virginia were the only states with fewer residents in 2018 than a decade earlier. West Virginia lost about 34,500 people since 2008, or the equivalent of 0.19 percent a year, and has recorded population losses for the past six years. Illinois’ growth rate was virtually flat over the same period, shedding about 6,000 residents since 2008 and losing population for the past five years. […]
More recently, population change from July 2017 to July 2018 shows… The nine states that lost population were West Virginia (‑0.62 percent), Illinois (‑0.35 percent), Alaska (‑0.32 percent), Hawaii (‑0.26 percent), New York (-0.25 percent), Louisiana (‑0.23 percent), Wyoming (‑0.21 percent), Mississippi (-0.1 percent), and Connecticut (‑0.03 percent). Losses in each over the past year were driven by people moving out of the state, and West Virginia also had more deaths than births.
The problem is other states are growing while we are staying flat or even shrinking. And that is a real problem. Also, those 2018 numbers are not good.
* Arguing that we need to invest in infrastructure is easy peasy…
It’s happening all over the state, according to Craig Fink, an engineer with Tazewell County and former president of the Illinois Association of County Engineers. And it could get worse.
The association tracks how many miles of roads are having maintenance deferred or suspended all together. The analysis shows this year nearly half of their roads, 47 percent, will suffer from some form of neglect. […]
That’s more than double the bad roads there were five years ago.
* The big argument is how to pay for it. Sun-Times editorial…
Legislators in Springfield, both Democrats and Republicans, love to stress that Illinois must do what’s necessary to remain competitive with neighboring states. So consider this:
In 2017 in Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb approved a 10-cent-per-gallon hike in the state’s gasoline tax to pay for infrastructure repairs and construction, and another penny per gallon was added last year. In 2015 in Iowa, Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation to raise the gasoline tax a dime per gallon. Currently in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine is proposing an 18-cents-per-gallon increase. In Michigan, a bipartisan group of former legislative leaders has called for a gasoline tax hike of 47 cents a gallon — to pay for infrastructure — over nine years. And Wisconsin’s new governor, Tony Evers, has signaled that he favors a gasoline tax hike there to pay for infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the buying power of Illinois’ motor fuel tax is about half of what it was, in real dollars, when James R. Thompson was governor.
Last week, the Metropolitan Planning Council hosted “Paying by the mile: A new way to fund transportation,” a roundtable comprised of experts exploring mileage-based user fees, a per-mile road user charge that helps fund transportation infrastructure and maintenance.
On the panel was Maureen Bock of the Oregon Department of Transportation and program manager of OReGO, Oregon’s road user charge program; Nate Bryer, vice president of innovation at Azuga, a GPS and fleet tracking data company providing the technology for multiple mileage-based user fee programs; and Audrey Wennink, director of transportation at MPC. Moderating the panel was David Schaper, correspondent on NPR’s National Desk based in Chicago.
Bryer opened the conversation with a presentation on Azuga’s technology and where it’s been tested. Azuga has assisted in developing user-friendly account management systems for programs in California, Colorado, and Washington, among other places. Bryer discussed how Azuga’s technology helps provide a tool to determine road user charging by capturing miles driven by users, in addition to providing transportation planning data. “The fuel tax is an elegant tax, probably one of the most elegant taxes known to man,” Bryer said. “The flaw is that it’s single use.”
Yeah, but a House Democrat recently tabled a bill to institute a pilot project because of all the heat he received.
Saying the state’s newest constitutional amendment doesn’t reduce Cook County’s home rule powers to tax and spend, a Cook County judge has rejected a bid by a coalition of road building contractors and others to force the county to spend $250 million more on transportation projects.
On Feb. 22, Cook County Circuit Judge Peter Flynn granted the county’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the road builders’ coalition.
The lawsuit had challenged the county’s authority to reroute hundreds of millions dollars to the county’s Public Safety Fund, when the coalition said the so-called Safe Roads Amendment requires the county to spend on roads, bridges and other transportation-related infrastructure.
Judge Flynn, however, said the coalition’s interpretation of the Safe Roads Amendment’s mandates is flawed, as the drafters of the amendment did not craft the amendment in a way to reduce the ability of the county and other so-called “home rule” units of local government to allocate resources as local leaders deemed necessary.
“… The Constitution itself contains … a very specific means of limiting the powers of home rule units,” Judge Flynn wrote. “The Safe Roads Amendment simply does not use that means. Its drafters could have done so. They did not. Enough said.
“What is more, the drafters manifestly did not intend to do so. They themselves disclaimed, in the ballot summary given to voters, any intent to impair home rule powers. In this instance, their actions and their words coincided perfectly.”
…Adding… A vow to appeal…
A broad-based industry coalition vowed to appeal a Cook County Circuit Court judge’s dismissal of a case brought against Cook County for violations of the Safe Roads Amendment to the Illinois Constitution (Article IX, Section 11). The suit alleges that Cook County unlawfully diverts approximately $250 million annually in revenue collected from transportation-related taxes and fees. The County filed a motion to dismiss claiming that the plaintiffs lacked standing, and that Cook County is exempt from complying with the Safe Roads Amendment to the Illinois Constitution.
Rockford has had representation on the Illinois Tollway board of directors for decades. The tollway is important to the region’s economic development efforts because it makes it easy to move goods to and from here, and especially from the airport, which is booming because of the growth of its cargo business.
Lawmakers voted Jan. 9 to end the terms of all nine tollway board members, including Earl Dotson Jr. of Rockford. The housecleaning came months after a series of stories by The Daily Herald reported that tollway contracts had gone to political insiders and that thousands of dollars had been spent to send staff members to banquets where tollway leaders were speakers. The newspaper uncovered other questionable practices as well.
Pritzker announced his choices for new directors Thursday. We’re disappointed that there wasn’t a person from Rockford among the picks, but we are impressed by the talent that has been selected.
“No matter where somebody is from, this tollway board was appointed by me with a focus on economic development. The tollway is just one feature of economic development, but a very important one,” Pritzker said.
* The Daily Herald plots out where the new suburban members live…
The new tollway chairman is Will Evans, an electrical engineer who is the retired president of People’s Gas and North Shore Gas and now an energy consultant. The Skokie resident also is president of the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association.
Suburban representatives include former state Sen. Karen McConnaughay of Geneva; Western Springs Village President Alice Gallagher; Wheaton resident Stephen Davis, who is chairman of The Will Group; Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway President Scott Paddock of Orland Park; and architect Cesar Santoy of Berwyn. Paddock is not related to the longtime owners of Paddock Publications, which publishes the Daily Herald.
Western Springs borders on the Central Tri-State Tollway, which is being widened.
“It’s important for someone who has a municipality along that stretch to advocate on behalf of all the municipalities,” Gallagher said. […]
Labor representatives include International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 President James Sweeney, a former tollway director; Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters executive Gary Perinar of Shorewood; and Chicago and Vicinity Laborers’ District Council Business Manager Jim Connolly of Palos Park.
So, you’ve got Cook (with five members), Kane, DuPage and Will. Winnebago is out and so is Lake County.
And if it’s important for Western Springs to have somebody on the board, what about Lake, which has been struggling to come to terms with an extension of Route 53 forever?
* Related…
* Gov. Pritzker returns Operating Engineers’ union leader Sweeney to Illinois Tollway Board: The union was an adamant opponent of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s efforts to weaken organized labor’s power. While it backed Pritzker, the union-affiliated Fight Back Fund and the engineers’ Washington, D.C.-based affiliate gave more than $4.3 million to Republican state Sen. Sam McCann’s third-party run for governor in 2018, which was widely viewed as an effort to further weaken Rauner’s re-election chances.
* I saw this the other day and thought it was odd. Airbnb appears to be holding out for a “voluntary agreement” before it pays taxes…
A year after the Springfield City Council passed an ordinance that would tax online travel companies, the city says it hasn’t seen a dime from Airbnb. […]
About 5,000 people were hosted in Sangamon County homes through Airbnb in 2018, resulting in $449,000 in income, according to a press release sent by Airbnb last month. Only the hosts in Springfield — a majority of the stays — would be taxed. […]
Benjamin Breit, an Airbnb spokesperson, said Thursday that Airbnb believes the city’s code doesn’t capture platforms like Airbnb to collect and remit taxes on behalf of its operators. He added the company is “still more than willing” to enter into a voluntary tax agreement with city.
“Whenever the city is ready to move forward on an agreement, we look forward to collecting taxes on behalf of our Springfield hosts,” Breit wrote in an email.
Airbnb has agreements with Illinois cities like Evanston, Rockford and Oak Park to collect their portions of a lodging tax. It has had an agreement to collect the state of Illinois’ 6 percent lodging tax since 2015.
This is most definitely a thing with the company. Airbnb claims it has these sorts of agreements with over 275 state and local governments throughout the country.
* And the company boasted about these collections in a press release today, which is what reminded me of that SJ-R story above…
Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, announced today the company remitted $12.7 million in tax revenue to the State of Illinois on behalf of its local hosts in 2018.
Collecting and remitting lodging taxes can be complicated and it is for this reason Airbnb has worked with hundreds of governments throughout the world to collect and remit taxes, making the process seamless and easy for hosts while contributing valuable revenue for local comptrollers and tax collectors. Illinois was one of the first local governments to partner with Airbnb, via an agreement in late 2015 authorizing the home sharing platform to collect and remit the Illinois Hotel Operators Occupation Tax.
While the state tax agreement was Airbnb’s first in Illinois, the platform has since partnered with local governments to collect and remit local occupancy taxes on behalf of hosts in Chicago, Cook County, Schaumburg, Oak Park, Rockford, Naperville and Evanston. Airbnb is the only short-term rental platform currently that collects Illinois state taxes.
* You ever have one of those mornings when absolutely nothing seems to go right? Yeah. That’s me today. Talk amongst yourselves, but keep it Illinois-centric and be nice to each other. Thanks.
