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* With all the talk about proposed tax hikes in Chicago, Cook County, the RTA region and the state, this whopper, which on a per capita basis makes all those other tax ideas look pretty tiny, has gone almost unnoticed…

Fox Valley Park District trustees plan to ask voters for a $57 million tax increase in February to help pay for an all-encompassing list of capital projects. […]

The district has reached a point where its parks and facilities are either going to get better or worse, Executive Director Steve Messerli said.

“We’d like to move it up from good to great,” he said.

That’s quite a bold statement, but at least voters will have a direct say come February.

* Meanwhile, don’t follow leaders…

…the [Progressive and Independent Caucus in the Chicago city council] is now talking about putting together a package of revenue and cost-cutting alternatives to Daley’s record $108 million property tax increase.

“If you look at stories in the paper, the mayor hasn’t got the votes for the property tax increase. And that’s a third of the [new revenue]. We’ve got to think about what [alternative] options might be,” Preckwinkle said.

* Watch your parking meters…

Privatizing Chicago parking meters could produce a bonanza of revenue to build libraries, parks and schools, but it’s no substitute for raising taxes, Mayor Daley said Wednesday.

Concerned that aldermen might use the parking meter deal as an excuse to run even farther away from his $293 million tax package, Daley said he would insist the windfall be placed in a reserve fund with interest income set aside for long-term investment. It would not be used for day-to-day operations.

I’m not sure he can win that battle.

* And over in the county…

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger admits he wants more of your tax dollars than he really needs to operate his government every year.

But, he argues, it’s more fiscally responsible to ask for more now, so as not to have to keep coming back to ask you for more year after year.

Besides, he adds, if he can get more from you now, he might even be willing to give back some of it later.

Yeah. That’ll happen.

* Stroger is in deep denial…

Should citizens entrust $890 million a year in new tax revenues to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger? Put on a pair of Stroger Goggles, which distort reality, and you’ll see what he sees — a government that he says has achieved “enormous operational efficiencies” and adopted “modern business practices.”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 9:53 am

Comments

Hey, it’s worth a try. Those Cook County voters will believe anything. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they coughed up the cash.

Comment by Cassandra Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 10:10 am
Sorry guys, but I’m all tapped out.
Have you ever considered doing something other than asking me for more of my pay? I have to admit that I am pretty tired of being hit on by you nanny staters who want to be seen as heros with my cash. The folks you are promising freebies to aren’t as desperate as you are to enrich your bureaucracies and hire your families.

There are about a dozen better ways to run a government guys. Why don’t you try some of them before I just pack up and move to a state that understands reality.

OK?

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 10:12 am
I have a problem with tax increases that may be imposed by mere governmental fiat (gasoline taxes, parking meters), but I have less of a problem with placing referenda questions on tax issues before the electorate. By design, the property tax cap law compels non-home-rule taxing bodies to seek property tax increases when additional monies beyond those generated by the annual CPI-U increase are needed. This is a democratic process. That being said, $57 Million for the Aurora parks seems to be too steep.

Comment by Jake From Elwood Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 10:31 am
The Daleys and Strogers in our midst remind me of the old PacMan video game where the little character swallowed up everybody in sight. I think that it is good that these tape worms of our taxes are surfacing in such a crude manner and stirring up such a widespread resentment. It is about time that taxpayers say “enough” on the revenue side, balance your budgets by cutting the cost side. I wonder how many of those dupes who voted for Daley and Stroger would wish that the election were tomorrow. The %21 of registered voters who actually voted for Daley would be more like %10. Viva Mayor Putin!!

Comment by wallace Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 10:33 am
Stroger has a real genius for bad publ;c relations - submitting a budget proposal with a nearly billion dollar menu of tax increases. If this doesn’t ignite a tax revolt, nothing will!

The tax increase proposals are so outrageous that he has jeopardized his chances of getting a reasonable tax increase to fund the general increases in the cost of doing business. I guess the theory is that the Cook County Commissioners will get political cover by voting for a quarter of Stroger’s tax plan, enabling them to claim that they were against most of Stroger’s proposed tax increases.

Comment by Captain America Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 10:45 am
The City (and other municipalities) are holding onto TIF Revenues well in excess of current debt service and exiting project needs. THere may have been borrowings from these funds for use outside the TIFs.

This money should be given to all taxing bodies in proportion to their share of the total property tax rate.

Comment by Truthful James Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 11:40 am
The un-covered story here is the fact that we need to pay more in taxes at least in part because the B-Team gave tax breaks to the very rich.

Cook County has less money coming in from the feds, so even if the County were run by competent leadership, a tax hike would still be very much on the table.

This is wealth redistribution at its best. Rich people across the country pay less, and now poor people in the County need to pay more.

Nice job, Mr. Bush.

Comment by Skeeter Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 11:57 am
An update to Skeeter’s post, President Bush is also responsible for Britney losing her kids, the Cubs not winning the World Series in 100 years, and he personally created a scheme (with Mark Cuban and probably Cheney) to oust Floyd Mayweather from Dancing with the Stars.

Bush sucks, but let’s not make him any more of a bogeyman than he already is. I think there are home-grown factors more responsible for the mess in Cook County.

Comment by Gene Parmesan Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 12:17 pm
Gene,

Did Bush cut taxes on the rich or not?

Did the federal government cut the amount of money sent to the County or not?

If you facts to contradict the post, do so. Otherwise, stop whining.

Comment by Skeeter Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 12:23 pm
I appreciated the Subterannean Homesick Blues reference, and thought the final items might well be referenced with “man in a coonskin cap wants 11 dollar bills, but you only got ten.”

Comment by Bob Dylan Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 12:25 pm
Skeeter, your “un-covered” story was covered (at least partially) by Mickey Ciokajlo in the Tribune on October 7th, 2007. Correlating the Bush tax cuts to the reduction in Medicaid payments to Cook County seems like a stretch, but if you’re refering to other reductions in revenue from the feds, please fill me in.

Further, it’s misleading to discuss Bush’s role in this when the Stroger’s (Jr. & Sr.) have both played a much larger role in this fiasco. Discussions of how current revenue is spent, patronage, or how the fed money was spent on programs needing continuing funding as opposed to one time costs, etc. are more to blame for Cook County disarray than Bush’s tax cuts.

There is plenty of other stuff to blame on Bush, but this problem can be layed at Stroger and the Cook County Dems feet.

Comment by Gene Parmesan Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 12:48 pm
Its bushs fault skeeter thats pathetic. Maybe crook co. gets less money because its population is shrinking. People are leaving in droves because of absurd taxes and incompetant leadership. Less population means less fed money but somehow crook co cannot cut the patronage hacks that fill its bloated payroll.
I bet its Bushs fault that blago and madigan and jones cant agree on anything he keeps them mad at each other. Bush is to blame on the cubs collapse and the bears bad play too its a vast right wing conspiracy to get even with illinois for being a blue state.

Comment by FED UP Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 1:05 pm
OK. Enough.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 1:06 pm
I like Stroger. He is definitely better than his father.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 18, 07 @ 10:11 pm