How much more can we take?
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Chicago Sun-Times
By Steve Patterson, Staff Reporter
October 18, 2007
Stroger defends his call for
higher taxes than needed as more fiscally responsible -- and
says he might give some back
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.
Many commissioners and civic leaders aren't buying it.
Regardless, Stroger is pushing forward with a plan to fund
the $3.2 billion county and $153 million Forest Preserve operations
by:
• Raising the Forest Preserve District's property tax
share by 2.8 percent.
• Hiking the sales tax 267 percent -- from .75 percent
to 2.75 percent.
• Increasing the gasoline tax 100 percent -- from 6
cents a gallon to 12 cents a gallon.
• Driving up parking taxes 100 percent -- from about
$20 to $40 for monthly parkers.
Stroger's budget plan calls for filling a $239 million deficit
at the county, while also budgeting 1,152 new jobs in the
two governments -- most of which are for health care and public
safety, though virtually every county office will see an increase
in staffing.
That's a drastic departure from last year's county budget,
in which Stroger mandated 17 percent cuts across the board,
with no tax increases.
"There simply are not enough cuts left to fully close
our budget gap while maintaining vital services," Stroger
said, saying that the common practice of elected officials
coming back each year to ask for taxpayer funds is too cumbersome
and results in only "patchwork taxes."
He predicts he could repeal the gas and parking taxes in future
years -- and simply rely on adding 2 percentage points to
the sales tax to provide, year after year, necessary funds
for county government. Because a sales tax wouldn't be approved
until later in the year, the county wouldn't realize a full
year of its benefits, leading to the need for other taxes
in 2008, he said.
But critics say a sales tax disproportionately hurts poor
people, and a majority of board members have indicated they
will reject such a plan.
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said it's a sign
of Stroger's "insatiable appetite for new and expensive
taxes" and shows "no signs of restraint during times
of great economic difficulty for many."
Commissioner Forrest Claypool said giving more cash to Stroger
would simply "allow him to continue to protect patronage
jobs and bureaucracy at the expense of public health and public
safety."
Stroger's decision to mesh the two budget presentations Wednesday
was a sign to Benjamin Cox, head of Friends of the Forest
Preserves, that the Forest Preserve District has become "an
afterthought. This is why they need a separate board. They
have a highly troubled county government to worry about, and
the forest preserves go to the bottom of their list. That's
got to change," Cox said.
Stroger will conduct public hearings and budget sessions with
the County Board, where he said he expects plenty of "give
and take."
The budget must be passed by the end of February.
