Stroger struggles for support of tax hike

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ABC News
By Andy Shaw
November 19, 2007

Cook County board president Todd Stroger ran into trouble trying to sell his proposed sales tax increase Monday. He got together with other county leaders hoping for their support. While they backed his budget, they balked at endorsing the tax increase.

Stroger, the county commissioners and other elected officials who want to spend more money on programs have an obligation to support his tax proposals or come up with their own plans to raise revenue or cut services. But so far, Stroger is arguing with himself because most of the other politicians aren't proposing anything specific, and they are definitely not signing onto the Stroger tax plan.

"The board agreed when they passed initiatives, new revenue would need to be found to fund them. Now it is time to pay," said Stroger. "The consequences of a failure to identify new revenues are dire."

President Stroger is asking the other elected officials in Cook County to endorse his budget for next year, which would wipe out a $240 million deficit. It would put the county on solid financial footing for years by nearly tripling the county's portion of the sales tax to raise nearly a billion dollars a year.

But state's attorney Dick Devine, recorder of deeds Eugene Moore and court clerk Dorothy Brown are refusing to endorse the tax plan even though they do agree on the need for more revenue to pay salaries and maintain services.
"The public has a concern about a tax scheme that puts into the coffers more revenues than are necessary to balance the budget," said Devine.

Stroger reiterated that revenue is needed.

"The time to act so save Cook County services is now, and we need your help to stabilize and meet," said Dr. Janice Benson, county medical staff president.

The county's medical staff is supporting Stroger's call for enough new revenue to restore last year's budget cuts. But they're not supporting a specific tax plan. And they're demanding the health care facilities be run by an independent board, which is something commissioner Forrest Claypool supports after a study by his office found nearly 800 medical employees who've contributed campaign cash to Stroger and his allies in recent years.

"They lost their jobs. These are the bureaucrats that usually have political connections, and the fact that they kept their jobs proves the fact there's a lot of patronage politics," said Claypool.

The initial vote is scheduled for next week. Commissioner Claypool says there's no need for higher taxes if the county turns the healthcare system over to professionals who care more about patients than politics and if the county starts using modern technology to maximize revenue and cut costs like other counties around the country. They won the showdown last year, but this could be more difficult and Stroger may end up with part of his tax package. Many governmental bodies are asking for many taxes.

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