Thread: Cook County, Illinois: How much more can we take?

How much more can we take?

Stroger defends his call for higher taxes than needed as more fiscally responsible -- and says he might give some back

October 18, 2007
BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter

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.

»Cook County Board President Todd Stroger unveils his budget and talks with the Sun-Times Editorial Board.
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)

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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.


http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/6091 ... 18.article

I wonder what Todd will do when there is nobody left in Cook County but the non taxpaying, service depleting illegal aliens?

Isn't this whole thing a joke! I mean it would be a really funny comedy show if it wasn't for the fact it's true. These people are tax insane. Boils down to one thing......King Daley wants the olympics and doesn't care how he gets it. Stroger, I guess, has a few more relatives and friends who need a job. And the corruption continues......**** rolls down hill and the citizens are drowning.

Originally Posted by Stroger

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.

using that same rational- each payday all citizens should just endorse the backs of their pay check and send it to stroger.... but if we did that then he would make us do more overtime or maybe get a second job... you know the 'HE has to make ends meet thing....' sorry for the sarcasm.

if cook county hospital is this fiscally unsound it needs to close. it serves cook county right, they are the ones that declared CC a santuary county.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Isn't this whole thing a joke! I mean it would be a really funny comedy show if it wasn't for the fact it's true. These people are tax insane. Boils down to one thing......King Daley wants the olympics and doesn't care how he gets it. Stroger, I guess, has a few more relatives and friends who need a job. And the corruption continues......**** rolls down hill and the citizens are drowning.

In a nutshell crazybird. Lucky for all of these crooks that the housing market is tanking otherwise I'm sure even more people would be looking for another state or county to relocate to. Stroger and Daley are cut from the same cloth, living off of the proceeds of their daddy's legacy. As for the Olympics, Daley can forget it if the crime stats and poor transportation situation comes to light. Chicago is in deep financial trouble and the taxpayers are mad as hell. I left Cook County 4 years ago and now live in DuPage County where homes are expensive but propety taxes are much cheaper and the county is run responsibly.