Franks’ “I’ll Cut Your Property Tax” Pitch from 18 Years Ago

In 1998, when Jack Franks had dark hair, he wrote a long op-ed piece for the Northwest Herald for October 26th, right before the fall election when he beat appointed incumbent Mike Brown.

The paper spread it across its entire page 5 in the Community Section.

Beneath it was was a similar sized column by Brown.

In it, Franks wrote about property tax relief.

“Many people told me of their concerns about their ever-increasing property taxes and their frustration with leaders who promise to cut property taxes at election time, but do nothing to fix the problem once they are elected.”

He said property tax problems discussed were “not insurmountable.”

Then he laid out his proposal, which he described as “an education funding-property tax reduction plan” called “25-25.”

“The plan calls for immediately taking 25% of our $1 billion surplus and using it for direct rebates to property-tax payers and using 25% of the surplus for a direct cash infusion into out schools.”

In the future, Franks said similar twenty-five percentages (50% in total) of revenue growth would go the same places.

I leave it to readers to determine how successful this Jack Franks’ 1998 property tax cut plan turned out.


Comments

Franks’ “I’ll Cut Your Property Tax” Pitch from 18 Years Ago — 8 Comments

  1. The Sheeple can’t remember that far back; many are going to make the same mistake all over again and vote for Lying Jack Franks.

    Makes you want to puke!

  2. Then the Sheeple get exactly what they deserve.

    They voted for Madigan and Obama repeatedly, didn’t they, in Illinois-see how we’ll that’s gone?

    I expect nothing less today- they’ll vote for Hillary; pathetic

  3. Darth Vader of Illinois, Madigan &
    Darth Vader 2 of Mchenry county
    Jacko Franco have managed to reek
    Financial disaster on Illinois & taxpayers
    for the last 18 years !

    People vote for nearly anyone year after
    Year who says what they want to hear
    Regardless of what their ACTIONS PROVE
    To the CONTRARY.

  4. At least Mr. Franks presented an outline of a plan in 1998.

    In 2016, after 18 years as a State Representative, he refuses to present even an outline of a plan about how every single taxing district in McHenry County can reduce its property tax levy (request to the County) until after the November 8, 2016 election.

    Does anyone believe property taxe levies of every taxing district in the county can be reduced by 10%, when no taxing sistricts have presented a plan to so?

    When many municipalities have underfunded “Downstate” police pensions.

    When Crystal Lake has an underfunded “Downstate” fire department pension.

    When most fire protection districts have grossly underfunded “Downstate” fire pensions.

    “Downstate police” and “Downstate Fire” are two of the 20 pension Articles in the Illinois Pension Code.

    Some smaller municipalities and fire protection districts have police and fire employees in the IMRF pension system, which is another article in the Illinois Pension Code.

    There is also an article for Chicago Police in the Illinois Pension Code.

    And an article for Chicago Fire.

    And counties other than Cook have Sheriff Department Personnel in the IMRF Sheriff Law Enforcement Plan (SLEP), which is part of the IMRF pension Article listed above.

    Cook County Sheriff personnel are in the Cook County Pension Fund, which is another Article in the Illinois Pension Code.

    The following are the various artickes in the Illinois Pension Code containing fire and police pensions.

    – Downstate Police

    – Downstate Fire

    – Chicago Police

    – Chicago Fire

    – IMRF: Regular plan for smaller police departments, fire departments, and fire protection districts; SLEP for County Sheriff other than Cook County

    – Cook County Pension fund for Cook County Sheriff personnel.

    The administration of Downstate Police and Downstate Fire is vastly different than IMRF.

    Each taxing district that participates in a downstate police and/or a downstate fire pension, has its own pension board and invests its own funds, resulting in hundreds of small pension plans, each following the rules in the Illinois Pensio Code Articles for Downstate Police and Downstate Fire.

    While each taxing district participating in IMRF has its own funding level, the investments are pooked into one giant fund.

    Underfunded Police and Fire pensions are probably the single biggest reason why Jack Franks probsbly cannot deliver a sustainable 10% property tax cut that is acceptable to voters.

    There will probably be strings atached, some sort of other tax hikes, fee hikes, cuts, etc. that are unacceptable to voter or public sector unions.

    If it sounds to good to be true, especially if no plan is presented, it probably cannot be taken at face value; there is likely wordsmithing involved.

    For example, what is the timeframe for the 10% property tax cut?

    Is it a 50 year tax cut ramp, akin to the infamous Edgar pension funding ramp?

    After 50 years we would finally reach the tax cut, if all sorts of assumptions and projections hold true.

    As if anyone can predict the future.

  5. Don’t forget . . . Jacko can’t do
    The math, therefore there there
    IS NO PLAN !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *