TAX HIKE ALERT – Tax Cap Under Seige in Springfield Next Week

The Chicago Tribune has finally noticed the impact of last year’s minuscule CPI increase on schools.

Readers of McHenry County Blog could have figured out the angst school and other tax district officials are feeling well before the Thursday Tribune article.

See

12-18-8 McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry Thinks “Negative” Multipliers May Be in Offing Next Year

12-19-8 Tax District Officials Will Say, “Oh, Bleep!” When They Read This

12-21-8 Illinois Community College Trustees Association Calls for “Improving” the Tax Cap

12-22-8 Teachers’ Friends on School Board Make Costly Last Minute Change in Salary Hike Formula

1-16-9 New Paradigm for Illinois Tax Districts

Diana Rado, who used to be the Tribune’s best education writer until she met one of those downsizing problems, writes as a free lancer that

the one-tenth of one percent increase in the Consumer Price Index “means most taxpayers can expect only slight increases in their 2009 tax bills, which are paid in 2010.“

She points out that tax referendums “not a very viable possibility in the current recession.”

I Cary Grade School District 26 board didn’t get the memo.

Rado reports,

“One bill filed in the General Assembly in February would prevent the cap from falling below 2 percent. Another bill would allow the use of a different inflation measure in the formula—an employment cost index that tracks changes in labor costs—which could benefit school districts.”

I find 110 bills designed to gut the tax cap.

Two concerning allowing a minimum of a two percent increase in what schools can get each year, even if the CPI is less, are

  • Rep. Art Turner’s House Bill 2502 and
  • Sen. Lou Viverito’s Senate Bill 2126

Turner’s bill has joint sponsors—Frank Mautino, Linda Chapa LaVia, and William Davis—from each of the House Democratic Party caucuses in addition to long-time Republican tax cap buster advocate school superintendent Roger Eddy.

Viverito has no co-sponsors, but he is Chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee.

Both bills are posted for hearing next week. The House hearing is Nest Thursday at 9 AM. The Senate hearing is at 2 on Wednesday.

Members on the House Revenue Committee follow:

Chairperson John E. Bradley D

Vice-Chairperson: Frank J. Mautino D

Member: Bob Biggins R

Member: Suzanne Bassi R

Member: Mark H. Beaubien, Jr. R

Member: Linda Chapa LaVia D

Member: Barbara Flynn Currie D

Member: Roger L. Eddy R

Member: LaShawn K. Ford D

Member: Careen M Gordon D

Member: Ed Sullivan, Jr. R

Member: Arthur L. Turner D

Member: Michael J. Zalewski D

The Senate Revenue Committee members follow:

Chairperson Louis S. Viverito D

Vice-Chairperson: James T. Meeks D

Member: M. Maggie Crotty D

Member: Susan Garrett D

Member: Mike Jacobs D

Member: Jeffrey M. Schoenberg D

Minority Spokesperson : Chris Lauzen R

Member: Bill Brady R

Member: Randall M. Hultgren R

Member: Matt Murphy R

By clicking on their names, you can find their phone numbers, if you wish to call them.

Other bills to worry about are

  • Aurora’s Rep. Chapa LaVia’s HB 2237, which would take pension payments out from under the tax cap.
  • SB 1513, sponsored by Sen. James Clayborne of East St. Louis. Both are Democrats.

Comments

TAX HIKE ALERT – Tax Cap Under Seige in Springfield Next Week — 2 Comments

  1. HB817 replaces the CPI with the ECI (employment cost index) for calculating the cap under PTELL. The CPI represents what taxpayers earn, the ECI represents what school districts pay. If school district salaries rise faster than taxpayer salaries, this robs the taxpayers.

Leave a Reply

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