Peter Breen is the acting Village President of Lombard. He is running for the Republican nomination for State Rep. against incumbent Sandra M. Pihos, who was first elected in 2002.
Breen is using his elected position to advance his candidacy.
Of course, virtually all public officials do that, so it isn’t news.
What is news is that Breen has managed to stop the continual growth of the Lombard tax levy–at least for this year.
Score one for the taxpayers!
Read his press release below, especially, if you are serve in a locally elected office and plan to run for higher office:
Lombard Board Votes for First Property Tax Freeze in Over Twenty Years
LOMBARD – Last night, the Lombard Village Board voted 4-2 to freeze property taxes for the first time in over twenty years. Finance Committee Chairperson Trustee Peter Breen introduced the freeze, which cuts roughly one quarter million dollars from next year’s proposed Lombard property tax levy. Trustees Reid Foltyniewicz, Dan Whittington, and Laura Fitzpatrick also backed the measure.
“With our home values way down and so many people out of work, this is no time for a property tax increase.
“Our residents are tightening their belts, and our village government is doing the same.
“Lombard is showing that government can deliver quality service to residents and still hold the line on taxes and fees,” said Breen.
“From eliminating our annual village vehicle fee and sticker, to adopting the state’s toughest financial transparency policy, to this year’s property tax freeze, we’re proud to provide models that every unit of government can follow.
“Thursday night’s vote marks an end to the era of automatic property tax increases, imposed without regard to the actual cost to provide necessary government services.
“I call on every local unit of government to join Lombard in taking property tax increases off of ‘autopilot’ and instead return savings to the taxpayers.”
The Lombard Village Board has enacted significant cost savings measures in the past year, through a successful early retirement initiative and increased efficiencies in risk management policies and procedures.
This year alone, the village will put approximately $1.8 million into its utility tax reserve, which provides a cushion for fluctuations in future costs and a source of funds for future tax relief for residents.
Lombard’s annual budget is roughly $85 million. The village has approximately $46 million in assets and maintains full 25% reserves on its fund balances.
The Lombard village property tax levy has increased from over $4 million in 1992 to over $6 million in 2002 to over $8.5 million in 2012.
Peter Breen and Joe Alger
Year Levy
2012 8,667,319
2011 8,398,591
2010 8,194,273
2009 8,158,916
2008 8,064,399
2007 7,654,249
2006 7,335,700
2005 6,996,756
2004 6,672,672
2003 6,400,027
2002 6,146,183
2001 5,952,947
2000 5,662,074
1999 5,391,463
1998 5,210,760
1997 5,018,833
1996 4,790,442
1995 4,606,572
1994 4,439,096
1993 4,234,972
1992 4,050,209
Breen added in an email:
“For the record, I voted against the two prior increases in the property tax levy that have come before me as a board member, and I’ve been working the last two and a half years to win property tax relief.
“I promised the people of my district that I’d hold the line on taxes and fees, and last night’s accomplishment was a fulfillment of that promise.
About Peter Breen
Trustee Peter Breen has served the people of Lombard’s District Four since his election in 2011. In late 2012, Breen was selected by the Village Board to serve as Acting Village President of Lombard, following the sudden death of longtime President, William Mueller.
As Trustee, Breen authored and secured passage of the strongest municipal transparency policy in the state of Illinois, earning Lombard a 100% transparency rating from the Illinois Policy Institute.
As Acting Village President, Breen initiated a line-by-line review of the Village’s proposed 2013 annual budget, identifying and cutting over half a million dollars in spending without the loss of Village services, and returning those savings to taxpayers by permanently eliminating the Village’s annual vehicle sticker and fee. Breen currently heads the Lombard Finance Committee, having previously led the Lombard Economic & Community Development Committee for the prior two years.
Breen earned his Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, completing the program in just 3 years, and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame, which he attended on scholarship. Peter and his wife Margie have been married for 8 years and attend Lombard’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He is a member of Lombard’s Father Boecker Council of the Knights of Columbus and is an Eagle Scout.
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His campaign web site is here.
We’ve been in Lombard since 97, shortly before 355 was completed.
Just a perfect burb for accessing the entire metro.
But the taxes are brutal and drove us out with the exception of one last prop. leased through 2015.
A buddy I warned 4 years ago, bought on E. Madison anyway and his taxes, for a city sewer drain in his front yard and a postage stamp backyard are $13.6 K.
Let that marinate for a minute.
Before Mort., Ins., Household, etc. he’s on the hook for $1133 a month, to keep those Gov. snouts fed.
He’s in foreclosure now.
I’ve been in Lombard for 17 years and I don’t know any of these characters, nor do I want to.
After a 17 year elevator ride on my tax bill, this guy wants me to be thrilled with a ‘freeze’, until he gets elected to the next higher trough to feed?
My final exit visa is stamped for the last day of that last lease and I’ll be sure not to let the door hit me in the rear, as I finally get out of DuPage.
What a great beginning, the silly vehicle tax is a nuisance, may generate a net expense to municipalities and should be abolished everywhere.
Congrats to Lombard!
Not versed in Village of Lombard finances but when you drive through town they are spending taxpayer money on a Purple campaign.
Painted the water tower with purple stripes and bought purple street signs and purple flags for the the downtown area.
Skeptical that spending money on a purple marketing campaign will attract business or improve anyone’s quality of life.
Sounds a bit like the “re-branding” of McHenry County College.
The color selected there was purple as well.