-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“Chicago is really in some serious trouble,” David Schleicher, a Yale Law School professor who focuses on state and local finances, said. The city is “caught between the failure to address structural problems during Covid and broad unhappiness with the property tax.”
“He needs to park the jet, focus on the Illinois citizens he represents today, and work collaboratively with us to close that budget hole without heaping another huge tax increase on Illinois families and businesses.”
The Chicago Public Schools increased property taxes from $2.4 billion to $3.8 billion, a 60.6 percent or $1.4 billion increase. Much of the increase is due to the reinstatement of a dedicated property tax levy to fund teacher pensions in FY2017.
Ronnie Reese, a longtime friend of the mayor’s who headed the mayor’s press shop after Johnson took office in May 2023, was terminated last month following three internal complaints over alleged behavior that ranged from unwanted physical contact to making disparaging comments about marginalized groups and intimidation tactics.
Gary Tipsord, executive director of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, said it’s like setting different qualifying times in a track meet. “If Indiana students are having to run the mile in in seven minutes, and the kids in Illinois are having to run at six, that’s not an equitable comparison. We don’t have parity there,” he said. “And as it stands, in Illinois today, our cut scores are higher than other states, and then we’re trying to compare what Illinois students are doing to the students in other states, which creates an unfair comparison.”
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said Elk Grove Village’s police and fire pensions took up 53 percent of the village’s property tax collection, up from 18 percent in 2000. Many towns around the state face the same problem, larger and larger government pension bills crowding out services for residents.
“There is also a dark element to this spectator sport, watching the likes of Elon Musk, who has been using his innumerable wealth to shamelessly wield his negative influence on politics and single-handedly destroy the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.”
“In Illinois, we grow at least three times more pumpkin than any other state,” said Mohammad Babadoost is a professor of plant pathology at the University of Illinois. “One time I calculated, the pumpkin industry – in my calculation – is over a $200 million industry in Illinois.”
In a complaint submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this month, two former Favorite Healthcare Staffing case managers alleged that Chicago’s shelters violated health information privacy laws by allowing shelter staff to access and download sensitive information on their own personal devices. The complaint notes that the staffing company the City of Chicago hired to manage the migrant shelters did not require data to be encrypted and allowed employees and independent contractors to share medical and other personal information over insecure communication channels.
Nearly two-thirds of Chicagoans are concerned about public safety where they live, and nearly half think public safety is worse in Chicago than elsewhere in the country.
“Chicago is really in some serious trouble,” David Schleicher, a Yale Law School professor who focuses on state and local finances, said. The city is “caught between the failure to address structural problems during Covid and broad unhappiness with the property tax.”
According to Montgomery County Assessor Kendra Niehaus, the spike in property taxes is due to a 2007 state law that requires woodland tracts to be taxed like homes. Up until this year, the law wasn’t correctly implemented in Montgomery County, so each tract of woodland must now pay a tax rate of 33.33% of its fair market value.
Normal City Manager Pam Reece said there’s no sign so far lawmakers would try to use revenue that goes to municipalities to help plug a $3.2 billion hole in the state budget. In the past, lawmakers and governors have sometimes eyed municipal income tax and sales tax sharing money during tight fiscal times.
“As Wirepoints notes, Illinois is a dark blot of red ink and irresponsibility on the Midwest map compared to its neighbors. None of the six surrounding states bordering Illinois have anywhere near the pension bomb Illinois has.”
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about the disaster that is property taxes in Chicago’s Southlands, Gov. Pritzker’s coming mistake in opposing Trump and his policies, Illinois’ extreme outlier pension debt, especially compared to our neighbors, the coming problem of Tier 2 pensions, and more.
Employees from 13 different state agencies are involved in the fraud and have illegally taken these federal public funds, according to the OEIG, which is charged with investigating allegations of misconduct within state government. As of April, more than 60 percent of those implicated to date worked for the Illinois Department of Human Services, which operates mental health hospitals and developmental centers across the state.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER