Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
23 Comments
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Here’s a copy of the 64 page SB Friedman draft Housing Needs Assessment that was on the City of Naperville’s Housing Advisory Commission’s January 20, 2020 agenda: https://naperville.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8009728&GUID=FDEC38D4-06D4-4466-9CD1-98472951F27C The board calendar is here: https://naperville.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx In addition to the so called unaffordable housing problem, Naperville has underfunded fire and police pensions. The biggest debt due to local government operations in the Naperville area, by far, is the underfunded TRS pensions for teachers and administrators. That debt is held by the State on behalf of the local school districts, and is a big reason for the November 3, 2020 referendum to convert… Read more »
Yes, government involvement always makes things cheaper. Look at Obamacare and Student Loans !!!!
Does the federal government consider extremely high property tax’s into the equation of what is considered affordable? Lower tax’s should equal lower rents. Where is the federal government when landlords like myself have no choice but to raise rents when Rockford’s property tax’s are insane. I pay approx 47% of my monthly rent to property tax’s. About $600 month in tax’s and $1,250 in rent. Now factor in mortgage-insurance-repairs/lawn/etc.Not much left for me.
“About $600 month in tax’s and $1,250 in rent. Now factor in mortgage-insurance-repairs/lawn/etc.Not much left for me.”
That’s why Rockford looks, feels and is priced the same as hollowed out Detroit. It’s almost like they WANT you Republicans to move north over the border. It’s solidly Republican over there.
Like I said before Rockford is at the top of the state yet is bottom of the barrel. To me 2 things happened for these insane tax’s. #1 Ptell #2 People who Care vs Rockford board of Education 20 years ago. That cost us approx $250 mil plus I have not seen the school district lower their levy (very small lowering around 2007-08) in that time period. For a few years now the dist held their levy flat but the budget grew every year. Now around $490M with fewer students. We should be up for more school contracts later this… Read more »
Organized Labor has too much power in collective bargaining negotiations in Illinois. Here are the terms of the 7 collective bargaining agreements posted on the Rockford SD 205 website: Building Maintenance, RBMA, IEA/NEA, July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021, 22 pages. Bus Drivers, AFSCME Local 12275, July 1, 2016 – 30, 2019, 52 pages. Cafeteria, AFSCME Local 3210, July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2019, 17 pages. Interpreters, EIA, IEA/NEA, July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021, 15 pages. Office Personnel, EOPA, IEA/NEA, July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021, 22 pages. Paraprofessionals, AFSCME Local 692, July 1, 2016… Read more »
This from the Illinois Report Card for Rockford SD 205 for the year they label 2019. 35% of students in the district missed 10% percent or more of school days per year either with or without a valid excuse (chronic absenteeism). 22.6% of students in the district missed 5 % or more of school days per year without a valid excuse (chronically truant students). That makes no sense. Perhaps the measures are from different reports. The ISBE could probably shed some light on the subject. Regardless, a lot of students are missing a significant amount of class time. The racial… Read more »
The higher housing costs in Naperville, compared to surrounding communities, is due to the demand to reside within the boundaries of the Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204 school districts. Those districts perform higher than neighboring communities of Aurora (Aurora West USD 129), North Aurora (Batavia USD 101), Wheaton and Warrenville (Wheaton Warrenville CUSD 200), Lisle (Lisle CUSD 202), Bolingbrook (Valley View CUSD 365U), Woodridge (CHSD 99), and Plainfield (Plainfield SD 202). In other words, the costs are directly related to state school district boundary law. Note, municipal and school district boundaries do not 100% overlap so the… Read more »
I don’t understand this at all, actually. Aurora and North Aurora, where ‘affordable’ housing is bountiful, are literally neighboring towns to Naperville. How is it inequitable that poor people choose to live in an expensive area they cannot afford instead of moving to a cheaper area a short drive away? Isn’t that a household decision that each family makes individually? Doesn’t that just go to the desirability of Naperville and a reflection of the quality of the housing stock? And if a lower income household wants to budget and make sacrifieces to live in naperville, instead of Aurora, they make… Read more »