By Dan Petrella - Suburban Life Wed Dec 12, 2007, 03:30 PM CST
DuPage County, IL -
A group of Democratic candidates for DuPage County Board braved icy weather Tuesday morning to criticize the current board’s handling of the county’s budget woes.
Richard Dunn of Glen Ellyn, Dirk Enger of Winfield, James Sivisoglu of Elmhurst, Bob Brandt of Woodridge and Barbara Dahl and Max Havlick of Villa Park held a news conference on the steps of the administrative building on County Farm Road in Wheaton. The “doomsday budget” approved late last month is a result of mismanagement by the completely Republican board, they said.
The board approved a $375.9 million budget, which will reduce county spending by about $52 million and lay off 190 employees, most of them in law enforcement and judicial departments. Board members and finance officials have said the cuts are necessary because county expenses continue to rise while revenues remain stagnant.
But the board also decided to hold off cuts until after the Tuesday, Feb. 5 primary, when voters will be asked to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase.
“It’s pretty sad that this County Board has put all their eggs in one basket,” said Enger, a candidate in District 6. “It’s very sad that the County Board is trying to force a tax referendum on voters to make up for their unbalanced budget.”
He called the referendum a “scare tactic” and criticized board members for not cutting their own salaries.
The candidates said the county came to its current financial problems because board members ignored warning signs and did not follow proposals to streamline its operations.
“There were dozens of recommendations presented to the County Board by (its) own Cost Efficiency Committee and also by the independent, non-partisan Civic Federation,” said Brandt, a District 3 candidate. “These recommendations would have consolidated departments, reduced the number of elected officials, reduced salaries and perks, improved operational efficiency and generally reformed and modernized county government, saving millions of dollars in the process. But these reports were essentially ignored by the current County Board.”
While they all blamed the board for creating budget problems, the candidates did not agree on whether voters should support the sales-tax increase.
Dunn said he would only support the increase if the board promised to make it temporary and looked at cutting administrative costs to restore services.
But Havlick said the board has given voters no choice but to approve the increase.
“We have to advise people to vote for the tax increase because that’s all we have,” he said. “It’s a no-win situation we’ve been put into by this board.”
County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom denied the charge that the term “public safety sales tax” — as the referendum has been called by officials — is meant to scare voters into supporting it.
“The statute says that we have the authority to seek a quarter-cent sales tax increase through referendum for public safety purposes,” he said.
As for making it a temporary increase, Schillerstrom said the purpose of the referendum is to seek a long-term solution to the county’s revenue problems.
A group of Democratic candidates for DuPage County Board braved icy weather Tuesday morning to criticize the current board’s handling of the county’s budget woes.
Richard Dunn of Glen Ellyn, Dirk Enger of Winfield, James Sivisoglu of Elmhurst, Bob Brandt of Woodridge and Barbara Dahl and Max Havlick of Villa Park held a news conference on the steps of the administrative building on County Farm Road in Wheaton. The “doomsday budget” approved late last month is a result of mismanagement by the completely Republican board, they said.
The board approved a $375.9 million budget, which will reduce county spending by about $52 million and lay off 190 employees, most of them in law enforcement and judicial departments. Board members and finance officials have said the cuts are necessary because county expenses continue to rise while revenues remain stagnant.
But the board also decided to hold off cuts until after the Tuesday, Feb. 5 primary, when voters will be asked to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase.
“It’s pretty sad that this County Board has put all their eggs in one basket,” said Enger, a candidate in District 6. “It’s very sad that the County Board is trying to force a tax referendum on voters to make up for their unbalanced budget.”
He called the referendum a “scare tactic” and criticized board members for not cutting their own salaries.
The candidates said the county came to its current financial problems because board members ignored warning signs and did not follow proposals to streamline its operations.
“There were dozens of recommendations presented to the County Board by (its) own Cost Efficiency Committee and also by the independent, non-partisan Civic Federation,” said Brandt, a District 3 candidate. “These recommendations would have consolidated departments, reduced the number of elected officials, reduced salaries and perks, improved operational efficiency and generally reformed and modernized county government, saving millions of dollars in the process. But these reports were essentially ignored by the current County Board.”
While they all blamed the board for creating budget problems, the candidates did not agree on whether voters should support the sales-tax increase.
Dunn said he would only support the increase if the board promised to make it temporary and looked at cutting administrative costs to restore services.
But Havlick said the board has given voters no choice but to approve the increase.
“We have to advise people to vote for the tax increase because that’s all we have,” he said. “It’s a no-win situation we’ve been put into by this board.”
County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom denied the charge that the term “public safety sales tax” — as the referendum has been called by officials — is meant to scare voters into supporting it.
“The statute says that we have the authority to seek a quarter-cent sales tax increase through referendum for public safety purposes,” he said.
As for making it a temporary increase, Schillerstrom said the purpose of the referendum is to seek a long-term solution to the county’s revenue problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment