Beavers Spearheads Opposition to Preckwinkle's Proposed County Budget

By aaroncynic in News on Oct 27, 2011 8:40PM

William Beavers

Among Preckwinkle's proposals are tax hikes on beer, wholesale alcohol and cigarettes, parking fee increases at various courthouses for employees, eliminating free parking for people on jury duty and more than 1,000 layoffs unless workers agree to take 8 unpaid days off next year.

On Tuesday, Commissioner William Beavers called the beer tax “a poor man’s tax” and said a new round of taxes would simply shuffle the burden.

“The taxes she’s putting on today is ridiculous — that one penny could have taken care of all of this,” he said, referring to the unpopular penny-on-the-dollar sales tax hike he and others backed in 2008.

Commissioner Jeffery Tobolski agreed with Beavers.

"There's going to be a boatload of fee increases in here. It seems like they're trying to balance the budget on the backs of the taxpayers here."

Preckwinkle also plans to find a way to make residents living in unincorporated Cook County to pay for services. She said “There’s no reason why 98 percent of the people in the county should pay for police services for the two percent of the people who live in unincorporated Cook County.” She proposed a $150 charge per household, added to property taxes.