Oh Snap! Daley Calls Out Aldermen
By Kevin Robinson in News on Nov 25, 2009 3:00PM
Mayor Daley lashed out at Chicago aldermen on Tuesday for sending back his proposal to give Chicagoans cash payouts to help ease the hit of increased property tax bills. The mayor's plan would use $35 million of the proceeds from the controversial parking meter lease to give an average of $150 to homeowners. The city council's Finance Committee sent the bill back to City Hall, asking that the mayor revise the scope of his plan, as it currently would extend to homeowners earning $200,000 a year.
"Remember, you take a policeman and a nurse working together, they're making 180,000 or 190,000," Daley said, per the Trib. "They have three kids, four kids, and they're sending them to college?" He suggested that frustrated homeowners take their grievances to their alderman. "They're going to go to the alderman, knock on the door and say 'OK, you help me. Here's my real estate tax bill. You have the answer? Fine. The mayor had has his answer, you have a better answer,'" Daley said.
While the calculation of how property taxes are assessed is complex (I won't pretend I understand it in and out), Ben Joravsky at the Reader has been following the this mess for several years (it's not as much about TIFs as you might think). You can read his coverage of this issue, (as well as the involvement of Mayor Daley, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Cook County Assessor James Houlihan) here and here.