Rahm's Giant Property Tax Hike Passes Last Hurdle Before City Council Vote
By aaroncynic in News on Oct 20, 2015 8:59PM
Photo by Brooke Collins/City of Chicago
“What you heard today was an indication that there’s some fine-tuning that members of the body would like to address,” said Finance Committee Chair Alderman Edward Burke. “I think we will address that (Wednesday), and I think there will be some controls the council would like to impose on that Board of Education $45 million issue.”
That Board of Education issue making some aldermen nervous? A $45 million capital fund property tax hike, without a clear direction as to what that money will go to. With the recent indictment of former CPS CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett, city officials are wary of how the district plans to spend its money. "People just don't trust the school district,” Alderman John Arena, who voted ‘no’ on the budget measure, told the Chicago Tribune. Alderman Leslie Hariston, who also voted ‘no,’ said “Very rarely do you just give somebody a check for $45 million and say, ‘Do as you wish’ after we’ve seen what we’ve seen.”
Aldermen also sounded off on Emanuel’s proposed trash collection fee, despite his move to cap it at $9.50 per month until 2019. Ald. Jason Ervin called the fee “regressive,” and Ald. Robert Maldonado said he wouldn’t support it either.
“For me, I can't support the property tax increase and I can't support all these other fines and fees that are going to be hitting people under this plan,” said Maldonado.
In addition to the property tax hike and garbage collection fee, the $718.7 million package also includes a $1 million tax on e-cigarettes, $48 million in fees for ride-share and cab companies, $13 million in fees for building permits, new fines for driving without auto insurance, and changes to permits for overweight trucks.
The Finance Committee will meet again Wednesday morning.