More green for the greenery;
Property tax hike proposed for forest preserve

Daily Southtown

November 9, 2005

By Jonathan Lipman

Cook County homeowners, especially those in the Southland, likely will see their property taxes go up in 2006 to help pay for the forest preserve district.

The 2006 budget proposed Tuesday by Forest Preserve District and Cook County Board President John Stroger would raise the property tax levy by 8.5 percent, or $6.4 million.

That would mean an average tax increase of about $2.74 for a home worth $200,000, Stroger said.

"I am putting the district's dollars where they will best serve our visiting public, and ensuring that the resources necessary to serve them at the highest level are available," he said.

Tax increases for south suburban homeowners could be higher than average. The overall tax rate is going down, so the triennial reassessment of south suburban properties in 2006 will cover the bulk of the increased levy.

"Because their property values are going up, they will feel it the most," district financial officer Lenny Moore said.

Budgets for the Brookfield Zoo and Chicago Botanical Garden, which are run by separate boards but owned by the district, will go up slightly but will not require a tax increase.

Half of the tax increase goes to paying back last year's $50 million bond sale for district-wide renovations.

The rest will go to pay for wage increases in the district's $46.1 million operating budget.

Nowhere in the budget is any money to fix the broken-down toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff. The district still hopes to have those slides fixed in a proposed deal for district-wide concession operations, but that plan is awaiting a hearing in the finance committee.

Committee chairwoman Bobbie Steele (D-Chicago) said she hoped to have a hearing on the concession plan within the next week.

District Supt. Steve Bylina said he will cut seven positions, including two top-level administrators, and add 18 new ones, mostly conservation specialists and clerks who will free up front-line maintenance staff for fieldwork.

Bylina is eliminating one of the district's nine geographical divisions. He has been studying the operations since taking over in 2003.

"Now that we have records for two years of what needs to be done and what it takes to do it, I'm comfortable with the reorganization," he said.

Included in the budget is $1 million for more land acquisition and money for metal bins in picnic areas to dump hot charcoal from barbecue grills.

Commissioners Forrest Claypool and Mike Quigley, frequent critics of district management, said the 2006 district budget remains top-heavy.

"This budget still has approximately one supervisor for every three workers," said Claypool (D-Chicago). "It does nothing to cut waste at the top."

"The president didn't get the memo that the public doesn't like tax hikes," said Quigley (D-Chicago).

But the budget earned a rare note of support from Stroger's other chief antagonist, Tony Peraica (R-Riverside). Included in the 2006 budget is money to renovate and reopen Cermak swimming pool, which Peraica has lobbied for since taking office.

"I think a slight increase in the levy is reasonable given the extra debt we're taking ... and all the work we're doing around the district," Peraica said. "That work doesn't come free."

Copyright 2005, Daily Southtown

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