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Candidates to lead county say ‘no’ to tax increaseDaily HeraldNovember 3, 2006The two candidates running for Cook County Board president are Democrat Todd Stroger, of Chicago, and Republican Tony Peraica of Westchester. Q. Do you support a tax increase for the 2007 budget? Will you veto any tax increase for the 2007 budget? Stroger: If the 2007 budget is not adopted during the tenure of interim Cook County Board President Steele, and the responsibility to adopt the budget falls upon the Cook County Board president elected in November, I do not intend to support a tax increase for the 2007 budget. To address the anticipated $400 million budget shortfall in 2007, I propose: •Pursuing consolidations of administrative functions in the Bureau of Health and elsewhere; •Eliminating unnecessary jobs and keeping non-critical vacancies unfilled; •Ensuring that collection of receivables by the Bureau of Health is vastly improved; and •Utilizing a professional management team to find efficiencies throughout county government. As alderman, I have a record of supporting budgets that contained significant expense reductions without raising taxes. In fiscal management, I am guided by two basic principles: fulfill the core missions of county government without creating new, tangential programs and consider new or increased taxes only as a last resort. Peraica: I do not support a tax increase for the 2007 budget and as board president I would indeed veto any budget that contained a tax increase. We have the resources we need to effectively run county government. We need to do a better job of managing and allocating those resources. Q. Do you favor the consolidation of parts of the treasurer’s, clerk’s, assessor’s and recorder of deed’s office into one office of a tax administrator? If yes, which, if any, elected officials would you advocate for eliminating and why? Stroger: In confronting fiscal challenges facing Cook County government, I am favorably inclined toward consolidations that save taxpayer money without jeopardizing core county services. Consolidation of tax administrative functions, first proposed by Commissioner Michael Quigley (D-Chicago) and legislatively advocated by state Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), is an appealing concept. In addition to cost savings, one would expect operational efficiencies from such a consolidation. Indeed, complicating the existing multi-office responsibility of tax administration is a set of computer systems that is not compatible. Proper consolidation will require careful planning to ensure the integrity of the system, as well as developing a sufficient political consensus and overcoming potential legal challenges. For example, to ensure that state constitutional requirements are satisfied, a recent state’s attorney opinion recommends that referendum approval be secured before abolishing either the clerk’s or treasurer’s office — with 2008 being the earliest such a referendum could be held. Peraica: I do support this and actually made this proposal earlier this year! I proposed that the county consolidate the offices of the assessor, clerk, treasurer and recorder of deeds into a single department. I further proposed eliminating two-thirds of the recorder’s satellite offices which are wholly unnecessary and, like so much of county government, serve as little more than patronage dumping grounds. If, as some believe, this consolidation would require either a countywide referendum or General Assembly approval, I committed to Cook County voters that, as board president, there will be countywide referendum on this issue in 2008, the next available election to do so. This call for consolidation of the tax offices is another piece of my reform agenda for Cook County government. While my opponent and his supporters were celebrating his ascension to what he believes is his throne, like some World War I-era ruling family, I have been fighting for reform on the county board and in the court of public opinion. My consolidation proposal followed my ongoing call for the implementation of the health bureau. Consolidation that was passed by the county board but has yet to be acted upon. It further followed 28 amendments I proposed to the current county budget that would have netted the county an additional $20 million in savings. Finally, it followed my repeated and relentless calls for Gov. Blagojevich to release some $175 million in Medicaid-Medicare reimbursements owed by the state to the county. Q. Recent returns have shown the cigarette tax increase has had mixed effects as far as revenue, and that it may have reached the point of negative returns. Is an adjustment to the tax necessary? If so, what kind? Stroger: In support of the 2004 and 2006 Cook County budgets, the home rule cigarette tax was increased. In 2004, the tax rate increased to 5 cents per cigarette, and in 2006 the tax increased an additional $1 per pack and was extended to other tobacco items. If the home rule cigarette tax has indeed reached the point of negative returns, and I await a definitive financial analysis in this regard, I will support a tax rate decrease — that is fiscal common sense. Peraica: I was one of the only commissioners to vote against the cigarette tax hike because usurious tax increases regardless of the product being taxed have diminishing marginal revenue returns and we’re seeing that now in Cook County with the cigarette tax. I would support adjusting the tax downward to make Cook County more price competitive with the collars and Northwest Indiana, thereby likely increasing the actual revenue (through the additional product sold) received by the county at a lower tax rate.
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