On March 24, Cook County Board President Richard Phelan announced a proposal to raise county sales taxes. According to Phelan, this increase is necessary to fund county jail expansion. Implementation of the proposal would make Chicago one of the most heavily taxed urban areas in the United States.
Isn`t there something else he can do? Certainly there is!
The courts form the major bottleneck in the county`s criminal justice system. If the courts were more efficient, fewer people would be in the county jail, there would be less of a demand for additional jail space.
The courtrooms in Cook County are empty for a huge part of every day. Surely it would be cheaper to hire more judges and courtroom personnel than it would be to build and to staff new jails.
Let`s utilize our empty courtrooms to the fullest extent possible. Let`s consider the plight of the taxpaying public for a change. Let`s make county government a model of efficiency, and let`s make tax increases a thing of the past.
