Cook County Board President Todd Stroger on Wednesday proposed more than tripling the county’s share of sales taxes and doubling the gas and parking taxes to fund a $3.2 billion budget for 2008 that would add more than 1,100 employees to the payroll.
Stroger also unveiled his proposed 2008 spending plan for the Forest Preserve District, a $153 million budget that would raise the district’s share of property taxes by 2.8 percent.
The increase in county workers to 24,841 is needed to boost staffing at the jail and juvenile detention center, and in the hospital system, Stroger said. The Circuit Court clerk’s, state’s attorney’s and public defender’s offices also would get more workers.
The combined tax increases would bring in about $888 million a year, more than a quarter of the budget, though the amount would be lower for 2008. Stroger and administration officials said if they do not need that much money in future years, they will look to cut taxes or rebate money to county residents.
Stroger said he proposed the new jobs and higher taxes after asking other countywide elected officials to be more efficient, and he said county commissioners have done little to help find ways to streamline government.
“I’ll make the hard decisions,” Stroger said in a meeting with the Chicago Tribune editorial board.
The proposal comes one week after Mayor Daley proposed a $293 million increase in taxes, fees and fines, including a 15 percent jump in Chicago’s property-tax levy, among the biggest in city history.
At an earlier news conference, Stroger said he couldn’t let the city’s request impact his plan. He said he did not know if county commissioners would approve the sales, parking and gasoline tax hikes. He said he was “open to suggestions,” such as levying new taxes on electricity, natural gas and telephone usage, proposals that currently are in committee.
“I haven’t talked to enough commissioners to say I have a feeling for what they’re looking for,” Stroger said when asked to rate his chances on the taxes he proposed. “I can tell you that we will be passing something or there will be some severe problems.”
Stroger proposed raising the sales tax by 2 percentage points, to 2.75 percent, despite the fact that board members already have rejected that proposal. At the time, Stroger suggested he might settle for a smaller increase.
But in his budget, Stroger returned to the plan for a boost that would push the combined sales tax in Chicago to 11 percent, the highest nationwide.
Stroger’s plan would double the county’s portion of the gasoline tax from 6 cents per gallon to 12 cents per gallon. He also proposed doubling the tax on drivers who use public parking garages and lots.
The parking tax currently ranges from 50 cents on a daily fee of between $3 and $5 to $20 for a monthly pass.
In presenting the budget, Stroger called the county’s structural deficit, or the imbalance between revenue and expenses, “the elephant in the room.” He said the county needs higher taxes, in part, to offset declining federal revenues for its health system.
Commissioner Timothy Schneider (R-Streamwood) pointed to a different issue at the center of the budget debate.
“The real elephant in the room is the waste and bloat and bureaucracy here in the county,” he said.
