Hanover Park's Carter behind in tax bills

Hanover Park Trustee Toni Carter said she should be applauded, not criticized.

Carter acknowledged she'd fallen behind on paying property taxes on her residence. She said she didn't have the money to pay earlier because she funded a program for residents last December on surviving the economic crisis.

She paid the $700 owed on her 2007 property tax bill Wednesday after being questioned by the Daily Herald.

Last November, Carter requested $2,500 from the village to fund the "Strengthening Our Families Symposium," hosted by the village's Cultural Inclusion and Diversity Committee. But there wasn't enough board support even to call a vote on the matter.

"My taxes would have been paid had the village supported the symposium," Carter said, explaining she paid some of its costs herself.

She noted she has two children in college and pays up to $1,000 a month in tuition. "I think it's honorable that I helped residents get out of this economic crisis while putting my own family in this predicament," she said.

Receipts show Carter paid more than $2,000 for printing, food, pens and other items for the December event. Other committee members chipped in, as well.

Carter still hasn't paid the first installment of $1,266 on her 2008 property tax bill, which was due March 3. She said she'll wait until December, just like she does every year, because she gets paid three times that month and is in a better fiscal situation.

Bill Kouruklis, spokesman for the Cook County treasurer, confirmed Carter has waited until Dec. 31 to pay her property taxes since 2005. By not paying time, she incurred more than $700 in penalties.

The symposium created another headache for Carter when critics asserted she violated the state's Gift Ban Act. The trustee got her employer, Motorola, to donate giveaways like pens, paper, headsets and mini speakers to the event.

Then-Village Attorney James Binninger, who has since left that job, wrote to the Cook County state's attorney's office asking, on behalf of some other trustees, for an investigation. Assistant State's Attorney John Mahoney responded that the legislation applies only to state, not municipal, officers. Therefore, he wrote, "no criminal statute has been violated."