Official right except about his own raise
The citizens of Grant Township in Lake County received a one-page statement from Tax Assessor Kublanza this month. Kublanza doesn't say exactly what taxpayers want to hear, rather he writes the painful truth. Our property taxes in Lake are extremely high. Many citizens are no longer just fed up with paying ever-increasing property taxes, rather they can no longer afford them. Kublanza highlights that our assessments are among the most transparent part, which naturally leads to heavy scrutiny. However, compared to assessments, the levy (the part of the process that actually creates the tax burden) is practically invisible, certainly not received in any slip or notice from our government like our assessments. Kublanza states, "Everyone wants the assessed value of their property to be fair and accurate, but the number that should concern us the most is not the assessment, but the amount of money that our school districts, municipal governments, and other local taxing bodies want to spend. If spending didn't increase, our taxes wouldn't either, no matter what assessments did."
All very true. The only way out of this mess is to cut spending, quit giving away our wealth, and draw business and industry into Lake to help alleviate the burden.
Kublanza's stance is also unfortunately indicative of the political state we all are in. Kublanza is basically saying it's not the assessor's job to lower taxes. He's just doing what he's told to do and taxes property owners to meet a levy determined by other politicians. Kublanza is simply a part of the taxing machine, part of the status quo, just doing what he's told.
When someone isn't part of the solution, what is it again they call that person? What's not mentioned in Kublanza's one-page article is the entire Grant Township board, with exception of Supervisor Kay Starostovich, voted to give the assessor, supervisor, and highway commissioner raises last November (while our country was in a recession and Lake County unemployment was skyrocketing), raising spending for the following 4 years. Handing out or accepting raises is NOT leading by example of holding the line on government spending, much less decreasing government spending.
Kirk Denz
Ingleside