Give up the 'without raising taxes' spiel

Now that the beautiful Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center is open for business in Glen Ellyn, it is time for park board President Ed Hess to take off his carnival barker's coat and hang it safely in the closet.

From day one the proponents of this project have attempted to hoodwink the taxpaying citizens of Glen Ellyn into thinking that Ackerman would magically appear at no cost to them. Kudos to the public relations genius who successfully convinced us that we could safely vote to give the park district $7.4 million for this project "without raising taxes." President Hess has since been quoted many times in print and speech repeating this tired old line. He even went so far as to place a sign, conveniently located near the entrance of the facility for all to see, urging us to enjoy our shiny new structure that was built "without raising taxes."

The reality of the situation is that the Ackerman facility was paid for with funding from three primary sources; $7.4 million from the 2006 referendum, $3.2 million from non-referendum bonds and the remaining amount from fund balances. Try as I may, I cannot figure out how these amounts will be paid down "without raising taxes."

It is common knowledge that if our dusty old bonds were retired upon maturity that our tax bills would have gone down. Because shiny new bonds were issued, we are paying more through a tax increase.

Therefore, we need to understand that this wonderful new facility was indeed built and paid for by the citizens of Glen Ellyn by way of higher tax bills. For Mr. Hess to repeatedly say anything different doesn't make the "without raising taxes" statement true. In fact, it is a slap in the face to the hardworking and educated citizens of this village.

Jim Burket

Glen Ellyn