Mayors say cut to income tax money would devastate local budgets

SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Pat Quinn appears to be breaking a promise to suburban communities that he wouldn't toy with their share of the state's income tax revenue, and area officials say such a move could have a devastating impact.

Quinn's budget director, David Vaught, said the governor is looking at trimming back municipalities' 10 percent share of income tax revenue to 7 percent - a $300 million hit for villages and cities throughout the state.

Needless to say, suburban officials aren't taking kindly to the governor's proposal, as Vaught put it, to "share the pain."

"It would have a dire effect as our budget is concerned," Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson said. "It really would."

Larson said Quinn vowed during a visit with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus before the Feb. 2 primary that he wouldn't cut the amount promised to municipalities, calling the move "off limits." Chicago Mayor Richard Daley recently told reporters a similar story of Quinn's promise at the pre-election meeting.

Quinn's staff did not respond to inquiries about that meeting but since proposing the cut, the governor has defended it, saying that everyone must sacrifice.

Larson said Quinn's maneuver, which would need to be approved by the General Assembly, would add $1.7 million to Schaumburg's $17.6 million budget shortfall, which the village is already trying to mitigate with higher property taxes.

"I don't know where the money's going to come from," Larson added.

Naperville City Manager Doug Krieger said the proposal is like "kicking us when we're down," and foresees more personnel cuts if the governor's plan is kicked into gear.

"It's unfair to try to solve some of the state's problems just by pushing it over to the local municipalities," said Krieger, adding that the proposal could cost Naperville roughly $3 million.

Arlington Heights Village Manager Bill Dixon said the village's board expressed concern over the governor's proposal at a meeting last week. He said Quinn's plan would cost the village about $2 million "at a time when many of our other revenue sources have been negatively impacted by the recession."

Local officials' objections aren't being ignored at the Capitol, where the General Assembly has no shortage of former mayors, village presidents and other municipal officials.

Political observers consider Quinn's idea has little chance of passing and note that the local share was part of the original deal when Illinois first instituted an income tax.

Legislative leaders are similarly cool to the idea.

Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, said it would be "difficult" to pass such a measure given the outcry from municipalities throughout the state.

Quinn wasn't the first candidate for governor to support such a move. GOP candidate Adam Andrzejewski, a Hinsdale businessman who garnered 14.5 percent vote in the Republican race, proposed going as far as eliminating municipalities' income tax share altogether.

If such a cut were to occur, municipal officials have predicted it would spur the single largest property tax increase ever across the Illinois as communities scramble to make up lost millions from the state.