Property tax fairness must work both ways

I do not envy our county clerk, Willard Helander, for the task of justification of property taxes.

With all due respect, it's not confusing at all. The explanation provided is nothing but the usual political double speak.

As we homeowners know there can be NO explanation for taxes to be increased when assessed property values go up and not decreased when they go down.

Fairness dictates the rules work both ways, when the values go down the taxes should go down.

Either the increases are dictated by property values or they are not. The problem is not to be laid at the door of the homeowners when the budgets can't be met, but at the taxing bodies that happily used our tax money when home values were high.

That was the easy part of the job. Now do your job and figure where the cuts will be made.

If property values decrease by 30 percent, then a 30 percent cut must be made across the board for all recipients of our funds.

We, the homeowners, are tired of being bled to death to augment bloated budgets and out-of-control public programs.

The funds should come out of local government spending with increased emphasis on pensions and six-figure public salaries - like the 12,000 public school employees making more than $100,000 per year.

You can't have it both ways.

Sue Schloss

Mundelein