Don't use tolls to pay for bridge

Algonquin Village President John Schmitt; Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay, West Dundee Village President Larry Keller and a few others are very naive to believe that residents of Kane County want to pay for the Longmeadow Parkway bridge with toll/tax money.

If they had done any homework before advocating a toll/tax, they would have found that using toll/tax money is the least efficient way to pay for a bridge, or for roads for that matter, and will be very costly for county residents.

We haven't heard anything about this project for almost two years, but all of a sudden we are reading that the Kane County Board is about to approve a $1.50 per use toll/tax to build and manage this bridge.

The question I have is: Do we want to set up another government bureaucracy inviting cronyism and corruption to Kane County or are we planning to turn the management over to the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority that is already known for 60 years of cronyism and corruption?

If this bridge is necessary, and I'm not saying that it is isn't, let's pay for it with fuel pump tax money and let IDOT do the managing. IDOT can do a much better job at a lower cost for Kane County residents.

Russell Johnson

Sugar Grove