Cook Co. board repeals sales tax, but Stroger veto expected

The Cook County Board voted Tuesday to repeal last year's 1-percentage-point sales tax increase - but board President Todd Stroger is expected to veto the move.

The 12-3 vote with two commissioners absent came after a heated discussion, said Commissioner Gregg Goslin, who voted for the repeal. Stroger is expected to announce his veto of the vote Wednesday.

"Anything that will cripple the system, he will veto," Stroger spokesman Sean Howard said. "Today's action presented a funereal disaster for our health-care system."

In a statement, Stroger himself said: "The advocates of today's action have once again chosen to put their political opportunism ahead of the public well-being. Their dangerously responsible (sic) position threatens health care for hundreds of thousands of our patients, and will force the layoff of thousands of union workers at a time when the economy is facing its deepest crisis in 60 years."

It would take 14 votes to override Stroger's veto. Commissioners Deborah Simms and Earleen Collins were not at the meeting. Neither commissioner could be reached Tuesday afternoon.

Republican Tim Schneider of Bartlett isn't confident the county board would be able to override Stroger's veto.

"The commissioners that weren't there today are traditionally Stroger allies, so it doesn't look good," Schneider said.

In 2008, the county sales tax increased to 1.75 percent from 0.75 percent. The 1-point increase bumped Chicago's sales tax to 10.25 percent, giving the city the highest sales tax in the nation.

Howard warned the repeal would result in the complete closure of 14 ambulatory clinics across the county as well as Oak Forest and Provident hospitals.

"It will be a 22 to 25 percent cut across the board but will have a damaging effect, a deadly effect, on the health care system," Howard said. "It's doomsday, and the people of Cook County should be on the phone calling their commissioners and expressing their dissatisfaction.

"I didn't support it (the tax increase) in the first place," Goslin said. "I will say this is going to force some really creative budgeting over the next six months as we prepare the 2010 budget."

The repeal - which would go into effect Jan. 1 - will leave at least a $400 million hole in the county budget, said Goslin, a Glenview Republican.

Stroger was visibly angry with the vote. He had supported a quarter-cent rollback but has said the tax revenue is necessary for the county to provide services to its most needy residents.

Palatine Councilman Scott Lamerand was at first thrilled by the county board's vote Tuesday, but then was sobered by Stroger's intention to veto and his justification for it.

"It's unfortunate because there's so many other areas where they could cut, and so many other ways we could all work together," Lamerand said. "But he's always got to point to health care."

State Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine, who helped spearhead last month's advisory referendum in the suburbs on the sales tax increase, agreed.

"I don't think there's one person outside of the president's office who thinks that government is lean," Murphy said. "You're not going to have a sustainable economic situation with a sales tax that keeps driving shoppers out of Cook County."

Both Murphy and Lamerand remain hopeful that what they saw as a groundswell of public opinion against the sales tax increase is now manifesting itself at the county board level.

Repeal: Commissioners expect veto to stick