Cook County can't afford higher taxes
To the editor: Recently, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability issued a report that Cook County's revenue system is unable to support the services that it is charged to provide. In short, we are spending more than we are taking in. Interestingly enough, President Todd Stroger's FY 2007 budget was supposed to fix this very problem but simply ignored the gathering storm.
With the demand for health care growing by the day, it is critical that the county board solve this fiscal crisis. I believe the choice is clear: raise taxes or cut expenditures. This is where the county board splits into two camps.
One camp believes in the antiquated version of county government, where tax and spend is the only option. This camp wants to dramatically increase sales taxes, sending Cook County consumers to bordering counties to make their purchases. With winter rapidly approaching, this camp wants to tax natural gas and electricity.
You'll hear that county government is cut to the bone, with no more excess to cut. That is hard to believe when one county Commissioner proclaimed, "You know, I'm a patronage person. I love patronage."
This group actually professes that no waste currently exists. Yet revelation after revelation argues the contrary.
There is another camp that believes in looking at ways to dramatically decrease the size of government, thus dramatically decreasing expenditures. The guiding principle of this group is bringing county government into the 21st century, focusing on a lighter, more mobile work force; delivering top-notch services at the lowest possible cost.
This camp wants to put an end to waste and patronage in county government, giving Cook County taxpayers the biggest bang for their buck.
Efficient services and lower taxes is the only way Cook County will survive this fiscal crisis. Increasing taxes will dig us into a deeper hole, protecting the politically advantaged and supporting "business as usual." This county must look within itself to balance its budget, not to the taxpayers.
Timothy O. Schneider
Bartlett
Cook County Commissioner 15th District