No good deed will be left unpunished

I visit with and sympathetically listen to the property taxpayers whom I serve all day, every day, six days a week. The Daily Herald Editorial Board does not.

Based on that enormous, painful experience of seeing how desperately Kane County taxpayers, many on fixed and eroding incomes, struggle to pay worst-in-the-country property taxes, I decided to answer in writing the single most-frequently-asked question that I get.

“What are YOU doing, Chris, to hold this line on taxes?” When banks pay more interest on Kane County cash balances, taxpayers can pay less property taxes for county expenses. That answer represents $74.6 million in investment income earned by the Treasurer’s Office team — a picture worth a thousand words showing enormous growth in interest earned over the past five and a half years.

Knowing the people for whom I’ve worked for 30 years, I give taxpayers more credit to understand my answer than the Editorial Board does when it comes to reading a simple chart.

Three years ago, long before any campaign, I replaced our day-to-day operating bank with one that has produced $600,000 in annual financial benefit to taxpayers. As part of that negotiation, the bank has paid for printing 200,000 tax bills/inserts for each of the past three years. Because we competitively bid this year’s mailing contract, we also saved $10,000 in postage. No taxpayer expense.

As for the photo, my picture wasn’t on last year’s bill because this year’s is our first ever “new and approved” design. On just a hunch that someone would get their shorts in a bunch over a photo, I asked the Kane County state’s attorney whether I could. The simple answer was yes.

Real outrage should be focused on the amount of levied property taxes themselves. That is the concern of people whom I serve.

Chris Lauzen

Kane County Treasurer