DuPage mayors visit Springfield to oppose revenue cut
About 40 DuPage County mayors and local trustees descended on Springfield Wednesday to lobby lawmakers on the wide range of issues they say could have a big impact back home.
The visit came a day after Illinois House Democrats started moving a proposal to freeze how much local governments can ask for in property taxes. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is working on a separate proposal along the same lines and has proposed cutting communities' share of state income tax revenues by half.
And an Illinois Supreme Court decision last week likely will make it more difficult for mayors to cut their police officer and firefighter pension costs.
“That's a real triple whammy,” Downers Grove Mayor Martin Tully said. “All we need is one more, and we'd be drawn and quartered.”
The mayors didn't have a meeting with Rauner planned but were talking to their local lawmakers and legislative leaders.
Rauner has argued the local share of income taxes has continued to rise and the state's dire budget troubles means a cut needs to come.
The mayors wore large green buttons that showed how many people their towns represented. Earlier, the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference started ProtectMyTown.com to try to keep the income tax money.
Rauner and lawmakers likely will continue to wrangle over a spending plan until at least their deadline of May 31, and possibly beyond.