Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Lake County Eye Sees a Unicorn: A Township Lowers Taxes!

This PSA came in over the transom from the management at Avon Township. A message from Avon Township Supervisor Sam Yingling:


Supervisor Sam Yingling
discusses the Township's
Tax Levy Reduction


You heard right. Avon Township is LOWERING its tax levy. When is the last time that happened in Lake County? Lessee: never? Is it possible that Yingling will keep this astonishing promise? Do unicorns fly? Lake County Eye will be watching for further developments or further flying YouTubes.

33 comments:

edsullivanjr said...

From Springfield, where the opposite will probably happen, I leave a note of congratulations to Sup. Yingling and the board for putting tax payers first. They realize that the only way to reduce property taxes is to reduce government spending.

Rep. Ed Sullivan

CL1 said...

Are they lowering it to equal the amount that Yingling's assesor was supposed to donate back his raise?

Anonymous said...

Gee, Ed, one way to reduce expenses in Springfield might be to require people like you with TWO TAXPAYER FUNDED JOBS to return your state payroll. It would also be nice if the GOP side of the aisle did anything in Springfield to actually reduce the expenses of state government. One way to reduce property taxes would be to remove the township level of government and yours would be a great place to start.

Anonymous said...

Good find Eye....maybe we will see a trend. It's nice to see young people get involved and make a difference.

Anonymous said...

Wow. This is unheard of. We actually have elected officials like Yingling who truly keep their word! Kudos to them for actually representing those they serve!

IllinoisJim said...

Mr. Clinton left us with a $236 billion budget surplus & a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. Mr. Bush, W left us with a $1.3 trillion budget deficit & a projected 10-year shortfall of $8 trillion. Why? Two major tax cuts skewed to the haves and the have mores?

A 23-year-old butcher, baker or candlestick maker is earning 7% less (real dollars) than when his mom or dad went into the field 20 years ago.

Starting with Mr. Reagan, the top 4% went from earning 12% of yearly national income to 22% today. Today, the top 4% are taxed, all taxes included, income, property, sales, SS, Medicare, at 25%. The rest of us taxed at 23%, I read.

I understand some Lake County municipal workers are retiring with benefits far beyond what we Lake County citizens are getting from the private sector. One reason may be that we went down and they stayed at the same real level we expected to be over the last 20-years.

Mr. Reagan said (my spin) “Cut taxes. Give the rich whatever they want and you will get some of what you want through trickle down”. (aka Supply Side Economics) In response, Mr. Bush Sr. said “voodoo economics”. Sr. had it right.

I am glad that Mr. Yingling is attempting to cut taxes due to the difficult economic times people are facing. Lowering lake level also exposes the waste. Will any schools close? Tax cuts don’t yield prosperity. Tax cuts, especially tax cuts for the rich, will not bring back the middle class.

One thing we should bring back is the progressive income tax.

bystander said...

Nice idea, but it's a gamble. Under the tax cap, boards are reluctant to reduce their levy because they'll never be able to raise it again if they need it. Maybe there was so much padding in the Avon Twp. budget that this is a safe move for them. I wonder what kind of tax break the residents will actually see. In some areas, the township's portion is such a small percentage of people's tax bills that a 9% reduction in the levy would be almost imperceptible.

Tired Taxpayer said...

Bystander-
it's nice to see that some elected officials are trying to do the right thing by addressing the taxpayers needs for tax reduction. How can you complain that Avon Township is not doing it's part to reduce spending when they clearly decreased their levy. Perhaps your angst would be better directed at other taxing entities that increased their levies as opposed to making an effort to decrease their levies.

redtail said...

However small (and I don't know what the impact will be on individuals), it is a move in the right direction.

Anonymous said...

For the most part the responses are spot on. What Avon Township doing is taking the lead.
The one things we citizens have a right to..... is to review the budget of our various taxing entities. You can request a copy of your village, school board, township, county's budget under the Freedom of Information Act. I am sure you would be enlightened to see how much waste these taxing bodies mandate we pay. I cant wait to see the fidgeting that happens when I question my township about their whimsical spending.

Anonymous said...

Gee IllinoisJim,

Where were the Democrats when all that was going on? Oh yeah, they were voting for all of it.

What would have been the Democratic reaction post 9/11? Would they too have gone to war? After all they too voted to do so. (Not that any of you admit this these days.) Or would they have done nothing, or tried a little symbolic bombing and moved on?

Where were the Democrats when taxes were being cut? Oh yeah, voting for the cuts? (Not that any of you admit this these days!) Where were the Democrats during all those years of prosperity that they now deride? Oh yeah, basking in it!

You need to come up with a better spin my friend. Trying to rewrite history can leave some pretty ugly scars on your party.

Now I see you Obama Democrats still voting for massive spending and deficits (setting new records in the process), extending the war in Iraq you also voted for, instead of pulling out immediately, then pulling out in 6 months, then pulling out . . . etc. etc. etc. Ramping up the war in Afghanistan with new troops, more money. Now Obama is talking about "tax cuts" to stimulate "jobs" and the "economy."

In Springfield, suddenly the Democratic leadership is against tax cuts while they starve school districts and local governments into submission. Ask nursing homes, hospitals and clinics when they last saw a check from the State for services provided? They too want to stimulate jobs and stop taxing businesses and forcing them to flee Illinois, unless you are Ford Motor Company who accepted untold kabillions in corporate welfare to stay and add 1,200 jobs.

Funny thing about you Democrats. When you get into trouble, you always start to sound like Republican-lites!

Louis G. Atsaves

Anonymous said...

Funny thing about you Republicans, Louis; after you get us into trouble, you sound like, well, nothing. You can't be found, you can't be called upon to help, nor can you offer any real alternatives. You're all just up in the peanut gallery, shuckin shells and blowin' raspberries. Thanks, but, um, no thanks.

Or, as in the case of Ed, jr, you're rushing off to the bank to cash either one of your taxpayer funded paychecks. "Pot? Meet kettle. Kettle? Pot."

Anonymous said...

===You can't be found, you can't be called upon to help, nor can you offer any real alternatives.===

Republican "alternatives" are sitting bottled up in committees controlled by Democrats who refuse to hear them. Both in Springfield and Washington.

Nice try though!

Louis G. Atsaves

Crazy4glf said...

Louis,
Repbulican alternatives either contradict themselves or won't work as per organizations like the CBO (or they sit in Committee under the sponsorship of people like Mark Kirk because he can't get more than a handful of sponsors from either side of the aisle - go look!).

I'm sorry these facts get in the way of your moment or salvo. There may just come a time when the GOP will recognize salvos, parties, and waterloo won't help anyone regardless of stripe. One would've hoped that time would've come by now, but then one wouldn't have known the current crop of GOP'ers.
Can't they buy an island and not govern themselves?

GOP idea: ensure sufficient regulation (?!?!?!?) to keep insurance premiums low and avoid subsidies. This from the party of the free-market and no government intervention? For those scoring at home, this doesn't make sense.

This from the party that felt the way Wall Street was regulated was/is sufficient?

GOP idea: no pre-existing condition clauses.
Voted against it en masse. Clearly not 'their' idea.

GOP idea: tort reform. Ruled unconstitutional in Illinois and unsuccessful in Nevada, if one is concerned about increasing access to care or lowering costs.

GOP idea: Vouchers for Medicare recipients (Rep. Ryan - Wisconsin; ooh another one of those facts; sorry - I can't help myself).

Contradicts current GOP mantra of being guardians of Medicare, is a give-away to the insurance companies, and contradicts the first GOP idea of keeping rates affordable. (It does continue their fine record of hypocrisy!)


The GOP track record on healthcare is deplorable: against Medicare, against many VA benefit improvements (revised GI Bill?!), in favor of an unfunded Medicare Reform Act that bans volume discounts, and loved 2 tax cuts making any effort at reform during a Bush-inaugurated deficit difficult to bring about.

By the way, when will GOP public officials buy their own health insurance if they don't like a public option or an entitlment?It'd save the government money and people like John McCain would have to sell a house to get individual coverage that he thinks is so 'workable' for the rest of us.


Also, Bush and the 2001-2006 Congresses won't go down as the most cooperative, bi-partisan or transparent. But now, its horrendous to not include people who don't believe in certain legislation to discuss that legislation? (Anyone else confused here?) The only reason its horrendous is you have a party dedicated to their re-election and -goodness forbid- a return to the White House and Majority status. We all know that is one reason we are in the pickle we find ourselves in today so one can only hope this doesn't happen.

When McConnell votes against a temporary extension of unemployment insurance is he really pro-constituent?
When Repubs are against healthcare reform, are they really pro small business?


Where were these GOP critics when Bush spent money like they couldn't turn the faucet off? When he EXPANDED and REORGANIZED government as much or more than FDR? Then it was good policy, vitally necessary, etc.
Of course, then, up or down votes were DEMANDED and people who disagreed with the decider (who wasn't very good at what he decided) were unAmerican.


All the GOP needs to do is put up decent, MODERATE candidates, show a good faith effort at legislation that doesn't always include tax cuts or empty rhetoric, and demonstrate a willingness to compromise.


If that's too much to ask they shouldn't be in office in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Louis, you're such a sad apologist. All those brilliant alternatives bottled up in committees are a figment of the RNC's imagination. If you had'm, you'd be singin about'm all over. We saw the GOP alternative health care proposal: it was gutless verbiage. And you, pal, started the whole, "you Democrats" BS in the first place.

IllinoisJim said...

Mr. Atsaves, thank you for your response. Yes, I am an Obama Democrat but not always so. You see, I voted for Reagan. I actually believed in reducing taxes on the rich to spur economic growth for America and all of us. Rich, middle, poor. Sure didn’t turn out as I expected. I don’t like getting fooled, not one bit. I follow this Lake County Eye blog because it is not Right or Left, but middle leaning. Also, it is hilarious when it pokes fun at some of these clowns. Maybe we can agree on one thing? Let’s work together to keep the Cook County Democratic Party “method” out of Lake County.

Anonymous said...

Illinois Jim, what do you call the 17th highest property taxes in the country, like we have in Lake County? What do you call a county board president who only allows the board to consider a single candidate to replace a board member instead of giving them a choice? What do you call a county board president who routinely shuts down anyone speaking during the 'public comments' sessions? What do you call a county board president using a state employee as the rsvp for her fundraiser at the state phone number of a state rep's district office? That's not 'Chicago' style politics, that's 'Schmidt' style politics. Suzi Schmidt's been running that game for years up here and the minute she starts finally losing her GOP stranglehold on Lake County government, she and Louis and Dan Venturi cry 'Chicago' style politics. Actually, their version is closer to 'Politburo' style politics than 'Chicago'!

Anonymous said...

Whoo! Touched a nerve there! Whole bunch of responses which ignored the truth! That Democrats routinely voted for wars, excessive spending and tax cuts that they now sneer at! That Democrats prospered under what they too voted for until . . .

Ah, politics! Short memories are at the top of the list!

Crazy goes crazy trying to dissect the GOP proposals, which is a first for Crazy. Before that, Crazy never admitted that such proposals (and many more) existed.

And the Anon attack on Schmidt is pretty funny. Democratic talking points that ignore the obvious. In Chicago and Cook County, there exist governments that are far less responsive to the people than Lake County Government. Those same Governments have higher taxes than Lake County. Yet Lake County keeps a balanced budget and providing needed serves, while Chicago and Cook County have spent themselves into bankruptcy. And by the by, Chicago and Cook County use the same system of filling vacancies that Lake County does!

That's your choice? LOL!

Louis G. Atsaves

Anonymous said...

I love the attack on Schmidt that Lake County has the 17th highest property taxes. Does this idiot poster realize that the County portion of the tax bill is like 7% of the total. Keep the attack up because I would love to compare Cook County(Dem)against Lake County(Rep)in any catagory.

Anonymous said...

Enough with the lies, Louis. Lake County has the 17th highest property taxes in the United States according to Forbes (not your typical liberal media outlet). And we don't even have a county hospital! Our county sheriff's budget is nearly three times the size of similarly sized counties throughout the country. Schmidt has blocked ethics reforms before the county board for over 10 years which would specifically prohibit the rampant nepotism in county government. You offer nothing but empty verbiage and opinions not pinioned upon the facts here in Lake County.

Anonymous said...

This 'idiot' realizes that the county portion of your taxes is one of the main reasons there is more development in Will County than in Lake. This 'idiot' realizes that Suzi Schmidt tabled the resolution to cap property tax increases more than three years ago. This 'idiot' also realizes that while the county board is laying off employees at Winchester House, they're funding a huge maintenance facility on Grand Ave. in Lindenhurst, and going out and buying a new multi-million dollar building for the Forest Preserve District. This 'idiot' votes. This 'idiot' speaks to other 'idiots' who also vote. We're not only 'idiots', we're mad.

Anonymous said...

This "idiot" needs to understand what is involved with property taxes. I did not read the basis for the 17th highest taxes piece in Forbes. Maybe you can attach it here. Is it a per person? Is it total collected? Bottom line is the county portion is only a small part of the total.

If the county portion was the 17th highest in the nation then your attack has legs.

Anonymous said...

Do your own research. And while you're at it, try thinking that the voters in Lake County are tired of hearing that Schmidt and her evil minions are better than Cook County. We don't live in Cook County. We live here. And we're tired of her brand of Mussolini-in-a-skirt politics. We don't care if it's better or worse than Cook County. We care that it isn't what we want here, now. Face the facts, bro: come December, Suzi's going to return to the county board as a lowly commissioner in the minority party.

Anonymous said...

So I found the Forbes story. They compare income to property taxes. Lake County is ranked 17th overall in property taxes paid as a percentage of their income. I am sure someone out there could explain why but to me it just says we in Lake County pay a lot of property taxes. This obviously is not news to anyone that owns a home.

With that said, the person on this blog that wants to attack the County Board as the reason Lake County has high property taxes doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about. The county has zero control over any other tax body including Townships, Municipalities and Schools. The County portion of your tax bill has to be in the 7% range. If you want to make a fair comparison then use an apples to apples approach and compare counties.

Anonymous said...

If county government has nothing to do with property tax assessment, why do they spend almost a million a year on a county assessor and staff, including county vehicles? Schmidt can't have it both ways. Many of the counties that pay less property taxes as a percentage of their incomes have county hospitals. Not only do we not, but the first area where Schmidt deemed appropriate to cut to balance her budget was Winchester House. But I'm glad to see a GOP'er on here defending Lake County's ridiculous taxes. This is truly the land of the Tax-And-Spend Republican.

Anonymous said...

You really do not want to know the truth so I can only think that this is an orchestrated attack that will continue. Good luck with that as when people actually start to here the attack and the truth Schmidt will win. Your boy Bondy is toast like his career at Allstate.

Anonymous said...

My, my. Claiming 'truth' seems to be the last refuge of a scoundrel in your case. You seized upon only one of the points about Schmidt and muddled that. Then you try to play a little innuendo game about Bond. You started by calling people idiots.

You're a cur. One of Suzi's nasty little dwarves hell bent on conducting the nastiest, dirtiest campaign Lake County has ever seen. This campaign, by its very nature, as well as its utter lack of substance will be your undoing.

Please spare us any more of your obtuse comments.

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:34 -

Your comment about Bond and Allstate got me thinking. Has Suzi Schmidt ever lived any other way than off the taxpayers? She already has 2 taxpayer funded pensions and now she wants another one. The taxpayers paid for her vacations in Florida with her friend Suzi Link. I voted for Sue Simpson in 2006, but this time around I would never, ever vote for Suzi Schmidt. She is truly the hardworking taxpayer's worst enemy.

Ed said...

The comment noting that Lake County only comprises 7% of our property tax bill makes a valid observation. But it doesn't lead anywhere. Here in Lake Villa we have Schmidt to blame for 7% and Dan Venturi to blame for more. And as I dodge pot holes on Petite Lake Road every morning and evening, I have to wonder where all the tax money goes thatthe President of the Lake County Board and the Chairman of the Lake County Republican party collected. I too voted for Sue Simpson. And I too will be voting for Bond. Not only is Bond's record pretty darn good, but Suzi's not much of a Republican, either. And frankly, she seems more concerned with increasing the size of county government than serving the needs of its citizens.

Anonymous said...

All this in response to a Township that lowered its Levy. I can can only wonder what posts we would have seen if the story was actually on Schmidt or Bond!

Anonymous said...

Too right! Let's give another 'Hi, Ho, Silver' to Sam Yingling for having the guts to push down the cost of local government. You certainly won't see that kind of courage from Dan Venturi!

Anonymous said...

Anon 2-16-10 6:03pm-
I couldn't agree more. Yingling doesn't look to be more than in his early 30s and perhaps some of the old Lake County politicos could learn a lesson from Yingling about reversing business as usual. It's refreshing to see some young blood representing the taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

One day I am going to have to make a trip over to Avon and ask Mr Yingling how he is being received by the old time Politicos. My guess is the business as usual mentality of the old crew keeps them from embracing anything Mr Yingling does.