This Will Only Hurt A Little Bit!

In today's Journal & Topics we read:



Not that Lutheran General Hospital should be able to dictate tax policy in the City, but we are in agreement with Mayor Howard's statement that LGH has been a "good partner" to the City.

We are also pleased with the modest reduction of 1.4% in the property tax increase. But we note that an increase is still an increase, and we were much more taken with the bold proposal of Alderman Wsooooolman (7th Ward) when he suggested that the City eliminiate the property tax increase.

Our PRUdos to Alderman Schmidtzkrieg (1st Ward) for attempting to give attention to our infrastructure needs, which is what we believe to be one of the most basic purposes of government.

Unfortunately there are still those in City government who just don't get it.

As reported in the second news item linked above, "Ald. Robert Ryan (5th) disagreed with removing the Vision 2025 study characterizing it as "the most important part of our budget." Ryan said, "Planning dollars are cheap dollars. It allows us to get organized. I really don't think we can afford to be short-sighted."

That's right, people. The 5th Ward's Benedict Alderman Ryan believes some goofy "Vision 2025 study" is the "most important part of our budget." It seems that Benedict Alderman Ryan will leave no "expert" unconsulted and no consultant unpaid.

Where's a brick wall when your head needs one...

Shrinkage!

In a recent report in the Journal & Topics, we read the ballyhooing of this year's 5.5 miles of street resurfacing.

The Public Works committee, chaired by Ald. DreadBach (3rd ward), awarded the contract of $1,108,052.16 to J.A. Johnson Paving of Arlington Heights.

The PRU Crew decided to take a look at the resurfacing programs from the recent past, and we found...


2004/2005 - 5.3 Miles of Streets Resurfaced



2005/2006 - 8.3 Miles of Streets Resurfaced


2006/2007 - 9.3 Miles of Streets Resurfaced


2007/2008 - 7.3 Miles of Streets Resurfaced


2008/2009 - 5.5 Miles of Streets Resurfaced


Funny, but we don't remember paying less in property taxes.

We aren't unaware of the increases in costs. But we are aware that in order for our town's infrastructure needs to be maintained, we can't allow cut-backs on the very basics; such as street resurfacing.

Then again, we are also aware of the Frimark administration's preference for paving the way for deals for Friends of Frimark, rather than boring old street paving.

Finally, in today's Herald-Advocate citizens are invited to comment on the proposed City budget of $52.8 million. We don't know about everybody else, but we see an immediate $60,000.00 that should be cut right off the top; $50,000.00 for the Library "space needs study" and $10,000.00 for that goofy "Vision 2025" long-term city plan.