Cook County sales tax hike to stay in place as commissioners fail to override Stroger's veto

Cook County sales tax hike to stay in place as commissioners fail to override Stroger's veto
Posted by Hal Dardick
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
May 19, 2009
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/05/stroger-tax-vote-today.html


Cook County's sales tax increase will stand after commissioners today failed to muster enough votes to make their repeal stick.

Supporters of the tax cut needed to convince 14 out of 17 commissioners to override Board President Todd Stroger's veto of a measure that would have repealed the tax Jan. 1.

Only 11 commissioners voted to override Stroger. Four others voted to uphold Stroger's veto and two voted present.

Here's how they voted:

Yes to override and cut the sales tax (11): Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago), Bridget Gainer (D-Chicago), Lawrence Suffredin (D-Evanston), Elizabeth Gorman (R-Orland Park), Timothy Schneider (R-Streamwood), Greg Goslin (R-Glenview), Robert Maldonado (D-Chicago), John Daley (D-Chicago), Peter Silvestri (R-Elmwood Park), Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) and Joan Murphy (D-Crestwood).

No to override and keep sales tax (4): William Beavers (D-Chicago), Jerry Butler (D-Chicago), Joseph Mario Moreno (D-Cicero), Deborah Sims (D-Chicago).

Present (2): Earlean Collins and Robert Steele, both Chicago Democrats.

The political theater over the future of Cook County Board's sales tax increase played out as commissioners debated the merits of repealing the 1-percentage-point tax increase approved last year.

Those who want to keep the sales tax increase are casting it as a rich-versus-poor, North Side vs. South and West Sides issue.

"I looked at my community, and I looked at theirs, and I compared the two," said Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-Chicago), referring to her Republican colleagues. "We don't have any businesses in my community to leave."

"You're mistaken if you think this is not political, because it is," she added. "This is about the haves and the have nots. . . . Most of the calls I got about this were not from people in my district."

Sims was one of two commissioners not present when the board voted 12-3 to repeal the tax. The other absent commissioner, Earlean Collins (D-Chicago), also indicated she wouldn't vote to repeal the tax. Collins said the vote to repeal the tax was "totally unprofessional. . . . Let's stop playing the games and get serious about what needs to be done."

Commissioner Joan Murphy (D-Crestwood), who voted for the repeal two weeks ago, indicated she would not vote to override. "We have no way of knowing what the state of the country is going to be in a year or two," she said, contending the sales tax should be cut by a quarter percentage point on Jan. 1 and make further cuts in subsequent years only if its fiscally sound.

Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno (D-Chicago) also indicated he would vote against overriding the veto--just two weeks after he voted for the repeal.

"I made a mistake by going along," Moreno said, telling Stroger he was caught up in the emotional tenor of the last meeting and didn't even believe the measure would pass. "I really didn't think people would be so ignoramous and vote for it."

"Never had one penny meant so much to so many," said Commissioner Jerry Butler, one of the three who voted against repeal. A longtime defender of the county's vast public health system, he said that because health care is not mandated by state statute, it would be the serve to suffer most.

Republican Elizabeth Gorman of Orland Park said the tax has hurt businesses.

"To minimize this tax, to say it's just one penny, is to miss the point," Gorman said, saying the difference between taxes in Cook and collar counties was driving businesses across the border. "To ignore the impact on businesses in Cook County is a serious, serious mistake."

Commissioner John Daley (D-Chicago) said he would stick by his decision to vote in favor of repeal, even though he voted to enact the tax last year.

"I voted my conscience" in both cases, he said. "Times have changed and I'm not sorry to say I made a mistake."

And Daley pointed out the political ramifications for next year, when Stroger faces a tough re-election challenge and commissioners also will stand before voters.

"This is part of the election, and we know it," Daley said.

Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago), a consistent Stroger critic and opponent of the sales tax hike, said the resulting revenue wouldn't be needed if the county was better managed and not "a political playground for ward bosses around the county. . . . Now is the time to override the veto and protect the taxpayers of the county."

Calling the sales tax "the most regressive of all taxes," Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) said repealing the increase was in the interest of all county residents, inclduing the poor.

"We need to provide some relief and provide that relief immediately," he said. "We need to repeal this and repeal it now."

After the override vote failed, commissioners then approved a new ordinance to roll back three fourths of the tax on Jan. 1 and the remaining fourth on Jan. 1, 2011. The vote was 10-7, not enough to override the likely Stroger veto of that measure.

Stroger said he will veto the new tax repeal ordinance.

As for today's developments, Stroger said: "The reason I vetoed this is because it's not good for the county. You know where this will put us. It will put us back in the hole."

When asked by a reporter if "it was his way or the highway," Stroger responded: "Somebody's got to be a leader. Either lead, follow or get out of the way."

The commissioners' vote came after Stroger supporters staged a rally.

Thirteen African American ministers and political organizers backed Stroger's efforts to preserve the penny-on-the-dollar sales tax enacted last year. Stroger vetoed an attempt by commissioners to repeal the sales tax increase.

Calling themselves "Soldiers for Stroger," a moniker once reserved for the campaign workers of Stroger's late father, John, they said people they represent support the tax because it helps pay for health care and the criminal justice system.

Political organizer Mark Allen said Stroger "did the right thing at the right time for the right reasons."

He said that the issue was dividing wealthier residents in the northern areas of Cook County from less affluent folks to the south.

“Unfortunately, with some of the media slanting, what has happened is they’ve drawn the line, that on the North Side of town, where there are upper class constituents and upper class representatives, their views for what they want their commissioners to do is not the same on the other side of town, on the South and West Sides, where the poor voters that we’ve been representing for over 30 some years have told their commissioners to do," he said.

"And unfortunately, it’s unfair to commend certain North Side commissioners on the rich side of town for doing the right thing for listening to their core constituents, yet it’s wrong for commissioners who represent the South and West Side of town to represent their constituents,” Allen added.

Rev. Albert Tyson III, pastor of St. Stephen African Methodist Episcopal Church, said commissioners who are trying to repeal the tax are ignoring the poor, "those who need the most help are being forgotten first."

And Rev. Walter Turner, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Chicago, said black ministers would be backing Stroger and commissioners who support him in their anticipated reelection efforts next year.

"Election time is around the corner," Turner said. "We are going to make sure that our voices are heard at the polls."

Here's today's story that previewed all the drama:

By Hal Dardick
TRIBUNE REPORTER
May 19, 2009
Cook County commissioners trying to roll back the sales tax increase championed by board President Todd Stroger said Monday they are unlikely to succeed this week -- but aren't ready to give up.

They predicted a loss at Tuesday's board meeting, saying they don't have the 14 votes needed on the 17-member board to override Stroger's veto of the tax repeal approved this month.

"I'll make the motion to override, and we will lose," said Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston). "We'll have 11 or 12 votes."

But one influential commissioner -- Finance Committee Chairman John Daley (D-Chicago) -- cautioned against making predictions before the meeting, even after conceding the override votes weren't there as of Monday afternoon. He noted that no one expected the rollback to pass two weeks ago.

If the tax repeal proponents indeed lose on Tuesday, they will consider other proposals that would phase out the penny-on-the-dollar sales-tax increase approved last year at Stroger's urging.

The ordinance Stroger vetoed would have rolled back the entire increase on Jan. 1. Other proposals would eliminate it by 2011 or 2013. None of those is likely to pass with 14 votes, so Stroger would probably be able to sustain another veto, but it would keep the issue in the public eye as Stroger gears up for an expected re-election run next year.

Stroger favors a partial rollback of the tax by one-fourth of a percentage point, saying new federal revenue would make that much possible, with further evaluations in later years.

Eliminating the entire tax -- which generates nearly $400 million a year -- would force the county to shut two of three hospitals and its health clinics, Stroger has said repeatedly.

A group of activists and ministers plan to hold a news conference before the meeting to support Stroger, who has come under heavy fire from critics, editorial pages and voters for the tax hike, a patronage scandal and a failure to pay his full 2007 federal income tax bill before a lien was placed on his home.

On another financial front, commissioners Monday scaled back a Stroger plan to borrow $256 million to buy and lease equipment primarily for the hospital and jail systems, as well as computer equipment used countywide. A majority of commissioners during a Finance Committee meeting approved borrowing $90 million instead.

hdardick@tribune.com