Blagojevich Creates New Homeless Shelters - Rolling Ones

With Governor Rod Blagojevich announcing that those over 65 can ride the rails and buses for free, I see an unintended consequence.

You’ve heard about Charlie, who had to ride Boston’s MTW forever because he didn’t have the dime to get off?

Well, with free fares, homeless seniors can ride CTA buses and trains and Metra trains for as long as they want.

Now, they will have to schedule their route so they don’t end up in Harvard, at the end of the line, without a way back, but, with some skill, the homeless will be able to keep warm on frigid days.

Certainly, some homeless advocate group will provide such schedules.

Here is the House roll call.

Here is the Senate roll call.

Read more...

The Missing Senate Bill 307 CTA/RTA Subsidy Roll Call

In the

"Isn’t that special?”

category is the Legislative Information System's failure to post the roll call on the CTA/RTA bailout bill last night.

Even this morning when I called to ask why, it wasn’t up.

There was an asterisk next to the notation, but there was no note below. (Click below to enlarge the image.)

The person I talked to said that there had been a motion to reconsider by State Rep. Gary Hannig.

“So what?” I thought.

A vote was taken and it wasn’t put on postponed consideration.

Well, as I write this, it’s 11 o’clock in the morning and the roll call has magically appeared.

I believe it is worth noting that newspapers and radio stations without someone on the scene would not be able to report this morning how local legislators voted.

All three of McHenry County’s delegation—Jack Franks, Mike Tryon and Mark Beaubien vote against the measure.

House Republican Leader Tom Cross, whose idea was the guts of the bill voted “Present.”

Maybe he was thinking how people in Kendall County would react to his proposal to force each man, woman and child to subsidize the Chicago Transit Authority and Regional Transportation Authority $30 this year.

First posted on McHenry County Blog, where you can also find the roll call.

Read more...

$30 to CTA/RTA for Every Man, Woman and Child in Illinois

So, what’s the potential downside for voting for the Mike Madigan-Tom Cross CTA-RTA bailout deal?

$385,000,000 coming right off the top of the Illinois General Revenue Fund.

No replacement money identified.

More pressure to pass an income tax hike or a massive expansion of gambling.

Hey, we could follow South Dakota’s example and have little casinos where mom could gamble while the kids eat at McDonald’s almost within sight right through the archway.


But, let’s look at how a political opponent might characterize the proposal.

Say you are from Downstate, also known as anything outside of the six-county Chicago metropolitan area served by the Regional Transportation Authority.

$385 million divided by the state’s population of 12,831,970 (Commerce Department figure) is what?

$30.

So, an opponent could send a mailing to a Downstate legislator’s district saying anyone who voted for this deal voted to force a family of four to send $120 to Chicago.

Or robo calls could be made. Even cheaper.

I mentioned in an earlier post how Zeke Giorgi’s polling results went down because of RTA. Wasn’t it Jeff Mays that rode to office in Quincy when his opponent was charged with having been “taken for a ride by the CTA?”

Multiply $30 times a Downstate county’s population.

Here’s one.

Effingham County had 34,429 people as of mid-2006.

$30 times 34,429 means residents are being force to pay over $1 million to subsidize the Chicago Transit Authority.

Every year.

At least that is what an opponent could credibly assert.

Boy, could a “Yes” vote on this bill create some good campaigns.

And, probably some upsets.

If not this election cycle, then in some future year.

= = = = =

Enlarge the photo by clicking on it and you will be able to read the name of the casino.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

Implications of CTA Bailout/Tax Hike Vote

With the filing deadline for state legislator being Monday afternoon, most potentially vulnerable incumbents will probably think they vote for a CTA/RTA bailout or tax hike with impunity.

After all, no one can get 1,000 signatures after the vote and before the filing deadline.

None, but House Speaker Mike Madigan, will remember the outspoken suburban Republicans who bit the dust because of their support of the Regional Transportation Authority tax hikes in 1974.

Just to remind you, House Speaker Bob Blair, the RTA’s House sponsor, and the Senate sponsor, John Connolly, a Republican from Lake County, both lost to Democrats in the fall of 1974.

Because of their outspoken support of RTA.

Just because a suburban Republican doesn’t have a Democrat running against them yet, doesn’t mean one won’t pop up, if a suburban Republican casts the wrong vote.

Others, like Tim Schmitz, already have a primary opponent. His is Jim Krenz.

Thursday, Krenz issued the a press release warning that a "Yes" CTA bailout vote would be a primary election issue.

Other suburban Republicans rationalize they are about to “do the right thing.”

Just like Governor Rod Blagojevich in his dream world thinking that taking the sales tax money now collected on Motor Fuel (and, now that you mention it, on the MFT itself) won’t be labeled as a re-imposition of the RTA gas tax. (Can it really be possible that House Republican Leader Tom Cross came up with this idea and sold it to his buddy Rod?)

I don’t know where Blagojevich was in the late 1970’s as a revolution against the RTA was building statewide, but I can safely predict that someone will raise the same objections again, if he agrees to impose what amounts to another RTA gas tax to bail out the CTA.

They will point out, as my allies and I did, that when you take money from general revenue (sales taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, for example), it can be prorated to show how much everyone in Illinois is subsidizing the Chicago Transit Authority.

After all, the money comes right off the top.

Ask Mike McClain, the only state rep. younger than I was when he and I served in the House, why he lost his Quincy seat. I’ll bet he’ll remember the radio ads shouting that he was “taken for a ride by the CTA.”

That's the issue that got Lynn Martin elected to the Illinois House in Rockford, the only time Zeke Giorgi ran third.

Downstaters who don’t think potential opponents can figure out a similar issue to use against them are deluding themselves.

Dave Winters, who seems prepared to vote for the CTA bailout, comes to mind.

So, it doesn’t matter whether one is a suburbanite or a Downstater.

You may be thinking you are “doing the right thing.”

And, you may well get whatever you are promised for your vote.

But with Blagojevich being governor, don’t count on it.

Think about Blagojevich’s promise to re-open the Lincoln Developmental Center, both during the 2002 campaign and in a legislative deal that a certain Springfield state senator was positive would be fulfilled.

Unfortunately, if you vote for the CTA bailout, it won’t be until too late that you will realize that your tax hike bailout vote can and will be used against you.

If not next year, then in future election contests.

Suburbanites who are forced to drive to work don’t take kindly to being forced to help pay for rides to work of those fortunate enough to take the train to and from work.

Surely suburban legislators can figure out that the cost of commuting by car has increased a lot in the last year or so. I can guarantee those driving to work know that. They will not understand why train fares have not increased proportionately and they are being forced to take up the slack.

And Downstate constituents won’t like it when they are told how much they are personally being forced to pay to subsidize Chicagoans' bus and train rides to and from work because of your vote to bail out the CTA.

Tim Schmitz’ opponent Jim Krenz’ press release follows:

Read more...

Mike Tryon on CTA-Roads Deal

"No Capital? No CTA!" reads the headline on State Rep. Mike Tryon's "legislative update."

It has a wonderful train analogy to describe the effect on McHenry County of the bill to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority under consideration:

"on a fast track to nowhere."

It points out that "less than one percent of those in McHenry County use mass transit."

Then Tryon writes,

"If the sponsors of Senate Bill 572 are not willing to talk about the overall transportation needs of McHenry County, I cannot support their legislation."

Is that a hint he can vote for the half percentage point sales tax increase?

A 7.7 percent increase in McHenry County's sales tax, half of which would go to the RTA (read mainly the CTA) and half to the McHenry County Board with which to build roads.

Let's read the sentence again:

"If the sponsors of Senate Bill 572 are not willing to talk about the overall transportation needs of McHenry County, I cannot support their legislation."

And, here's another hint for you to interpret at your leisure:

"I am committed to working with the sponsors of Senate Bill 572 to create a plan that addresses both mass transit and roads."

This reminds me so, so much of how an eastern Illinois ex-sheriff state representative agreed to vote for the creation of the RTA when Dave Caravello, one of Governor Dan Walker's legislative people, offered not to fire one of the Republican's road worker buddies, if he'd vote for the RTA bill.

The price is bigger here. I'll grant that.

But we had state approval to build the Western Bypass and Governor Rod Blagojevich took it away. It's a congressional earmark. When the last time IDOT didn't build a congressional earmark?

Now, it sounds as if Tryon is willing to vote for higher taxes in order to get back what was already ours.

The legislative update does not mention how more roads will be financed, but increased gambling has been mentioned widely elsewhere.

The only specific road improvement mentioned is the Western Bypass (to ease the traffic flow at Routes 62 and 31 in Algonquin). There is no mention of the Bolz Road bridge, in southern Algonquin and Carpentersville, without which the Western Bypass will not work. Local municipal and county officials seem intent on making people pay a toll to use the Bolz Road bridge (see Please Make Me Pay Twice), which means, of course, that those who don't want to pay a toll will continue to cross the Fox River at Route 62.

You can read Tryon's whole press release on McHenry County Blog. I wonder if it is a prototype for suburban Republican state representatives to use to justify voting for the deal.

And, speaking of roads, 8th congressional district Republican primary candidate Ken Arnold from Gurnee has made three interesting road proposals, two to save money and one to build a causeway across Lake Michigan. This is a man into policy.

Read more...

Jones may back tax hike to fund CTA

From today's Sun-Times...

The head of the Illinois Senate for the first time is indicating he might stomach a sales-tax hike to bail out the Chicago area's mass transit systems -- a potential step toward ending CTA threats of fare hikes and service cuts.

"I don't like a sales tax because it's so regressive, but I have voted for taxes in the past and will support them again," Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) said during a Friday taping of WBBM-AM 780's "At Issue."

Jones also said "we intend to pass a version" of a transit bailout bill in the Senate when lawmakers return to Springfield next month. Two such proposals are on the table; both include a quarter-percent sales-tax increase in Cook and the collar counties to help provide long-term funding for the CTA, Metra and Pace.
A transit solution is by no means assured, though.

Jones would run the risk of angering one of his closest political allies, Gov. Blagojevich, if Jones shepherded a sales-tax hike through the Senate.

Abby Ottenhoff, a Blagojevich spokeswoman, said the governor continues to oppose "raising sales taxes to fund a transit bill. We are working on other options."

Among other hurdles is Jones' contentious relationship with House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) on a host of budget matters this year. Jones and Madigan appear to remain at odds over a Senate plan to finance $25 billion in state infrastructure projects based on revenues from three new casinos, including one in Chicago.

Should the House not approve a version of the infrastructure plan, Jones could stymie the transit-funding legislation in the Senate.

I've frequently saw the increase of a sales tax. Often this sales tax is a regional sales tax good for the Chicagoland area. Anyway this sales tax is heralded as a solution to the funding issues of the CTA and other RTA agencies.

I'm not a big fan of taxes but I don't want the CTA to increase their fares and cut services. Then again some would say CTA needs to manage their money better. Hopefully the personality clash in Springfield won't affect those individuals who rely on public transportation in the city of Chicago.

Read more...

More Mass Transit Thoughts from Overtaxed Suburbia

Some have suggested that I have merely re-fighting a battle I lost in 1974.

Whatever the reason, mass transit thoughts keep rising to the surface of my consciousness.

Today I offer three ideas, one political and two substantive.

The political thought is

Governor Rod Blagojevich has handed the General Assembly a strategy to raise sales taxes over his veto in which those casting the crucial final votes can escape political punishment at the polls.

The deadline for passage as far as the Chicago Transit Authority is concerned is now November 4th.

Know what day November 5th is?

It’s the filing deadline for state representative and state senator.

If the General Assembly can stall that long, marginal members may be convinced to vote for the bill knowing that the odds of an outraged potential challenger getting 500 (state rep.) or 1,000 (state senate) signatures within a day are slim.

And they can vote to override the Governor's veto after the end of filing.

The first substantive suggestion is

a logical way to finance whatever deficit the CTA has.

A property tax.

Before you beat me about the head with aluminum bats, consider that that the value of property in Chicago is largely dependent on its access to mass transit. Certainly, that is a major reason, if not the primary reason, that property value in and near the Loop is so high.

Likewise, real estate in poorly served parts of the city is less valuable.

So, those who receive the most value from mass transit would pay the most; those receiving the least value, the least.

I am certain the fact that more Metra trains stop at Crystal Lake than anywhere else in McHenry County makes local property values higher than they would be otherwise.

Now, my preference would be the unrefined approach of 19th Century economist Henry George, that is, a tax on only the land. (This approach has the result of encouraging maximum development of land, since the tax on a particular parcel would be the same whether an empty lot or a high rise. Think of all the problems that could be avoided with such a tax system in Chicago or anywhere else.)

One final thought.

Residential property taxes in Chicago are about the lowest in all of Illinois.

My information comes from the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Statistics. It has information on “effective tax rates” that show Chicago about as low as one can go in Illinois.

An “effective tax rate” is defined as one’s tax bill divided by what one could sell one’s house for.

Figure out your own by getting the value of your home from Zillow.com. Divide the number there by your annual real estate tax bill.

Not a big surprise, but the Illinois Revenue Department stopped calculating effective tax rates about the time Democrat Rod Blagojevich took office. There is a couple of year lag time, so the most recent and, sorrowfully, the last comparisons of relative property tax burdens throughout Illinois is for the 2000 tax year.

I found Chicago’s effective tax rate for residential property on page 46 of that year’s Illinois Property Tax Statistics. (You’ll have to scroll down to Table 10. You can find what the effective tax rate is for your town, if it is large enough. This is a double-sided table, so it's a bit tricky.)

Chicago homeowners paid 1.1% of the value of their homes in real estate taxes for the 2000 tax year payable in 2001. That ranks 521st lowest out of 533 Illinois communities for which the effective tax rate was calculated.

So, don't tell me Chicago property taxes are too high unless you can produce an up-to-date effective tax rate for the city.

Most of Crystal Lake (the Algonquin Township part) the effective tax rate is 2.05%--ranking 203rd. The Village of Algonquin in McHenry County and Algonquin Township was 1.89%, ranking 286. McHenry was ranked 251 at 1.96% in McHenry Township.

The second substantive suggestion is

allowing legalized jitney cabs to take up the slack.

I think I had a bill drafted to allow jitneys passing a safety inspection and proper insurance for a group of conservative legislators whom I was helping in the late 1980's or early 1990's. The idea is still a good one.

Not just where the Chicago Transit Authority finds it uneconomical to run buses, but anywhere in Chicago.

I know that the “powers that be” would favor this no more than they would a property tax to finance the CTA, but it also makes all kinds of sense.

Look at the price of taxi medallions.

Clearly there is room in the market for more cab-like transportation.

Of course, bailing out the CTA is not about logic or even transpiration.

It is about patronage and forcing suburbanites to subsidize downtown office buildings.

And you can read more of some of that here.

Always more on the weekend on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

So Much Heat Over RTA Sales Tax Hike Plan from a Typo

I see my typo generated a lot of heat yesterday on Illinoize while I was occupied elsewhere. From the comments, I sense that not a lot of people linked to McHenry County Blog's original story.

My calculations indicate that the RTA tax hike proposed by Democrat State Rep. Julie Hamos will cost McHenry County families about $200 a year, not the "$200 a month" that I mistakenly typed in yesterday's article.

That may be chump change to the folks in Chicago that want to pick suburbanites' pockets yet again, but out here we fight major battles when local tax districts want to raise our taxes $200 a year.

One other comment I found laughable.

It was about collar county residents should be happy that half of the tax hike will be be earmarked for our county boards to spend on highways. That's about $9 million for that square on the upper left hand corner of the Chicago TV's weather map.

If we want to raise our sales taxes by one quarter of one percent and earmark it for highways, we can follow Rockford's example and VOTE on that idea in a referendum. It might even pass.

I know Chicago-centric Illinoize commenters may be unfamiliar with the concept of people actually voting on tax hikes. But, you did it once way back in 1974. The official results show you won that RTA referendum, but there was demonstrable vote fraud and the timid new State Board of Elections would not allow a recount. You won by under 12,000 votes using paper ballots.

If you advocate increasing RTA taxes again, why not be big and bold and put your idea on the ballot?

But, you're not that bold, are you?

We in the collar counties don't need Chicago Democrats doing us the big favor of forcing our sales taxes up $100 a year to pay for roads the state has woefully neglected. (The potholes are on McHenry County's main north-south road, Route 31.)

Not that some of our local county board members wouldn't be delighted to have state legislators take the fall for raising taxes and giving them $9 million a year to spend on asphalt. (Or does the bill require the county board to vote to impose the tax?)

What follows is how I got to the $200 per year. If you want to challenge my logic, have at it. But have the decency to use source date from the Illinois Department of Revenue, as I did.

And, if you can find anyone else who has brought the price of this legislation down to what it would cost a local family, please tell me where to find the story or the analysis.

It's at least $18 million that will be picked out the pockets of McHenry County shoppers every 12 months if the General Assembly passes the half percentage point RTA-Road Sales Tax Hike.

To put that in perspective, $207 million was collected in sales taxes throughout the county this past year. So, the proposed sales tax increase would hike sales taxes 8.7%.

Previously, I estimated the increase would be at least 7.6% and pointed out how a local newspaper was helping the RTA to raise taxes with its headline. That calculation was based on using the tax rates. This one uses actual dollars.

If only the 89,403 McHenry County households paid the tax, it would amount to $231 a family. But, since businesses pay some sales tax, the figure per household will actually be less.

Maybe local folks won't care.

That’s certainly what the legislators behind this tax hike are hoping.

If the legislation becomes law, the Regional Transportation Authority will get another $9 million. About $100 per McHenry County family.

Almost half of the RTA’s McHenry County $9 million will go to the Chicago Transit Authority, according to Kevin Craver’s Northwest Herald article.

And the county board will get the same amount--$9 million--to spend, apparently as it wishes, on roads it wants to improve. That’s almost twice as much as $4.6 million collected in McHenry County Motor Fuel Taxes this past year.

The county board just decided to borrow $50 million to improve roads. If the $9 million per year were similarly bonded, an extra, what, almost $100 million could be spent on roads.

Read more...

CTA Fare Hikes

Click on the ad the Chicago Transit Authority spend oodles placing in Chicago’s newspapers and you will see what CTA riders will have to pay to get to and from work.

How does it compare with what you have to pay?

It looks like $6 a day on a rapid transit train and $5 per day, if you take a bus.

Get a monthly pass, however, and the cost is $84. With twenty working days a month, that seems to be about $4 a day, assuming one doesn’t use bus or train service any time else during the month.

What do you pay to get to work each month?

When you fill up your motor vehicle with gas, how much does it cost?

Did your cost of gasoline increase 50% this year?

Do you have to fill it up at least twice a month?

Do you have car payments?

Even if you don’t, there is obviously depreciation on your car as you use it. when it wears out, you'll have to buy a new one.

Just wondering.

Is keeping CTA, Metra and Pace fares down worth it to have your RTA sales taxes tripled from one-quarter of one percent to three-quarters of a percent,
even if half of the increase is going to be given to the McHenry County Board to spend improving the roads of its choice?

Just wondering.

It's going to cost the average McHenry County family about $200 a year if the CTA bailout bill is passed.

And for those reading from outside the Chicago area in Illinois, part of your share of the sales tax will be ripped off. In that Governor Rod Blagojevich's spokeswoman is correct.

The Metra engine is pulling into Crystal Lake's train station from Chicago. The Pace buses are on Bull Valley Road at the McHenry spur's grade crossing. Tell us where the CTA bus is, Chicago readers.

You know this went up on McHenry County Blog first.

Read more...

CTA Union's Sweet Deal

I am certain that CTA union officials must be smiling.

Even thought the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday,

”The bottom line for CTA unions is an agreement that would force bus drivers and motormen to lose money during the first year, break even in the second and finally start making money in the third year,"

employees are being called to contribute only 3% toward retiree health care and 6% toward their pensions (up from 3%).

Talking to a former NICOR union vice president last Saturday, I learned that Northern Illinois Gas union employees pay 40% of their health care costs.

Paying 40% is a real incentive not to misuse health care.

The coming Chicago Transit Authority’s 3% isn’t.

Notice the pension plan doesn’t look like the private sector’s norm—a 401(k). It’s still a defined benefit plan.

And the pension plan was what the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 wanted to save.

The Sun-Times reports its president, Darrell Jefferson, said,

"We’re living in a time now when pension plans are being crashed instead of being brought back to life. I think we’ve done a remarkable thing here.”

The CTA still wants McHenry and other collar county residents to double the amount of sales tax (from one-quarter of one percent to one-half of one percent) to the Regional Transportation Authority.

Maybe you won’t notice the difference at the cash register, but I’ll bet you the extra money does not get spent in McHenry County.

And will it pass?

Former Jacksonville State Representative Jim Reilly, now head of the RTA, “predicted that the sales tax hike could attract ‘extraordinary majorities in both houses’ needed to override a veto.”

More on the weekend on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

Learning from History...or Not

When the Regional Transportation Authority was proposed in 1973, it contained a disincentive to drive a car into Chicago’s Loop.

It was a parking tax.

I think it was 15 cents, but it was large enough at the time to deter shoppers. At least that’s what enough Downtown business owners though, because they lobbied successfully for its repeal.

Now comes a politician who was round in 1973—Alderman Ed Burke—proposing to levy a tax on the privilege of driving in the Loop.

“It would reduce the number of automobiles coming into the Central Business District. And No. 2, it would provide a revenue stream for public transit,” Burke told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Burke said he was inspired by the fees London had imposed and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed $8 fee on cars and $21 on trucks.

This is not the first time the social engineer’s approach to “solving” the mass transit funding shortfall has attacked motor vehicles.

Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune floated one of the original RTA proponents’ ideas—an RTA gas tax. It was abolished about the same time the parking tax disappeared.

Another long-time politician, Mayor Richard Daley reacted negatively, again, according to the Sun-Times:

Let’s not rush to that and scare everybody off. We’re trying to keep businesses here…”

“Are you gonna put I on all the alderman [who] drive down every day? Do you start with them?”

“A congestion fee would have a devastating impact on tourism,” Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper added.

The Sun-Times slso added an income tax twist:

What about those who consider a congestion fee here a back-door city income tax on suburbanites who work in Chicago?

"One could argue that, since they're using our streets and not paying the wheel tax that Chicago residents pay, that it would be a fair way of spreading around the responsibility for funding some of our expenses," Burke said.

Of course, if the Chicago-dominated state government had the courage, they could enact a real Chicago income tax.

Another Ed Burke said,

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

Posted on McHenry County Blog first, of course.

Read more...