Illinois F.I.R.S.T. Unfairness to Chicago Area Motorists
Seeing that McHenry County is ponying up $28 million to pay for widening Algonquin Road from Randall to Route 47 reminded me of meeting with Governor George Ryan’s Transportation Department Secretary Kirk Brown while he was trying to round up votes for Illinois F.I.R.S.T.
Brown and I sat down in Mike Tristano’s office. At the time I was the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee that handled his budget.
I asked Brown for IDOT to take over jurisdiction of Algonquin Road from Route 31 to Route 47 and widen it to four lanes. I think the cost then (1999) was $15 million.
I said, “No.”.
Then, I added that was not all I wanted.
I also asked for Route 47 to be widened to 5 lanes from the Tollway all the way through Huntley to Reed Road, at the north edge of town.
Both requests seemed eminently logical, especially for a county that had been the fastest growing for the previous three decades.
I guess my price was too high.
Or the George Ryan administration valued McHenry County too low.
Illinois F.I.R.S.T. turned out to be an income distribution mechanism to take money out of the six county Chicago metropolitan area and move it Downstate.
While 56.4% of the money from the increased license fees would come from the six-county area, only 42% was scheduled to come back. I do know that it was less than the 45% that State Rep. Bob Churchill negotiated in 1989 when the last gas tax hike was passed.)
The Legislative Research Unit came up with those numbers for me, first in May and then again in a memo dates Sept. 30, 1999. All of the new highway projects to be financed by Illinois F.I.R.S.T. were counted and compared to the totals of who would pay the increased licensed fees. (Click to enlarge the table.)
McHenry County paid in twice as much as it was scheduled to get back.
Not a good cost-benefit ratio, is it?
56% paid in; 43% coming back.
McHenry County was to get back $98 million (1.1% of total new expenditures), while paying in about twice that amount (with 2.2% of the states motor vehicles).
It’s amazing any legislator from the six county area voted for the bill.
And, add to that the probably now $100 million rip-off of motor fuel taxes from Tollway users, again with only 42% coming back.
All in all, the Chicago metropolitan area gets regularly and continually ripped off by governors and the Illinois General Assembly.
More, of course, on McHenry County Blog, even on weekends.
6 comments:
Cal, you're looking at only the highway money. You need to look at the total Illinois FIRST spending to have a complete picture. I don't know if northeastern Illinois was mistreated or not.
The Chicago area gets 9 out of 10 public transit dollars in IL. In the outer reaches of IL highways are the only logical mode, and they need the money, where Chicagoland has money going to more diverse modes. Be happy w/what you got.
This is exactly what a state tax is for (the whole state, not any specific area).
If you disagree, work to reduce state taxes and then fund your own projects locally.
Cal:
I haven't seen a commuter train or an empty PACE bus go thru rural Sangamon County, but I can guarantee downstaters have helped to subsidize both.
So, we in the Chicago metropolitan area paid 67% of the new taxes and got less than 43% of the new highway money.
And 4-lane highways are being built Downstate for fewer cars than drive past my homes in Lakewood (a suburb of Crystal Lake).
Real fair.
Sounds to me like you turned down a $15 million grant to McHenry County to widen Algonquin Road.
And looking at the chart, seems like the Peoria, Springfield and Collinsville areas really made out, while the other downstate areas were treated more or less even-handedly. I wouldn't complain about Ottawa, Dixon, Carbondale, Paris or Effingham "taking your money".
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