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Stroger admits he's 'stuck' on budget
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| Contributor | Imperator |
| Last Edited | Imperator Nov 28, 2007 05:44am |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Cook County Board President Todd Stroger acknowledged today that his budget and tax proposals for 2008 are "stuck," accusing commissioners of being "afraid" of raising taxes to provide services.
Meanwhile, a key Stroger ally injected race into the county budget situation, saying if Stroger was white he wouldn’t have a problem getting his plans approved.
“This is a remake of the Harold Washington days with the 29, 21,” Commissioner William Beavers (D-Chicago), said of the infamous Council Wars in the 1980s when white aldermen frequently clashed with Washington, the city’s first black mayor. “It’s basically dealing with who’s going to control the county, white or black. That’s all it is.”
“If this was a white man in power right now, they wouldn’t be fighting him like this,” added Beavers, who has brought up race as a political factor in the past.
Stroger declined to comment on Beavers’ remarks, which came today during a break in a Finance Committee meeting where commissioners are voting on whether to make adjusts to Stroger’s proposed $3.2 billion spending plan. As of the early afternoon, commissioners had voted to trim about $750,000 in spending, a small amount given the projected deficit of $239 million if no new taxes are approved.
Stroger has recommended tripling the sales tax and doubling the gasoline and parking tax. But he acknowledged today that he currently does not have the votes to win passage of the taxes.
“We are stuck,” Stroger said during the break in the meeting. “They don’t want to take the leap and make the vote for revenue but they also don’t want to decimate the system. There has to be a choice made and -- I would hope that it’ll be very soon – i think the right choice would be to vote for revenue.”
Stroger said the board members are “afraid” of raising taxes.
“Eventually they’re going to have to get over this fear and they’re going to have to do what’s needed and that |
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