Trenches of Democracy

Campton Hills

Reporter Josh Stockinger, with the Daily Herald, expands on Judge Colwell’s Campton Hills ruling [read full article here]:

After months of legal wrangling between the village and several landowners, Colwell issued judgments last week characterizing the village’s defense against disconnection attempts as “self-serving” and built on a political promise to avoid local property taxes.

Since the village incorporated after a controversial referendum last spring, trustees have waged fierce legal battles against more than a dozen neighborhoods that want out. While the village’s central argument has been that dismantling the new municipality will cripple its finances, Colwell pointed out in his rulings that officials have the ability to levy property taxes and institute municipal fees to offset any decrease to the revenue stream.

“The court is not persuaded that it may simply disregard such alternate sources of funding simply because the village has not yet attempted to utilize those sources (or, more accurately, because its elected officials fear it may be politically inexpedient to do so),” he wrote in one opinion.

“(T)he village’s position is self-serving. … The village is opposed to the disconnection because it does not want to raise taxes,” Colwell wrote in another. “If the citizens of Campton Hills refuse to pass a referendum to impose a property tax in order to have municipal services provided to them, then they will have to either live with fewer municipal services or dissolve the municipality.”

(5 subdivisions to split from Campton Hills by Josh Stockinger, Daily Herald 3/25/08)

Tags: Campton Hills, Free US from Campton Hills, secede

Three More Properties Freed

I’ve just been tipped off that three more properties were released yesterday, after a costly court battle. More details to come…

Tags: Campton Hills, Free US from Campton Hills, secede

Yesterday State Representative Bassi and State Senator Murphy introduced legislation into their respective chambers, which would ease the process of secession of townships from Cook County.

Bassi called it a “Boston Tea Party response” against Cook County taxes. Both legislators recognize the bills probably won’t go anywhere, but they want to make point of protest. Bassi continued, “This is not a joke. … If the city of Chicago is not going to pay attention to the suburbs, by golly, we should be seriously looking at secession[.]”

[read more here]

(”Proposal would ease suburbs’ break from Cook County” Daily Herald)

Tags: Bassi, Lincoln County, Murphy, Palatine, Palatine secession, Reagan County, secede

(Tribune photo / Terry Harris)

The Village Council of Palatine expressed local citizen outrage regarding Cook Counties latest sales-tax increase. The Chicago Tribune reports:

After calling on Cook County Board President Todd Stroger to personally “explain himself” for pushing through a sales tax increase, some angry Palatine Village Council members said they had an even better idea — secede from the county.

Talk of tax revolt was in the air this week as officials, business owners and taxpayers throughout the region voiced outrage. But perhaps nowhere was the outrage more visible than in communities that share a border with lower-tax counties…

Lincoln County?

Frustrations have boiled over into a open discussion about seceding from Cook County.

Several northwest suburban leaders proposed creating a new entity — Lincoln County — in the 1970s, and Palatine Councilman Jack Wagner said it was time to explore that again. “This is getting out of hand,” Wagner said. “We can’t afford it.”

Budgets strained by the recent economic slowdown will be further hurt by the increase, which could cut into sales, some suburban officials said.

“It makes it very difficult for us to generate the revenue we have in the past,” said Schaumburg Village Manager Ken Fritz.Although more recent efforts toward secession have focused on southwest suburbs, for years the movement was pushed by Wendell Jones, former Palatine mayor and state senator. His successor in the statehouse, Republican Sen. Matt Murphy, recently proposed a bill that would make it easier for Illinois townships to vote to split off from counties. (read more…)

However unlikely this action is, it’s clear Cook County government is a bloated burden to all within it’s borders.

Tags: Cook County, Lincoln County, No Cook County Taxes, Palatine, secede