Palatine to Secede from Cook County

Cook County raised their taxes, and this tax increase has county border towns steaming.
Palatine looking into ways it can secede from Cook County in wake of new increase
Portions cutn'dapasted from Liam Ford and John Keilman

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.

"What really gets me most is it's not only us: It's going to be the schools along with the village, the park district, any taxing body -- the dollars are going to shift from our area," said Council member Scott Lamerand, who was among those leading the push to explore withdrawing from the county.

Other Cook County suburbs near borders of lower-tax counties also worried that the 1 percent sales tax hike approved Friday with strong support from Stroger and his allies will mean the death knell for many local businesses -- and the busting of local budgets. Effective in November, it will more than double the county's portion of the sales tax.

By November, when both the county sales tax hike and a 0.25 percent increase for the RTA will be in effect, Palatine's rate will be 10 percent. In some Lake County communities, just a short drive away, it will be 7 percent.

"It's just one more disadvantage, and obviously, it's a very regressive tax, and this is the worst time to impose it," because of an already slow economy, said Hoffman Estates Mayor William McLeod.

Burr Ridge Village President Gary Grasso said that while the tax hike won't derail a new downtown retail center in the part of the southwest suburb that lies in Cook County, he has concerns because of the downward trend in the retail market.

"Any sales tax increase will not help the situation," he said.

The tax hike will be detrimental to any community, school district and other units of government in Cook County with significant retail that is near a county border, the head of a Chicago budget watchdog group said.

"The county, in its arrogance to grab so much tax revenue, has really thumbed its nose at other local governments," said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation.

With the loss of local revenues in mind, Palatine officials Monday called on Stroger to personally explain the $426 million-a-year tax hike, and asked the village manager and village attorney to look into ways Palatine might secede 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.

I highly support this tax revolt - and I encourage all my brothers and sisters trapped in the tyranny of Stroger the Second and Pharaoh Daley II should plan on resettling in the glorious lands of Palatine (once they pull it off!)

A great history professor once explained the American expansion of the West: "Vote with your feet." That simply boils down all of American history to a phrase. And he is right! When the powers that be, and their cronies run everything and raise taxes without anything to show for it except pay raises for their cousins and cronies - rather than take up arms (and that's especially hard in Cook County since the Pharaoh is in such a hurry to take away his subject's second amendment rights) it's much easier to move and resettle. It explains almost all of the [white] immigration to this land in the first place, to the Louisiana Purchase, to living 3 hours away from your place of employment today. Hell, to be funny you could throw the moon landing in there too.

When the cycle continues, you simply get up, pack it up, and leave further west.

God Bless America