WurfWhile

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact: Hiram Wurf

Democratic Candidate for DuPage County Board District 5

T 630.416.2198

Email hwurf@yahoo.com

Board Candidate Holding Press Conference - Announcing Petition To End Property Tax Support of Airport

DuPage County Board Candidate Hiram Wurf will hold a press conference Tuesday, October 26 at 12 PM at the DuPage Center Administration Building, Wheaton, where he will announce to the press a petition to get rid of the DuPage property tax line item that supports the DuPage Airport.

The DuPage Airport Authority collects almost one percent of DuPage property taxes annually (approximately $6.5 million). While the DuPage Airport Authority Commission Board has its own taxing authority, the Chair of the DuPage County Board appoints DuPage Airport Authority Commissioners and has line-item veto power over the airport’s budget. The County Board approves the Commissioners, as well as approving the Airport Authority’s budget. County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom pledged to remove the airport from the tax rolls before becoming Chair in 1998. In 2002, Vice Chair of the Board, William Maio said of an attempt by the Airport Authority to borrow an additional $7.5 million, “The executive director, in my estimation, is running a scam on the taxpayers of DuPage County. And it needs to stop.” Naperville Board Member Robert Schroeder said that same year, “My constituents say, ‘Let’s make [the Airport tax] zero. And once it gets off the tax rolls, it should stay off.”

Wurf says, “It is long past time to act. This is not a new issue - it’s an issue that has been around over a decade - and the sky is the limit for how much taxpayers continue to pay and pay. Why have the Chair and the Board not selected only those Commissioners who publicly pledge to remove the Airport Authority from the DuPage County tax rolls immediately? Why is the Chair and Board’s budget authority not ending wasteful spending and applying pressure on the Airport to get its finances in order? Just this spring the Airport got a $3 million line of credit with a bank, because they are depleting their cash reserves – who do we think will pay for it? Who is paying for the golf cart global positioning units at the airport golf course that cost hundreds of thousands? When will somebody take a real stand and force the airport to pay for itself, instead of leaching money from DuPage taxpayers?”

In 1993 borrowing that helped finance major airport expansion included a legal provision prohibiting the airport authority from reducing the amount of property taxes it collects - until the debt is repaid in 2011. The restriction could be eliminated if the debt was repaid, including through refinancing. Past attempts at refinancing, such as in 2002, have included efforts by the Airport Authority to expand its debt by borrowing more money. Currently taxes are paying for debt as well as the ongoing operations of the airport.

Wurf noted, “The way things have been going, with Chairman Schillerstrom finishing six years without measurable progress on the tax issue, I think the Airport Authority’s estimate of ending taxation in 2011 is too optimistic. Unless we take a stand, the Airport Authority has shown it will continue to borrow and spend, borrow and spend. DuPage resident’s need to say ‘airport taxes don’t fly with us’ and put pressure on elected officials to end the tax. The petition I will start circulating will do just that. The county board needs to hear from its constituents and know that there is a price to pay for years of inaction - and that price is not DuPage residents paying property taxes to support the DuPage Airport.”

Hiram Wurf is the Democratic candidate for the DuPage County Board District 5. He and his wife have lived in the District for nine years and have two children. Hiram operates the Midwest Regional Office of a promotional marketing solutions firm. You can read more about Hiram’s views on the issues at www.WurfWhile.com.

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