Yesterday the DuPage Airport Authority sent out a trial balloon to the DuPage County Board - and found a gentle breeze greeting it as that balloon got floated on to taxpayers via the press. Despite having long-term bonds from 1993, that have cost DuPage taxpayers $6.5 million a year in property taxes (scheduled to be paid off in 2007) - the Airport Authority seeks to borrow more for expansion with DuPage taxpayers picking up the tab at least until 2009. Daniel Goodwin, Airport Authority Board Chairman who was appointed by County Board Chair Robert Schillerstrom, mentioned borrowing money to construct a hangar addition, and suggested more funds might be necessary for the DuPage Technology Park, located on airport-owned land. The response of County Board members? Praise at the way the Airport Authority is handling business, and caution (not outrage) regarding the extra years of tax collection.
Of course, why should the airport restrain itself from taking DuPage taxpayer money? Not only has the Airport Authority collected a 1% property tax every year since 1993 (and it collected substantial taxes well before then), but also members of the DuPage County Board claim to be against the taxation, yet approve it year after year when they approve the airport’s budget (as is legally required). Further, the Chair of the DuPage County Board selects members of the airport board, which then must be ratified by the County Board. So how long has the County Board been telling taxpayers one thing, and approving airport budgets presented by their appointees that say something else?
Here’s what I can document about the current Board:
- County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom pledged to remove the airport from the tax rolls before becoming Chair in 1998 and in 2002 said, the Airport Authority has “basically thumbed their noses at the taxpayers of DuPage, the county board, myself and my predecessors.” He concluded, “That has got to stop.”
- Board Vice Chair William Maio, Jr. in 2002 called proposed increased airport taxation “a scam on the taxpayers of DuPage County,” saying, “it needs to stop.”
- Board Member Robert Schroeder (Naperville) said in 2002, “My constituents say, ‘Let’s make [the Airport tax] zero.’ And once it gets off the tax rolls, it should stay off.”
- In 2002 the County Board unanimously passed a resolution urging the airport to stop collecting DuPage property taxes by 2006.
With members of virtually the entire DuPage County Board on record as against further airport taxation beyond 2006 (most having voted in 2002) for an airport we will have invested over $100 million in over the years - I don’t think it’s good enough that DuPage taxpayers aren’t asked to subsidize it more (although that’s a given). For all the money we’ve spent, the airport should be making money for DuPage, not just being self-sufficient.
But instead of treating airport taxation as the plague on taxpayers it is, the County Board treats it with kid gloves. Now they are considering whether to continue the airport collecting DuPage property taxes through 2009 - against their own vote in 2002. At what point will the DuPage County Board say “enough” - and really mean it?
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