Recently DuPage County implemented the maximum property tax increase permitted under law, 3.3%, raising taxes about $2.5 million, which follows last year’s average property tax increase of 5.8% countywide due mainly to increased assessed property values - values that still could come into play to add to this year’s taxes. In November Wheaton raised its property taxes, collecting almost $2 million more in taxes a year - and there will also be an additional sewer tax rate increase of ten cents this year and 15 cents more over the next three years. Winfield Township is asking for a property tax increase of $200,000 on the March ballot. According to the Daily Herald Addison, Bloomingdale, Glendale Heights, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace and Wheaton have all raised sales taxes. Lombard has a sales tax increase referendum on the ballot in March that would raise about $8.1 million per year for the next ten years. Villa Park also has a sales tax referendum on the March ballot, seeking to raise about $1.5 million a year.
What do all these communities have in common? Among other traits, Republican officials vastly dominate (and sometime are the only officials) in the government and in each case public transportation is woefully inadequate and underfunded. While I think it’s high time to elect more fiscally responsible, mass transit friendly Democrats in DuPage - it’s also true that nationally some Republicans understand that supporting mass transit is just smart. We need to convince more local Republicans to employ common sense and expand mass transit - because when public officials understand the benefits of mass transit, taxpayers save money. The good news is DuPage County and the localities in it are starting to look at more mass transit solutions. The bad news is we’re still paying for their slow adoption of the inevitable.
Some examples of the impact of roads on local budgets - and why we need to change our way of thinking about transportation:
- DuPage unveiled a road construction plan last summer that proposed spending tens of millions of dollars each year for ten years. According to the Naperville Sun this is what the “plan” found,
“DuPage County’s traffic forecast through 2015 contains few surprises: The roads that are congested now will only get more congested, fueled by more people, more jobs and more houses.
County engineers predicted that in 10 years, there will be 33 percent more miles traveled - from more cars on the road and longer commutes - and drivers will spend 40 percent more time in the car.
The study concludes that the region can’t simply keep building more roads and that other solutions, such as public transportation and flexible work schedules, must be explored.”
Just to spell it out, county taxpayers have paid hundreds of millions in the past and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars more on road construction that has not and will not fix our traffic problems - but will make them worse. A small fraction of that amount could and would revolutionize DuPage transportation, strengthen our local economy by providing us with a competitive advantage and permit us to reduce taxes for road maintenance and construction.
- Here in Naperville, where we have had substantial positive developments such as the recent land purchase in anticipation of the future 55 mile STAR Line commuter rail and the bus shuttle experiments to downtown Naperville, road costs are still horrendous and the construction destructive. The upcoming construction at 75th street and Washington will be an abomination that will harm local residents, cost taxpayers about $24 million (updated figure), pave over county forest preserve land and still not fix the traffic problem. While members of the City Council are starting to understand the problem with roads - they still cannot break their asphalt embrace. Eighteen months ago Councilman Jim Boyajian, supporting a vote for the costly Washington/75th Street expansion that the community opposed, said, “Folks, the problems [with road traffic] are with us today, they’re going to be with us tomorrow, and they’ll be staying with us for the foreseeable future.” Naperville City Council member and state senate hopeful Richard Furstenau, in the context of the same project, said, “Quite frankly, the one thing that we can’t do, and that I don’t think we have the resources for - and I don’t know if the state even has the resources anymore - is to take care of these roads.” If roads won’t fix the problem - why not try something that will?
- Villa Park is proposing a raise in sales tax to raise money to repair deteriorating streets. According to today’s Daily Herald Villa Park’s “rate increase would generate roughly $1.5 million in new revenue, money that would be set aside in a special fund to repair and replace local roads.” About 55% of Villa Park’s 74 miles of roads need work, including 23 miles that need resurfacing, and close to 10 miles that need complete reconstruction. Reducing the number of vehicles on these roads would reduce the amount of maintenance needed in the future.
- In Wheaton the road maintenance budget increased by $400,000 this year to repair the ten miles of road the city does annually according to the Daily Herald. The main culprit? Oil prices. Does anyone believe oil prices are going to go substantially down in the future? If not, the oil cost is a permanent increase in transportation costs for maintaining roads in Wheaton and everywhere else in DuPage. Shouldn’t we look at reducing the amount of wear and tear on our roads?
- In Winfield Township road paving costs since 1996 have increased 102% - they were $39,000 per mile, now they are $79,000 per mile for the 48 miles the township covers according to Township Highway Commissioner Joe Jedlovec (in the Liberty Suburban Chicago Newspapers). Jedlovec went on to say, roads like Mack and Parnell have “as many as 17,000 to 18,000 vehicles a day.” The $200,000 tax increase March referendum would add to a current annual budget of $1 million. With population in DuPage and surrounding areas continuing to climb, does anyone believe traffic will not continue to build on these roads if there aren’t more and better mass transit options? Without more and better mass transit options, does anyone believe this will be the last tax increase sought for road maintenance?
The only way to reduce the need for more roads and more road maintenance is to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads. The only way to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads is to encourage alternative transportation. We need more bike paths, more buses, more commuter rail road options and more options to walk safely off the road. DuPage is moving in this direction - but we would save more money, travel faster, improve our economy, improve our mental and physical well-being, reduce noise and reduce pollution if we made a bigger commitment now.
It’s long past time.
Post a Comment