WurfWhile

DuPage State Representative Paul Froehlich is a chief co-sponsor of HB4717, a bill that amends the recently passed Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Act, forcing the DuPage County Board and other collar county boards to “consent to the imposition of” the new quarter cent sales tax increase that they may use for mass transit or public safety. The bill also provides for an annual accounting to state bodies of the monies collected. If the counties don’t vote to “consent” to the tax, then the tax is reduced from three-quarters of a cent to a half cent, and the county won’t receive the new tax money to spend (the half cent goes to the RTA).

What this means in plain English is that if DuPage wants to use the quarter cent sales tax increase County Chair Robert Schillerstrom quietly inserted into the state transportation bill - then the county board has to formally vote for it - and agree to annually report on the taxes it collects. Otherwise they receive no extra money.

Interestingly, the only other DuPage chief co-sponsor among the mostly GOP co-sponsors, Republican Dennis Reboletti, dropped his sponsorship yesterday. Reboletti had originally voted against the RTA sales tax increase - railing against the “complete control” of Democrats in the process. HB4717 would have been an opportunity to make the quarter cent tax a Republican decision (decided by the all-GOP DuPage County Board). You have to wonder if someone told Reboletti that DuPage County Board Republicans didn’t want that responsibility - and to drop it.