Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County pop tax one step away from repeal after 15-1 test vote
The Cook County pop tax is headed for repeal after commissioners overwhelmingly signaled their intent to do away with it, marking a big win for soda companies and store owners after both sides spent millions of dollars to sway public opinion on the issue.
A 15-1 test vote on Tuesday makes Wednesday’s final consideration a mere formality. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who pushed hard to keep the pop tax, conceded defeat, even as she challenged commissioners to come up with a way to make up the estimated $200 million hole about to be blown in the 2018 budget.
Chicago Tribune: Taxwinkle's pop tax crushed by taxpayer revolt
Who’s the biggest loser in Toni Taxwinkle’s epic pop tax fail?
Taxwinkle? Or Michael Bloomberg, the New York billionaire buttinsky who wasted more than $10 million of his cash on those insulting TV spots trying to convince us that that Toni’s pop tax was about public health?
Chicago Tribune: CPS lays out specifics of tax hike during public hearings on revised budget
Chicago Public Schools officials said Tuesday that the district’s property tax hike will total 8.3 percent with most of the additional money going toward an ailing teacher pension fund and other expenses unrelated to the classroom.
Details on the tax hike were laid out during public hearings on a $5.7 billion operating budget that had to be revised because of the state education funding law passed after the school board approved a spending plan in late August.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS raising property taxes by $225M
The Chicago Public Schools will raise city property taxes this year by $225 million, officials said Wednesday.
CPS’s share of property taxes will total $2.929 billion in 2018 — up 8.3 percent from 2017’s $2.704 billion. The difference will cost the average homeowner another $177 a year. More than half the increase to taxpayers — $154 million — will go to teacher pensions.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Report: Illinois Bill Backlog Keeps Growing
Though the state of Illinois finally got a budget this summer, it still has billions of dollars in unpaid bills, and the amount keeps changing.
According to a review by the Associated Press, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office has been working to pay down the IOUs, but more of them piled up in the last three months. And an additional $9 billion worth of checks are being withheld because the state doesn’t have the money to pay them.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County taxpayers could be on hook for back pay in fired sheriff's deputy cases
A decision by Illinois’ highest court could mean the Cook County sheriff’s office will have to reimburse millions of dollars in back pay to more than 250 fired deputies or turn to the state legislature for help, officials say.
Sheriff Tom Dart’s office is weighing its options after the Supreme Court declined in late September to review a “potentially disastrous” appellate court ruling that calls into question nearly four years of hiring and firing by Dart’s merit board, a sheriff’s official said.
Chicago Sun-Times: Defiant Ald. Carrie Austin defends hiring son as ward superintendent
Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) on Tuesday defiantly defended her decision to hire her son Kenny as her ward superintendent, arguing there is nothing wrong with nepotism if the person on the other end of the favoritism does a decent job.
“It may be [nepotism], but I’m still gonna hire the best person I can for the job. If I can’t have somebody there that I trust, who am I gonna put there? Some lazy anybody? No. I’m not gonna do that. My people deserve better than that. And most of the people in our ward pretty much know my family,” Austin said Tuesday.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago moves closer to easing pharmacist workload
Chicago has moved a step closer to placing major restrictions on pharmacist workloads in a bid to improve consumer safety.
The City Council Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a measure that would allow Chicago pharmacists to fill prescription orders for no more than 10 patients per hour, as well as guaranteeing meal and washroom breaks. It also would require pharmacies to post a list in plain sight showing which pharmacists and technicians have worked shifts longer than eight hours.
Daily Herald: Kane County Board passes budget with public safety cuts
An effort to avoid what some view as dangerous public safety cuts in Kane County failed in a close vote Tuesday that also saw the county board erase a $5.9 million deficit for 2018.
A coalition of mostly Democratic board members pitched a last-minute plan that would have spent down reserve funds instead of implementing a 3.6 percent cut to spending across all departments. Board member Theresa Barreiro wrote the proposal and pushed for emptying the county’s property tax freeze protection fund and taking another $2.14 million from the county’s emergency reserves to fill the budget gap.
Daily Herald: Wheaton council split on sales tax hike for downtown streetscape project
A $35 million plan to transform public spaces in downtown Wheaton could get most of its funding from two special taxing districts, one of which is set to expire in five years.
But city council members are at odds over how to pay for other improvements that don’t fall within the boundaries of the two tax increment financing districts.
Peoria Journal-Star: City Council members split over the possibility of a Portillo’s tax
Will fans of the Chicago-based Portillo’s chain be deterred by an additional sales tax on their Italian beef or hot dog? That question was among many raised at Tuesday’s Peoria City Council meeting that addressed the subject of sales taxes assessed in Special Service Areas.
Council members differed on sales tax incentives for SSA districts, a matter that’s become a hot topic since the developer of the land across from Westlake Shopping Center has said a sales tax increase is needed to induce Portillo’s to set up shop there. While 3rd District Councilman Tim Riggenbach and At Large Councilman Sid Ruckriegel raised questions over creating a single-property SSA, 2nd District Councilman Chuck Grayeb and 4th District Councilman Jim Montelongo said the deal would be good for the city. Grayeb also suggested stores could post a notice of the tax to alert the public.
State Journal-Register: Report warns Springfield-area’s economic strategy must change
Springfield and Sangamon County must rethink economic development and job creation to reverse years of declining tax revenues, stagnant population growth and traditional reliance on state government, say local supporters of a proposed public-private corporation that would lead that effort.
They also acknowledge the likely perception of yet another study followed by little or no change.
Fox Illinois: Recommendation for $3 million dollars to repair aging CWLP units
The Committee of the Whole recommended about $3 million to go straight to aging CWLP units for repair, but not before debating from the aldermen.
There were three different ordinances, all pertaining to maintenance of the two oldest units, Dallman 31 and 32.