I’ll keep this short and–unfortunately– not so sweet.
Once again, we’ve reached that time of year when blaze orange is all the fashion rage; turkeys are being plumped and plucked for the plate; and taxpayers are being guisingly (typically concealing the true nature of something) groomed by local governing authorities on the merits of spending more of your hard-earned dollars . . . otherwise known as setting and approving a levy; a tradition that began in 1967 when the state turned over the collection of property taxes to counties.
While I was unable to bring to light Cook County’s relic levy history, dating back to the late sixties–four boxes of documents stored in a dark room somewhere in the bowels of the Minnesota Historical Societies’ spacious headquarters in Saint Paul–I did manage to uncover the last three decades (should be enough to make my point) of levy history.
Ever since Nintendo first began selling its Game Boy back in 1989, up to its 2018 release of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Edition controller, the top combined three successive years of Cook County levies are 2016 (8.50 percent), 2017 (11.22 percent) and 2018 (17.46 percent), not so coincidently, the years Mr. Cadwell has gripped the position of County Administrator.
No question he has his accomplices, who unquestioningly fan the flames scorching through your tax dollars.
2016 through 2018 witnessed the biggest jump in money spent by Cook County Commissioners–$2.1 Million–in comparison to any other three-year period over the past thirty years.
How is this possible, you ask?
Consider:
Should the proposed 2019 County Budget be approved by the board of commissioners, taxpayers will be looking at increased spending–over Mr. Cadwell’s tenure–amounting to . . .
. 53.1 percent Administrator
. 43.2 percent Planning & Zoning
. 25.4 percent Sheriff
. 24.8 percent Auditory-Treasurer
. 29.4 percent Data Processing
. 73.9 percent Emergency Management Services
. 123.3 percent Veterans Service Officer
. And lest I forget, a whopping 263.2 percent increase for the YMCA!
Rather a dubious distinction when one considers the concept of responsible, accountable leadership.
“Restoring responsibility and accountability is essential to the economic and fiscal health of our nation [read: county]. “
— Carl Levin, Retired politician
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics.
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