After years of posturing, passing the buck, and public relations fiascos, the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors last night finally took a vote on whether or not to enact a half percent increase in the county sales tax. They voted down the tax by a 10-27 vote. County Executive Mark Harris deserves much credit for submitting only one budget--a budget that included the sales tax--thus forcing the Board to go on record with a vote.
Voting against a tax increase is easy--what's difficult is finding $775,000 in cuts. As the budget deliberations proceed and Board members find that their pet county projects are headed for the chopping block, all of a sudden Harris' tax proposal may not sound like such a bad idea. Don't be surprised if it is reconsidered.
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According to the Northwestern "Winnebago County supervisors are turning to county reserve funds to balance the county's 2007 budget." So much for making the painful cuts, taking responsibility etc. How anyone can justify this board as anything but do nothing is beyond me.
I wouldn't call them "do nothing." I'd call them "do the easy thing" (i.e. go to the reserves). There are supervisors on the board who whine constantly about the board's over spending, but when they have a chance to offer suggestions for cuts they are curiously silent. I have not been following their budget deliberations very closely, but it would be interesting to see which supervisors voted against both the sales tax increase AND going to the reserves. Those are the supervisors who must be able to tell us where the fat is in county government. --Tony
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