i'm sure welfare takes up most of the rest, not much left for anything else
Posted on 04/16/2016 3:20:25 PM PDT by george76
Illinois' 859 local school districts consume nearly two-thirds of the $27 billion in local property taxes collected across the state each year.
Illinois has nearly 7,000 units of local government. That’s the highest count of any state in the nation, and the runner-up is not even close.
One of those units of government is the Naperville Township Road District, where seven employees maintain less than 20 miles of road at a cost of $116,000 per mile. City officials have said they could maintain the same distance at half the cost, and have moved to take over the road district’s duties on behalf of local taxpayers.
But the final decision on whether to outsource maintenance of those roads to the city rests with Naperville Township Road Commissioner Stan Wojtasiak, who has put local taxpayers on the hook for thousands of dollars in meals and treats, including alcohol, over the course of his tenure, according to the Naperville Sun. Wojtasiak said he spent the money to boost staff morale, and has yet to announce his decision regarding consolidation.
The Naperville case is emblematic of a statewide problem in Illinois: Having thousands of local governments poses serious problems when it comes to oversight and efficiency.
...
Many homeowners in Illinois are now paying twice for their houses over their lifetimes — once to the bank, and once to the government through property taxes.
...
as long as state and local politicians fail to trim Illinois’ glut of government units, taxpayers will continue to be crushed under the weight of ever-higher costs. Transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility all depend on consolidation in Illinois.
(Excerpt) Read more at illinoispolicy.org ...
Yikes
The government they deserve.
Well....move.
Well somebody has to pay for the incarceration of all of those ex-Governors.
It almost sounds like the writer has some crazy idea that the money earned by citizens is their’s? Obviously the Papers Drug Testing policy is severely lacking.
All Money belongs to the Government, you are only allowed to keep a small portion as we see fit, got it.
Illinois is so finished as a state. Seriously, states should be forced to become territories and then made to get their books in order before they can reapply to join the union.
New Jersey will take this as a double dog dare to increase their taxes to compete for the No.1 spot.
So many in all states just love paying property taxes and all other kinds of taxes too. Louisiana just had some local elections, and tax renewals won overwhelmingly nearly everywhere; this is after a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax.
Upstate NYS or NJ will win.
No joke.
A nice 4 bd 2.5 bath on 1/3 acre will run you $25k/year in prop taxes anywhere in NJ above 195...
Governments love property taxes because the real estate can’t flee the state. So they figure that someone will be stuck paying for it, no matter what they charge. However, the property taxes cut into the value of the property, until the value of the property approaches zero. Like Detroit.
i'm sure welfare takes up most of the rest, not much left for anything else
I lived in Illinois once, and that was over twenty-five years ago. When a larger government entity takes over an area, the underlying previous government units are NOT absorbed, they continue their operation, many times independently of the larger governmental entity. Things like mosquito abatement districts, water and sewage treatment plants, and township governments in areas that have been absorbed by urban growth. That is why there are things like a Naperville municipal government, and a Naperville Township district, both with powers of taxation, and often running at distinct odds with each other. There is no binding authority in many places for consolidation of these overlapping authorities. School districts are another oddity, being independent of both the municipality in which they are located, and of the county level overview. They remain responsible only to the state, and school boards are notorious for gaining special dispensation for borrowing and taxation policies from the education department in Springfield, admittedly quite far from many of the school districts.
It makes for a confusing and sometimes overlapping election schedule on those various special districts that have elected officials, and no accountability at all from those in appointed positions.
...and don’t forget the former speaker of the house, Denny Hastert.
The Revenge of Meredith Whitney, she warned us...
Well, yeah, but it's such a great place to live...
Illinois got $6,297 in property taxes out of me in 2015. I don’t know how that would measure up against other states.
Couple the increase in property taxes with the proposed “tax by the mile” for Illinois drivers and it will start looking like Detroit. Yes, the whole state will start looking like Detroit.
“A nice 4 bd 2.5 bath on 1/3 acre will run you $25k/year in prop taxes anywhere in NJ above 195...”
Well for all of you here who delight in trashing California. Our home is 4,000sf, on 1.5 acres (a hilltop actually), built in 1984 at a total cost of $325k. Today, thanks to Proposition 13, our property taxes are now $7k/year, and the home is worth $2.5 million. As we are semi-retired, we could not have stayed here without Prop 13! At least California isn’t throwing it’s senior citizens out of the homes they worked their lifetimes to acquire.
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