County Board Passes Gorman-Sponsored Amendment to Cut Cook County’s Non-Retailer Transfer Tax of Motor Vehicles

County Board Passes Gorman-Sponsored Amendment to Cut Cook County’s Non-Retailer Transfer Tax of Motor Vehicles

Chicago, IL – The Cook County Board unanimously passed today the proposed amendment to cut the County’s Non-Retailer Transfer of Motor Vehicles Tax. Sponsored by Commissioner Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman, this amendment’s main drive is to lessen the financial burden of purchasing a car, person to person.

The issue came to the forefront for Commissioner Gorman when her office was contacted by a constituent whose teenage son was hit hard by the new transfer tax after his recent first car purchase.  According to the teen’s mother, her son ended up paying a nearly 30% county tax on his used car purchase.  The teenager paid $600.00 for the auto and then was slapped with the $175 county transfer tax fee.

“The initial Transfer Tax ordinance was overly aggressive. But, through the cooperative efforts of President Preckwinkle and her office we have now lessened this financial burden on county residents, especially for low income earners and young people who are first-time car buyers and have limited resources,” stated Commissioner Gorman.

The original ordinance was passed November 2011 (effective March 1, 2012), to apply a tax to the transfer or purchase of a motor vehicle that is titled or registered from a non-retailer (Private Party), at a location in Cook County, with an agency of the State of Illinois (Ordinance 11-0-109) Chapter 74 – Article XVII.   

Commissioner Gorman initially pushed for a full repeal of the transfer tax stating, “It’s an excessive tax that punished low income earners and young people in particular.” The State of Illinois, City of Chicago, and now Cook County all have transfer taxes but it was Cook County that was the hardest hitting. 

The County’s Bureau of Finance made the new recommendation for fair and equitable tax administration, policy and enforcement, the Bureau of Finance has recommended adjusting the tax rates without reducing budgeted revenue. 

The new rates, which take effect August 1, set a $90 tax on the transfer of motor vehicles nine years or older.  Vehicles four to eight years old will be subject to a $175 tax. Vehicles three years old or newer will pay a $225 tax.  Vehicle transfers between immediate family, certain business transactions and transfers to beneficiaries of an estate, will continue to have a $25 tax rate.

Commissioner Gorman said, “Passing this amendment was the right thing to do. Looking out for the taxpayer must be our priority, especially for those at the lower end of the earning scale.  This amendment will now make it more fair and equitable for person to person car buyers.”

Commissioner Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Doody Gorman, Republican from Orland Park, was first elected in 2002 to represent the 17th District on the Cook County Board. She has been a strong advocate for tax reform, budget and operational efficiencies, especially in the area of new technology. Liz has also worked hard for greater transparency throughout Cook County government and for making the Forest Preserve District a national leader in the areas of recreation, restoration and conservation.

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Chicago, IL – The Cook County Board unanimously passed today the proposed amendment to cut the County’s Non-Retailer Transfer of Motor Vehicles Tax. Sponsored by Commissioner Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman, this amendment’s main drive is to lessen the financial burden of purchasing a car, person to person.

The issue came to the forefront for Commissioner Gorman when her office was contacted by a constituent whose teenage son was hit hard by the new transfer tax after his recent first car purchase.  According to the teen’s mother, her son ended up paying a nearly 30% county tax on his used car purchase.  The teenager paid $600.00 for the auto and then was slapped with the $175 county transfer tax fee.

“The initial Transfer Tax ordinance was overly aggressive. But, through the cooperative efforts of President Preckwinkle and her office we have now lessened this financial burden on county residents, especially for low income earners and young people who are first-time car buyers and have limited resources,” stated Commissioner Gorman.

The original ordinance was passed November 2011 (effective March 1, 2012), to apply a tax to the transfer or purchase of a motor vehicle that is titled or registered from a non-retailer (Private Party), at a location in Cook County, with an agency of the State of Illinois (Ordinance 11-0-109) Chapter 74 – Article XVII.   

Commissioner Gorman initially pushed for a full repeal of the transfer tax stating, “It’s an excessive tax that punished low income earners and young people in particular.” The State of Illinois, City of Chicago, and now Cook County all have transfer taxes but it was Cook County that was the hardest hitting. 

The County’s Bureau of Finance made the new recommendation for fair and equitable tax administration, policy and enforcement, the Bureau of Finance has recommended adjusting the tax rates without reducing budgeted revenue. 

The new rates, which take effect August 1, set a $90 tax on the transfer of motor vehicles nine years or older.  Vehicles four to eight years old will be subject to a $175 tax. Vehicles three years old or newer will pay a $225 tax.  Vehicle transfers between immediate family, certain business transactions and transfers to beneficiaries of an estate, will continue to have a $25 tax rate.

Commissioner Gorman said, “Passing this amendment was the right thing to do. Looking out for the taxpayer must be our priority, especially for those at the lower end of the earning scale.  This amendment will now make it more fair and equitable for person to person car buyers.”

Commissioner Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Doody Gorman, Republican from Orland Park, was first elected in 2002 to represent the 17th District on the Cook County Board. She has been a strong advocate for tax reform, budget and operational efficiencies, especially in the area of new technology. Liz has also worked hard for greater transparency throughout Cook County government and for making the Forest Preserve District a national leader in the areas of recreation, restoration and conservation.

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Watch for LaMargo to be voted new president of District 135 School Board

Joe LaMargo is no political mechanic. He's not a political fixer. He's not one of these political gadflies that runs for office every two years. And, he's not a fanatic. He's just a smart, average guy with a perfect personality to repair the black eye politics always seems to dish out to people who enter public service and are tossed around like trees in a hurricane. When the District 135 School Board meets, the odds are he will be elected the new board president. School District 135 has been having problems and it was reflected in this past election on April 9 when outgoing board members started to think of themselves instead of the kids. It's a complicated story but so is every pathetic political story, sadly. Read the column I wrote about it by clicking here.

Basically, the president of the board, John Carmody, quit and the next day several of the board members who lost re-election, tried to select his replacement.

In principle, that is disgusting. I mean, the voters spoke and threw out the board members and replaced them with four new faces. Now, the ousted board members want to decide who fills a vacancy that would put someone on the board without voter support for maybe two years until the next scheduled election.

That choice should be made by the new board and Joe LaMargo, who was elected to the School Board in 2011, made that point without a hesitation.

That's what you should look for in good leadership. Someone who knows what the right thing to do is, without sticking a finger up in the air to see which way the public opinion wind is blowing. And LaMargo didn't hesitate to express his opinions.

Clearly, one of the people behind the move included attorney John Fotopoulos who called LaMargo to ask if he would support him if he was named to replace Carmody on the board. Fotopoulos hasn't returned my email but it was a holiday this past week -- Orthodox Easter, which I celebrate, too.

Fortunately, the outgoing board failed to get a quorum. The special meeting they called flipping the finger at the will of the voters, collapsed. Fotopoulos was not installed. It was a dumb move that could probably have negative repercussions in future elections, for sure.

Five candidates are being considered and LaMargo has suggested that maybe the new board member should be someone who is not a teacher and not a member of the union. Schools are overwhelmed by the interests of teachers and unions and while I support both, sometimes, they are too heavyhanded.

How about a parent. Maybe a mother who has a child or children in the District 135 schools. Someone who can give the board a perspective that needs more weight.

Regardless, District 135h Schools are in good hands with LaMargo. His election as board president would be the smartest first step the district could take.

-- Ray Hanania

The District 135 Political fiasco and the new regional political dynamics of Orland Park

The District 135 Political fiasco and the new regional political dynamics of Orland Park
I don't spend much time writing about the Orland District 135 Schools, but I have to say, "What a freaking political mess that place is.
The district has had public image problems for years. High taxes even though the district has a huge stash of cash that some say is as high as $50 million. For what? To keep for a retirement account? In today's economy, rather than raising property taxes to pay for the schools -- which admittedly are among the best, the board should have dipped into the savings to pay for more improvements.
The problem with being a great school system is that the bar is raised very high and the public expects more. Always more.
Educators make great school teachers sometimes, but lousy politicians, as was evidenced by the recent political move by three outgoing board members to leave the district with what amounted to "flipping the bird" at the public.
The District 135 school board elections on April 9 were a mess. Very few of the local reporters who covered it seemed to grasp the real meaning behind what happened and slapped together stories that seemed a bit confused. The sole exception was the Orland Park Prairie which always writes their stories straight.
But here's what happened in a nutshell. 
District 135 has seven members. They are:
- John Carmody, President - Ann M. Gentile, Vice President - Tina Zekick, secretary - Mary Bragg, member - Tom Cunningham, member - Lynne Donegan, member - Joseph S. LaMargo, member
LaMargo, Zekich and Carmody were elected/re-elected to the board in 2011. There were tensions back then.
The four seats up for re-election when Orland District 135 voters went to the polls to vote on April 9th were Gentile, Bragg, Cunningham and Donegan. But Donegan, who tried and failed to win support for the position of vice president in 2011, decided not to run for re-election.
Gentile, Bragg and Cunningham did seek re-election but lost by a huge margin. Voters had lost confidence in the board, concerned about public bickering and questions about all that money sitting in the bank. But the deciding factor was the shift in politics in Orland Park, which I'll discuss in detail later. The fact is that the two political powerhouses in Orland, Village Mayor Dan McLaughlin, the Democratic Committeeman, and popular Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman, the Republican Committeeman, had set aside longstanding political dividing lines to come together for the benefit of residents.
They backed a new slate of candidates for the District 135 seats, Sandra J. Kulak, Laura S. Berry, Michael A. Maratea, and Michael F. Carroll.
Nathan Jaisingh also ran on the ballot, probably as the incumbent slate's replacement for Donegan.
But Kulak, Berry, Maratea and Carrol won by a landslide margin, ousting the three incumbents. When you look at the vote (based on slates) the challengers won 75 percent of the votes and the incumbents barely won 25 percent of the votes. Voters selected four names from the ballot choices of 8 total names.
Clearly, voters were not happy with the performance of the incumbents. The vote results were decisive.

Registered Voters: 39,074	Vote For 4
Ballots Cast: 5,299	Total Votes: 18,039
Turnout: 13.56%		%	Votes
Sandra J. Kulak (NonPartisan)		19.41%	3,501
Laura S. Berry (NonPartisan)		19.04%	3,434
Michael R. Maratea (NonPartisan)		16.47%	2,971
Ann M. Gentile (NonPartisan)		8.87%	1,600
Nathan R. Jaisingh (NonPartisan)		3.45%	623
Michael F. Carroll (NonPartisan)		19.49%	3,516
Mary A. Bragg (NonPartisan)		5.65%	1,019
Tom Cunningham (NonPartisan)		7.62%	1,375

Carmody, the board president, was now in a precarious position. But two weeks after the election, Carmody, who was elected in 2007 and was made president in 2011, made a surprise announcement on April 25, saying he was resigning from the board effective immediately because he no longer lived in the district.
That was a little surprising. When did he move out? Usually when people move, it takes months, especially in this economy where housing sales are in a slump. That he no longer lived in the district would have been a huge issue, even with his resignation, raising questions about when he left, why he left and when did he decide to announce it? 
It was even more stranger because Carmody had made an announcement last year that he planned to run for the office of Village Mayor -- since his term had not expired on District 135, he could run for village office. Had he won, he would have resigned from the school board. Had he lost, he still would have had his school district seat. You have to raise an eyebrow at the issue of residency, had he ran and won the village seat. That was a strange one for sure.
But that quagmire was quickly overshadowed the next day, Friday April 26, when the disgruntled outgoing lame duck trustees, Gentile and Cunningham, and one remaining trustee, Zekich, called for a special board meeting to be held on Wednesday night to select Carmody's replacement.
It is always outrageous and purely for political reasons when a lame duck board -- an old board that is between an election and the inauguration of new members, tries to pull a fast one and make a major decision before being dissolved and replaced by the new member majority which is to take power next week.
The rumor is that the old board majority wanted to name a successor to Carmody to deny the new board members the right to appoint someone; the rumored potential candidates to replace Carmody were the wife of Orland Park Village Trustee Jim Dodge, Linda Dodge, and perennial candidate and attorney John Fotopoulos who ran again and lost his candidacy for the village board on April 9. The inside track reportedly was for Fotopoulos. 
(I emailed Fotopoulos but have not received a response yet. When I get one, I'll publish his comments about the rumors that the outgoing board was going to name him. Some political pundits said he orchestrated the move.)
Donegan and LaMargo, two of the remaining incumbents, refused to attend the special meeting standing by the principle that the voters spoke loudly and the new board should be the body that selects Carmody's replacement.
All they needed was four of the board's seven members to constitute a quorum to convene the special board meeting and ram through their choice to fill Carmody's vacated seat with either Dodge or most likely Fotopoulos.
But at the last minute, and very wisely, Mary Bragg decided not to attend the meeting. Instead of having four members present Wednesday, the Gentile, Cunningham and Zekich plot fizzled.
Cunningham angrily denounced the board members who did not attend the lame duck, special meeting, calling them "spineless." 
Actually, they were the ones with the spines.
Joe LaMargo issued a statement that read: "Appointing someone to fill a vacant board seat with no interview process, no community input and no opportunity to invite interested candidates to come forward is careless, appears to be based purely on the political concerns of the outgoing board members and ignores the interests of the voters of the school district."
Keep an eye on LaMargo. He has a great future in public service.
If Fotopoulos organized this fiasco, this could further undermine his future election ambitions. You can run and lose many times and still do well -- just ask Abraham Lincoln. But you can't run and lose and then, in a backdoor, lame duck move, try to get appointed to a public seat by the outgoing, unpopular trustees and against the wishes of the voters.
Voters have long memories. They don't forget. In fairness to Fotopoulos, maybe he had nothing to do with it, but knowing politics I doubt the outgoing board would have floated his name without speaking with him first. Hopefully we'll hear from Fotopoulos to explain it all. Maybe it was Dodge doing the pushing? But being a seasoned politician, even Dodge would not have pushed his wife without knowing up front that he would have the backing of both McLaughlin and Gorman. 
(Just because names are floated, doesn't mean they were aware of it. Maybe Fotopoulos knew nothing about his name being considered?)
And voters will remember Bragg in a much better light than she was in on election night when she barely won 6 percent of the votes cast. Already, the powers in Orland Park are looking to find a new place in public office for her. Maybe on the Orland Fire Protection District Commission to fill the vacancy of John Brudnak, a Fire Commissioner who was elected as a Fire Trustee. Brudnak gets sworn in next week, Tuesday. 
Or, maybe, Bragg gets another chance at the school district and gets appointed to Carmody's vacated seat? 
-- Ray Hanania

Looking back at last week's election

Looking back at last week's election
For the first time in a long time, Orland Park seemed to have one political spirit. It seemed like everyone had come together for the betterment of Orland Park.
I moved to Orland Park back in 1985 and it was still filled with prairies and vacant lots that soon after were filled with new homes. I knew the elected officials back then, Mayor Fred Owens and then trustee Dan McLaughlin and Tom Charnagorsky were great friends. Tinley Park, where I lived before moving to Orland Park, was the big political pond back then where another great leader, Ed Zabrocki was building his base.
It all made for great columns at the Daily Southtown, when that was a great community newspaper, and then the Chicago Sun-Times, another newspaper that has since fallen on hard ethical, skilled and financial times.
This last election, for some reason, reminded me of the good old days of Southwest Suburban politics where everyone had the same goal, to build this area up and make it better.
For the most part, the election went smoothly. John Fotopoulos, who has run unsuccessfully for office several times before, fell short. It seemed like he was a guaranteed winner. I told him that before the election. He was first on the ballot. He was also the only independent to file, which was important because the last time he ran, he took votes away from the slate of challengers trying to unseat controversial Village Trustee Pat Gira.
This time, though, Fotopoulos had no impact on the election.
Fotopoulos told Orland Patch editor Ben Feldheim, a good young reporter, that the low turnout caused his loss. He then took a shot at Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman who is also the Republican Committeeman arguing that Liz failed to slate someone against McLaughlin.
That was kind of a dumb comment. Sometimes, it's better to acknowledge that you lost because you failed to get your message out. And what was Fotopoulos' message? I don't know. He says he didn't have the money to reach voters, but he is an attorney and I drive by his name in big letters on his law firm every morning when I head out to work. Was it the money, or the lack of a message?
Bashing Gorman is certainly a big mistake. Liz Gorman has done so much for taxpayers. Remember, I used to be one of her critics, a long time ago. It was all politics then. But since then, Gorman proved she is a courageous and creative leader. She was fearless, too. I remember when she attended the Taxpayer Protest meeting I organized many years ago, while I was criticizing her politics, and that impressed me. I thought wow, you can hit her but she won't back down?
And then she led the fight against rising taxes, which was the very purpose of the meeting I organized. More than 100 people attended at the time. Gorman was responsible for a lot of great changes, including forcing the Cook County Board to repeal the excessive sales tax hike imposed by former Cook County Board Chairman Todd Stroger. She didn't have to do that. But she did.
She defended her seat against a formidable challenge from the 19th Ward and their candidate Pat Maher, the son of the former Village Clerk, and she has probably done more to make voting count in Orland Township and the suburbs, too, for that matter.
Bashing Gorman was a mistake by Fotopoulos. Unjustified. And maybe a major part of the reason why he lost and did so badly this time is his failure to work with Gorman and other leaders in the region.
It didn't help that someone sent out a very ugly attack against Brad O'Halloran, another elected official I respect a lot. The robo-call was vicious and offensive. Fotopoulos was blamed by his political foes in a mailer and I think everyone believed he was behind it. That robo-call may have cost him the election.
The robo-caller voice was that of a woman, with a fake name, and ended saying "This call is paid for by ..." and then it just ended.
Ironically, O'Halloran was the only elected official to join Gorman in challenging the financing of the Ninety 7 Fifty development near 143rd and LaGrange Road. O'Halloran came under vicious attack from Gira, who has been a big disappointment.
Rather than attack others, elected officials and candidates for elective office should instead spend their time telling people why they should be elected and detail their creative ideas to make this a better community. Voters tend to respond more to a clearly defined vision than to balls-out mudslinging.
Criticism is ok, but what we have seen in the past hasn't been criticism. It's been vicious and way beyond the line of doing any good. Voters are smart. They can see that.
The voter turnout was low, only 5,629 people voted. But the vote was decisive. It wasn't even close. 
I believe that contrary to popular belief, people who don't won't are not protesting "bad government leadership," but rather many are satisfied with the way government is working. They are happy with what government does and they recognize that taxes do increase and must. Who else is going to pay to upgrade our roads and provide services?
Remember, they implemented early voting to help bring out more voters, but the reality is that all that happened was that people who always vote ended up voting early and people who never vote but can, didn't. Nothing will make those people vote, it seems.
Outside of the Fotopoulos debacle and the ugly robo-call, the election went pretty smoothly and it suggests maybe a new era of our leaders working together for the betterment of the community. Gorman and McLaughlin are both strong leaders. They can do a lot more together than they can apart.
-- Ray Hanania

Results in the Orland Fire Protection District and Village elections

The Orland Fire Protection District winners John Brudnak and Jayne Schirmacher won in a landslide endorsement of their promise to join the current board leadership to bring fiscal integrity to the district's spending while also maintaining the highest level of emergency protections and services.
The former board of three members, President James Hickey and Trustees Blair Rhode and Chris Evoy have saved taxpayers more than $4 million during the past two years and they have kept budget spending below $30 million during the past two years, the first time the budget has been under $30 million in five years. Had the new board not changed the old policies, the current budget would easily be over $34 million or more.
Here are the election results:

Trustee, Orland Fire Protection District, 6yr
Registered Voters: 47,973	Vote For 2
Ballots Cast: 6,147	53 of 53 Precincts Reported
Turnout: 12.81%		%	Votes
John Brudnak (NonPartisan)		24.33%	2,361
Jayne Schirmacher (NonPartisan)		27.54%	2,672
Marty McGill (NonPartisan)		16.12%	1,564
Glenn Michalek (NonPartisan)		17.52%	1,700
Larry Moran (NonPartisan)		14.5%	1,407

The Village of Orland Park elections
Despite the negative and anonymous robocall which viciously attacked Brad O'Halloran that O'Halloran's team blamed on the lone independent challenger in the trustee race, John Fotopoulos, O'Halloran easily won re-election. Fotopoulos seemed to have a strong advantage being in the First Ballot position at the top of the ballot, and being the only challenger to go after a Village board seat.
Clearly, the negative response of the robocall, which falsely threw charges of domestic violence against O'Halloran, may have backfired on whomever funded the vicious robocall. (Click here to read about the Domestic Violence Robocall.)
Fotopoulos, who has tried several times to win a seat on the Village Board, apparently failed because he didn't get his own message out. The negative attack against O'Halloran was poorly planned and a critical mistake in election campaigning. The viciousness of the robocall angered those who condemn domestic violence, because they saw an important issue like Domestic Violence being used so carelessly and insensitively for an election. It was like exploiting an important issue. The fact that the robocall was so obviously fake with no attribution synched the deal and the blame was cast on Fotopoulos.
O'Halloran was clearly targeted because four years ago, he received the lowest (though large) vote of the three incumbent trustees.
In the end, mudslinging proves that it doesn't work. It's one thing to tell voters WHY someone should not get elected as Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman did when she was challenged by controversy-plagued former OFPD President Pat Maher for her county seat. It's another thing to simply attack someone else.
Voters in Orland Park are satisfied with the performance of Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin and the village board. O'Halloran has been an independent voice on the board, the lone member to speak out against the finance deal for the controversial Ninety 7 Fifty project.

President, Village of Orland Park
Registered Voters: 45,886	Vote For 1
Ballots Cast: 5,620	50 of 50 Precincts Reported
Turnout: 12.25%		%	Votes
Daniel J. McLaughlin (First Orland Party)		100%	4,319
Clerk, Village of Orland Park
Registered Voters: 45,886	Vote For 1
Ballots Cast: 5,620	50 of 50 Precincts Reported
Turnout: 12.25%		%	Votes
John C. Mehalek (First Orland Party)		100%	4,119
Trustee, Village of Orland Park
Registered Voters: 45,886	Vote For 3
Ballots Cast: 5,620	50 of 50 Precincts Reported
Turnout: 12.25%		%	Votes
John Fotopoulos (Republican)		20.84%	2,755
Kathleen M. Fenton (First Orland Party)		26.52%	3,506
James V. Dodge (First Orland Party)		26.74%	3,535
Brad S. O'Halloran (First Orland Party)		25.9%	3,424
Library Trustee, Village of Orland Park, 6yr
Registered Voters: 45,886	Vote For 2
Ballots Cast: 5,620	50 of 50 Precincts Reported
Turnout: 12.25%		%	Votes
Linda Zec-Prajka (NonPartisan)		18.96%	1,537
Catherine Lebert (NonPartisan)		30.07%	2,438
Diane Jennings (NonPartisan)		33.05%	2,680
James McCague (NonPartisan)		17.92%	1,453

School District 135 Election Results:

School Board Member, Orland 135, 4yr
Registered Voters: 39,074	Vote For 4
Ballots Cast: 5,284	43 of 43 Precincts Reported
Turnout: 13.52%		%	Votes
Sandra J. Kulak (NonPartisan)		19.41%	3,492
Laura S. Berry (NonPartisan)		19.03%	3,423
Michael R. Maratea (NonPartisan)		16.48%	2,964
Ann M. Gentile (NonPartisan)		8.88%	1,598
Nathan R. Jaisingh (NonPartisan)		3.45%	621
Michael F. Carroll (NonPartisan)		19.48%	3,504
Mary A. Bragg (NonPartisan)		5.66%	1,018
Tom Cunningham (NonPartisan)		7.61%	1,368

Click here to check out ALL of the election results for Cook County's suburbs.