Fire Protection District hammers residents with another property tax increase

The President of the Orland Park Fire Protection District, Patrick Maher, told the reporter for the Orland Park Prairie that the Fire Protection District is raising property taxes.

It's a significant increase.

You HAVE to read this spin. CLICK HERE to read the story.

The increase was quietly passed before Christmas and not a word was released on it until now. They waite duntil they were as close as possible to the filing deadine for public office. Petitions must be filed next week.

Maher is the son of the Village Clerk David P. Maher, who is on the slate for re-election this April with Mayor Dan McLaughlin, who has the dubious distinction of having adopted the largest property tax increases this village has ever experienced in a long time.

Patrick Maher, the "son," explains after having jacked up the fees for ambulance service -- from ZERO to as much as what? $750? -- that the Fire District had to increase the property taxes.

But, he asserts, that doesn't mean it is a property tax increase on homeowners. Our taxes are going to go down. Maher explains int he story that the taxing base has increased slightly, which means the individual property tax share for each homeowner is dropping, and the increase his board passed won't exceed the drop so in the end (stillw ith me?) the property tax overall with also be reduced.

Duh!

I've covered budgets and property tax increases for 32 years. I've seen some slick maneuvering, but nothing comes close to the property tax scam being pulled by McLaughlin and now by the clerk's son, Patrick Maher.

The FACT IS, the increased tax base means we SHOULD receive a tax reduction. The burden is being shared by more people. Instead of being responsible and living within his budget, Patrick Maher is taking almost ALL of that reduction and leaving only just enough so he can get a softball headline from the local paper which reads "Taxes going up," but your property tax bill from the "Fire District" is going down.

The polls show that the public is fed up with the increased property taxes, the misleading statements from the unaccountable elected officials, and the wasteful spending of the village and the Fire "Protection" District.

It's sad that we live in a time when elected officials have to be so sneaky. They want you to think theproperty taxes are going down and even the media fails to challenge them.

The economy is bad enough. But to have unaccountable government officials at the helm who don't have the courage to be forthright with us, is even worse.

Pathetic!

Maybe the mayor should have put THAT in his cheery, uplifting balther about all his achievements 12 weeks before his re-election.

Well in the end, at least his street was plowed first.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com