Orland Park's officials must think we're just plain stupid

First it was the "official spin." Don't worry, everything is fine in Orland Park. We (government elected officials) haven't screwed up, it's the bad economy that blind-sided us. We didn't know it was coming. We have a little budget problem ($4.8 million) short of what we need to cover the services we have been providing, but we have a new village manager from Rhode Island who will take care of it all. (He's staying in one of the homes that the village stupidly bought and is having a hard time re-selling for what it paid.)

Then it was, everything is "intact," including the Property Tax Rebate. Don't worry people of Orland Park. No need for you to worry your empty little brains. You haven't cared before, so why should you care now? We'll take care of it.

And then, it was, well, the Property Tax Rebate is going to be cut because some of the money should be going to cover the pensions, which means money that was going to cover the pensions can be used someplace else.

Then they fed the media stories about how Orland Park's Property Tax Rebate is far more generous than other communities, setting the stage for the big scissors.

Now, it's the Property Tax Rebate is going to be "capped."

Next thing, the Property Tax Rebate is going to be eliminated.

I have one question -- it's not easy getting questions answered from this administration -- they only want to talk to the media that embraces their spin (in exchange for advertising, of course): Do you think the village is in trouble because it paid millions to purchase certain, selected homes alleged to have had serious flooding problems -- while so many others that had flooding problems were ignored -- and the village can't resell those homes today to recoup the money they spent?

Or, possibly, is it because the village failed to see the economic signs, claiming as recently as Mayor Dan McLaughlin's speech to the Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce that everything is fine. What's to worry? So no one did?

Or possibly, the village is trying to scurry to come up with enough obfuscation so that when it comes time for their re-elections -- in a few months -- they won't have to worry about losing their jobs?

Just some questions from an Orland Park taxpayer.

Budget shortfall Shell Game -- Everything is "Intact!"

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Ray Hanania's World Comic Strips
July 30, 2008
The Village of Orland Park claims that all of the village services and the highly touted property tax rebate is "intact." Not fully intact, but intact!

When you scale back a rebate, you are raising taxes

Orland Park officials are very creative. They've done a great job in spinning the budget deficit of $4.8 million, according to news reports this past week. It is really amazing. What's more amazing is residents of Orland Park don't care that they are going to pay more in taxes, even though village officials are saying they are not raising taxes.

Let me give you a civis lesson in municipal budgets.

When you collect a tax and then give it back. It is called a rebate. When you rescind all or part of a tax rebate, you are raising taxes.

In otherwords, you can't have it both ways and claim you are doing the taxpayers a favor by rebating the village portion of their property taxes, and then claim you are doing the taxpayers a favor when you say you will scale back the rebate by as much as 1/3.

The headlines of the news stories about the issue are hysterical, especially if you don't care about the rising taxes in Orland Park.

The Orland Park Prairie, my favorite local newspaper, wrote:

At a budget meeting held Thursday, July 24, the revised, balanced budget was presented to the board with village services left fully intact."We've balanced our general fund budget by making cuts, none of which will affect the services the village offers," Finance Director AnnMarie Mampe said.

Village services left intact. Maybe I read that wrong. Fees are going up. Some recreation programs are being shuffled around and trimmed. The Village Portion Property Tax Rebate that Mayor McLaughlin and the board have touted as proof that they are the best leaders in the Southwest Subrubs is being curtailed DRAMATICALLY. It really amounts to a significant increase in your property taxes, because, well, THE BOTTOM LINE IS YOU ARE GOING TO BE PAYING MORE.

But then, maybe you don't care. Chances are your home hasn't been foreclosed on by the bank so you have lots of money to spare. Or maybe, you are one of the mayor's chums and are doing pretty well with that connection.

This is what the Southtown/Star wrote:

Orland Park has found a way to make up for a $4.8 million budget shortfall in its operating budget without cutting village services or raising taxes. The village's annual practice of rebating local property taxes also is safe, but the formula likely will change.

I know the sigh of relief that we're going to get our village property taxes rebated is overwhelming. Well, it will remain "intact."

Well, not really "intact," though.

Later in the story, the reporter wrote:

The board is proposing to change the way it rebates residents' property taxes, Mampe said.
The change would provide more money for the village's capital improvements, Mampe said.
Under the existing formula, if a taxpayer pays $200 in property taxes to the village of Orland Park, then the village uses what it collects in home rule sales taxes to rebate the entire $200. The rebated amount includes what is levied for pensions.
Under the proposal, the taxpayer who pays $200 in property taxes to the village would receive $133 back, and the remaining $67 - the amount levied for pensions - would go toward capital improvements.

Can you say SHELL GAME.

Ah. I paid $200 in taxes and used to get it all rebated. Now, under the rebate plan that the media reports isn't really changing, I'm only going to get $133 back and the remainder will go to fund the pensions of, well, the people who are making the decisions in the village. Not you, the taxpayer, the circus people at Village Hall.

So, they have split up the village property taxes into two parts. One if the actual property tax, and the other is the property tax (that goes to fund the pensions.)

Hmmm.

There is no question in my mind that McLaughlin really understands creative financing.

I want to keep paying my "Water Bill" but since the Water Bill doesn't just include water, but also garbage removal and a hefty tax increase in village fees for the administration of that bill, I will just deduct the 60 percent of the "Water Bill" that isn't really the "Water Bill" and, according to village logic, valla! I will have restructed the Water Bill payment, keeping it "intact." I just won't pay it.

I don't think McLauglin would go for that at all.

Shell Game. It's a new program the village is going to offer as a part of its Winter programs to keep their salaries (and raises) "intact."

Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

Give the TribLocal credit for hitting taxes on the head

TribLocal Reporter Heather MacDonald hit the nail on the taxing head in her story Thursday in the Chicago Tribune's popular weekly community newspaper insert (www.TribLocal.com). The lead was right on the mark, "Orland Park grapples with budget shortfall."

But more important than the spin that Village officials have been pushing hard to sell -- arguing it's not a "shortfall" but just a budget adjustment -- is that MacDonald also nailed the real issue in the story, the FACT that the Village Board is considering revoking the annual tax rebate it gives to its citizens.

Among cutbacks and savings the village is examining closely, MacDonald writes, "One issue still on the table for the village board is whether to continue the practice of rebating Orland Park's share of the property tax collected by Cook County, which totals $5.3 million."

Not every caught that point, which village officioals are telling everyone is not an issue. (Afterall, there is a village election coming up and I don't care how many "awards" the village wins, they don't add up to the benefit of rebating property taxes, which average around $250 per homeowner.

Other cuts include not spending the $24,000 for a "new filing system" for the Village Clerk, David P. Maher's office. (I guess that means paying to have Maher attend an Illinois Open Meetings Act workshop is out of the question?)

Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

An Orland Park official I trust insists there will be no property tax increase

An Orland Park official who will remain nameless, who I trust, told me that the Village of Orland Park has no plans to increase taxes in Orland Park to address the projected budget "shortfall."

I normally do not trust elected officials given the past history of dishonesty I've encountered in 32 years of covering Chicago and suburban politics, but this one official I do trust.

The official also said that they may have to trim some programs back that have not received the kind of public buy-in that other more popular programs have received, in order to save money.

The economy has not been good for anyone, including in Orland Park, so these kinds of challenges, the official said, should be expected. The official said it isn't a "deficit," although my experience as a government reporter tells me a "shortfall" in any antiicpated budget is a deficit until it is filled.

As for the Public Notice, maybe saying "Not for Publication" was not a smart thing.

But, if this was the first budget meeting for the village, Mayor McLaughlin sure didn't start on the right foot of building public confidence by calling it in such short notice (Friday, June 27, for Monday, June 30 meeting). It made it seem like it is an emergency rather than "a normal process of reviewing the budget challenges" that face Orland Park, as the official, whom I respect, insisted.

More to follow (see other related stories below):

Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/