About time Government Took Less.....

The Park District of Highland Park has decided to reduce the levy and our property taxes. With a staggering reserve balance in the bank, I agree this is a very welcome change from their past dramatic escalation of taxes over the past decade.

The new blood of David Fairman, our wonderful past City of HP Finance Director, I'm sure had something to do with this recalibration of their 2011 budget document. Thank You!

When I voted against our City budget that will increase taxes for our residents, I explained that it is time government started taking less and leaving our citizens more in their pockets. It is a simple statement that can be achieved by reducing the size of government and wasteful spending. Again, governments need to consolidate and provide shared services to reduce costs.

School district communities should look at ways to start shrinking their levy. Reducing the bonding capability by 10% or even 20% would be a good start. As we look at home values decreasing, the burden of over taxation plays a large roll in this market. If the schools would reduce costs to homeowners it would help in a large way send a strong signal to home buyers that Highland Park and Deerfield are serious about property tax reduction.

If our other governments would follow the Park District lead and reduce their levy, it would help support a large majority of citizens that need relief. Instead of giving us reasons why it can't be done supported by fear and uncertainty, let us hear approaches and reasons on how to make it a reality now.