Fairness For All Citizens of Lake County

I have been on the County Board and Forest Preserve District for about 8 months now and really appreciate my colleagues from all districts. Every one of them has shown me sincerity and the ability to bring positive voices to the table. The diversity of culture, age, history, and political views is much broader than my public service experience in Highland Park.

At the Forest Preserve we are entering a strategic planning process to identify our future direction and set priorities for development, land acquisition, and operations. At the County we are moving forward with our 2014 budget and awaiting the presentation from staff.

One thing that strikes you when you get involved in county government and forest preserves is the difference in needs and services throughout the county. Also, the county serves as a pass through for federal and state dollars focused on housing, health care, and job training to name a few.

We also have several special service districts where we take direct taxes and fees for services like sewers and water. We contract other services with municipalities as well to provide greater efficiency
and lower cost to taxpayers.

Now, over the next five years we have budgeted over 550 million dollars on roads and transportation for county roads. While this is funded from ALL residents throughout Lake County the money is spent mostly on county roads. As we move forward in our budget process we need to change our policy to allow a fair share of monies to construct and maintain transportation infrastructure in parts of the county that are currently serviced by municipalities. While I agree that county money should be spent on regional networks of roads, bridges, and pedestrian ways, they should not be required to be owned by the County to receive funding. Does it make sense that a large portion of citizens in the county should pay twice as much for transportation as others for the same service?

The forest preserve has over 50 million left in funding from the referendum money of land acquisition and development. This money has to be spent within the next several years to satisfy current laws governing these bonds. How can we integrate the mission of the forest preserve to help us fund open space, recreation, and natural preservation in areas that have again not received a fair share. Hopefully we can work to bring the mission of the forest preserve in name and substance to all of us throughout the county in a more equitable manner.

Money going out of districts throughout the county should in a large part have direct benefit to those in those districts. The Lake County Forest Preserve and Lake County get about 11 percent of your property taxes. That is the same amount as the City and Park District combined yet who is responsible for transportation, open space, land preservation, and recreation where you live. In several municipal areas throughout the county the imbalance is huge and we need to bring fairness to all citizens of the County so ALL get their fair share.

I hope to make some progress on this issue of fairness to all in the next coming months. Change is not easy and many think that current practices are the best choices but with all due respect I ask for change. I am encouraged by the thoughtfulness and big picture outlook I have seen from many on the board. All of us represent our district as well as ALL the residents of the County. I have personally stepped up for other areas in this county far from Highland Park and ask my fellow Board Members to consider my comments and join me in fairness for all on taxation and delivery of service.