2 weeks Ago
Serving in elective office — even at the lowest levels — isn’t easy, even when things are going well. When feathers are flying, it’s even worse. That’s the dilemma Champaign County Board members face these days.
Riven by intra-party turmoil and targeted by critics for spending tax dollars to talk the public into supporting a sales tax increase, board members are a week away — Nov. 5 is Election Day — from putting the noise behind them. Until then, they are sitting ducks for their critics.
That’s what happened late last week when critics — and a couple supporters — showed up at the board’s meeting to let members know what they think of them and their proposed sales tax that would generate an estimated $7 million new dollars in tax revenue. Democratic State Rep. Carol Ammons was there to reiterate her previously announced opposition to the proposed sales tax increase.
She called it “unwanted, unnecessary and very harmful,” accused County Executive Steve Summers and board members of using public money to “unethically manufacture consent” from voters and contended the relatively new office of county executive of fomenting “chaos” in county government. “This county government is in crisis,” she said, citing internal power struggles that have led to board members publicly insulting each other. (Here’s some food for thought: Does Ammons’ critique of the county executive post foreshadow a referendum drive to eliminate the post and go back to traditional governance by the county board?) Ammons wasn’t the only public speaker to question the proposed quarter-center public safety sales tax hike.
County Auditor George Danos, who’s been targeted for political extinction by some of his fellow Democrats, looked like the cat who swallowed the canary when he reported the county has $22 million in reserves — $7 million in funds generated by the current quarter-cent sales tax and another $15 million in general fund reserves. He said he anticipates that increased revenue and greater future savings to swell that number even higher. “I look forward to some very good fiscal days ahead,” he said.
Other speakers complained that the proposed sales tax is “regressive,” falling most heavily on the poor and dismissed the county board’s “purely informational” campaign on behalf of the sales tax hike as a sham. “I have seen your billboards. That’s advocacy, not informational,” a woman said.
It went on in that vein at some length. But not everyone was hostile. David Beck, an AFSCME union representative who said he represents “many county employees,” praised the board for having the “courage” to ask for the tax increase.
He said the new revenues should be used to provide substantial pay raises to county employees because “they don’t make enough money.” Champaign County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Ingram also made an appearance, apparently to buck up the declining spirits of the board’s Democratic super-majority. Ingram said he was directed to attend the meeting by Democratic precinct committee members to tell board members that party committee members overwhelmingly support the sales tax hike.
He also wanted to thank them “for your service” and acknowledge what he called the “agonizing” decisions they must make. A former county board member and recorder of deeds, Ingram could be back in county government relatively soon. He’s one of at least three people vying for appointment to succeed his aunt, county Treasurer C.
J. Johnson, following her announced post-January departure from office. Another interested potential appointee is former Democratic congressional candidate David Palmer.
Ingram said the proposed tax hike is necessary to “pay our staff” and “continue to provide services” and programs that “make people’s lives better.” More condemnation for board members than praise was the theme of the evening. But that’s the way it is as the election crescendo approaches it speak and emotions skyrocket.
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