An alternative to Stroger's county budget

The vitriol and personal attacks that have surrounded the CookCounty budget discussions are unfortunate and accomplish little butdamage the faith of the taxpayers in our government.

The members of the Cook County Board don't have to love eachother. They don't have to get along. But we do have to pass asensible budget that serves the residents and taxpayers of thiscounty.

While they hurl insults, I will continue to discuss the budget.

I oppose Todd Stroger's budget proposal because it unfairly andoppressively reaches into the pocketbooks of Cook County taxpayersto fund a government than has proven to be anything but efficientand accountable.

Stroger has proposed $1 billion in new taxes to cover an alleged$230 million budget deficit. First, why propose new taxes thatequate to more than four times the alleged budget gap? Furthermore,not only do we believe the alleged budget gap is greatly inflated,Stroger has failed to include the county's contingency fund of morethan $60 million in his budget calculations.

Additionally, despite Commissioner William Beavers' assertionthat the budget has been "cut to the bone," we, along with themedia, continue to uncover tens of millions of dollars that arebeing misused, abused, spent wastefully or to hire friends andfamily of political insiders.

Finally, Stroger's repeated assertion that tax increases willcreate "increased revenue" for the government is wrongheaded. Highertaxes cause consumers to spend less and employers to hire fewerworkers, lay off employees or move out of Cook County altogether.Decreased spending by consumers and fewer jobs created by employersmeans less -- not more -- tax revenue.

The formula for successful budgeting is simple: Run an efficientgovernment, have a system of fair taxation that encourages economicgrowth and attract new jobs.

I have proposed a budget plan that would enact a modest 2 percentcut (from the fiscal year 2007 budget) in most county departments,which would allow each department to identify waste and duplicationof effort to meet their budget needs while still serving the countytaxpayers. These modest cuts would allow us to cover our budget gapand force our government to operate more efficiently.

Most important, it would save Cook County residents, taxpayers,consumers and employers from the oppressively high tax increasesproposed by Stroger.

Tony Peraica,

Cook County commissioner,

16th District