Burr Ridge Mayor: 'This is Our Money, Not Theirs'

Illinois mayors from across the state will meet in Springfield today to urge lawmakers not to take revenue from municipalities to balance the state’s budget. They say proposals to take local tax dollars will lead to higher taxes and painful cuts.

Last May, . The mayor said then that if any of the revenues are not returned to the municipalities, it will have a devastating impact on village services.

The mayors who are convening today say they already have made cuts to essential services and raised taxes while paying more for public safety pensions. They contend that diverting local revenue from the Local Government Distributive Fund or Corporate Personal Property Replacement Taxes would make it more difficult to address the costs associated with local police and fire pensions.

Although Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso was part of a group of 50 other mayors, village presidents, trustees, managers, police and fire officials who gathered in Springfield last year to address the issue, he said he will not be able to join the mayors today, because he is out of town. He did, however, send Burr Ridge Patch a statement to say he supports their efforts.

"Springfield continues to hurt the taxpayers—cutting our municipal money that was promised from the sales tax. Springfield continues to spend and takes money bettered used in our communities while ducking Medicaid and pension reform that is blatantly needed," said Grasso in an emailed statement.

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