$64 on 10,000 is not 2%, so which is it?

I think it's a terrible thing that the tax levy was raised to offset pension obligations. Pensions are out of control and the taxpayer takes the responsibility. Politicians promise unions unrealistic retirement pensions that are never seen in the private sector. If the politicians were personally responsible for financial over runs we would have a more responsible government

Hey Ed Brill, It's Moes, what do you do for fun? I want you to be honest. What's your favorite color? What is your favorite fast food? Boxers or briefs? We know you can get a little crazy, right? Or is it all just business? It's the holidays, can't we try to have some fun around here? By the way, Alyssa knoble is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Politics.

Well next mayoral election Rotering needs to go. Last year my taxes went up $6000 in the blink of an eye. Now somehow 2 percent is $64.

Time to vote Nancy out next election. Enough is enough. Ask her about the city being sued for trying to stop her neighbor from replacing his fence- what will that cost us taxpayers? She spearheaded this lawsuit and lost, even when the man had a fence permit approved with a grandfathered variance on its height (if He didn't have it the fence was too short and could see right into neighbors window) and he did everything by the book- she had personal reasons to do this, lost, and the city is going to be sued bigtime now and guess who pays-us.

Sounds like the soccer mom was installed to approve the tax hike.

I like Nancy a lot, but this is just inexcusable, especially after our property taxes just went up last year. My question to those running for council next year, what are you going to do about this if you are elected?

The City of HP has pension obligations which need to be funded – just like the State of Illinois.

The State of Illinois is in a pension crisis for many different reasons – commentators have pointed to overly generous pension terms (with high cost of living adjustments), inadequate investment returns, pension spiking, etc. One of the biggest reasons for the crisis today is that the State took “pension holidays”, i.e. skipped funding the plans for several years during the past 20 years. This was unconscionable – but I don’t remember anyone really complaining at the time - barely a word from our elected officials or the unions representing teachers.

To the extent that City of HP is not kicking the can down the road on its pension obligations like Illinois – I say kudos to the Mayor and City Council. These obligations are similar to a bond issue and, just like it is prudent to make regular bond payments and not let our debt get out of control, it is equally prudent to keep our pension funding levels up. It would be one thing if the City Council was increasing pensions benefits (i.e., increasing what we, the taxpayers, will owe in the future), but that’s not what’s going on.

Saving money elsewhere in the budget is very important (as David Naftzger and others note) and creating sustainable retirement plans for the long-term is also key. But for now, the City needs to keep up with its funding obligations – despite how unpopular this decision may be.

Personally I am glad they raised the taxes, this is a special place for special people. Honestly all you people that whine about your taxes should move to a place you can afford. It just infuriates me when I hear folks criticizing the virtuous politicians of Illinois.

While raising the tax basis to fund obligations that are in place make sense, the real elephant in the room is pensions funded by taxpayers as a whole. Pensions are a nice idea and have a moral place in our society. However, they have been abused and used for personal gain and as a piggy bank funded by the taxpayer. They have changed the meaning of public servant in that we the public have become tax servants to public pensions.

Why should a public pension be paid in full to those that step up to the trough for a second time collecting both the benefit and another public salary. No problem if you want to contribute in the form of taking a job after you have earned a public pension but why not forgo payment of that pension while working the second job or allowing for pension payment only when you reach Social Security age?

In addition, the system is gamed by everyone in that the amount is spiked by the last couple of years so the focus those years is merely to juice the pension and begin to look for another way to feed at the trough. Politicians spend considerable time determining where they can sell their influence and knowledge post public service.

The system is broken and we need serious reform!

How about a 401 type program wherin the "Public Servant " contributes a significant portion of their pension!

i see a contractor's vehicle sweeping my street about once a month. What is it sweeping? We get the usual grass clippings, cigarette butts, gravel or asphalt pebbles but then we get a good rain and it all gets washed down into the gutters. What happened to the city owned street sweepers? Did the City sell them? did the city lay off any workers because the contractor was cheaper overall than the city employees? i can understand sweeping the streets in commercial/business areas which get a lot of foot traffic and gelato cups, hot dog wrappers, expresso cups, etc. but what purpose does sweeping a residential side street do? and how much did the city save by outsourcing this. I would rather know a city employee was working for me then someone with no connection all to the home owner. and i wonder how much such drivers are on their cell phones?

Gee, when will the Park District be raising our taxes next?

Taxes and death, the only sure things in life. The near-tern hikes at the local level won't stop here. We should sign over all our future paychecks to every taxing body now and get it over with.

What about the Pension scandal with the Park District? What happened with that? Is that money being returned (laugh), so yes, Pensions are being abused. If they insist on this tax, we as taxpayers need to start a movement to phase out pensions and start a 401k contribution plan like we have in the private sector. Why should the puiblic sector get pensions? From what I see they have pretty good salaries, commensurate with private. Why not?!

Funding the unrealistic pension promises of the past is going to be the death of the future economics of this and many communities. To further increase our property taxes at this time is more than painful...it is wrong, and we can be sure that there will be additional requests from other quarters coming.

Of course there will tax increases from other local taxing bodies in the coming months, tax hikes are the solution to all their fiscal woes...that is until they run out of taxpayer's money.

Pension scandal got swept under the rug. Lisa Madigan's office was doing an investigation. Nobody will comment . Years have passed and nothing was done.

Highland Park/Deerfield High School District 113 raised the tax levy 5%(really 4.98%). In addition they are considering a referendum (more taxes). They have 4 bond issues which are not paid off. With a referendum it will be the 5th bond.
Highland Park High School Principal Brad cost is about $220,000 a year. Yet Highland Park is a failing school for about the last 5 years. Think what his pension will be.
His mother in law Linda was superintendent just a few years ago. Her pension cost the state over a million dollars for the short time she has been retired.
Yes the city is raising taxes. They are not alone.
Frame of reference Governor cost about $177,000, Regional Superintendent of Schools coat about $120,000.
They are looking for new people to get on the School Board. Call Carl Lambrecht for information. 847 432 8255 or email lambrecht@laurelindustries.com

I was at the meeting the other night - and this was certainly a lively discussion by all involved. Everyone here likely knows that I'm no fan of tax increases. However in this case, the Pension Obligations are pegged to go up exponentially. If we don't fund them, then we're going to be in the same boat as the geniuses down in Springfield.

Personally, I'm opposed to defined benefit plans. If someone wants a pension, let them fund it themselves (and yes, I know teachers often do this themselves - it varies by District).

If we want to relieve ourselves of this burden, the only way to do it is to stop offering pensions to new employees, then get rid of all the existing employees who receive pensions, and hire new employees.

Or we can simply not fund it, wait for the obligations to exceed our revenues, declare bankruptcy and discharge all the pensions to the loving care of the Federal Government (this has happened in some California cities already).

What's the best solution? Both stink. But download the Council Packet from the City's website, and take a look at the projections - that ever-increasing burden is simply unsustainable. It's going to take a bite out of the City budget and limit services while continuing to increase taxes. That stinks too.

Thanks David, well said..