Naperville City Council member Grant Wehrli proposed a bold suggestion Tuesday night, when the council unanimously approved a new 1.5 percent tax on downtown businesses in order to pay for new parking decks.
Wehrli thinks Naperville should stop imposing a 1 percent citywide food and beverage tax, and levy a half percent instead.
This tax has been in place since 2004 and for the last few years its revenues have been doled out to various cultural and community groups, to the tune of about $2.7 million per year.
What do you think of Wehrli's idea? Other council members seemed cool to the suggestion. He says given this tough economic climate, every little bit helps. Do you agree, that taxpayer dollars paying for the arts is a luxury we can't afford these days? Or are the cultural programs too important to neglect, whatever the cost?
Has anyone noticed the waste of money used on the Jefferson/Chicago deck. I am talking about the sign that tells drivers how many spots are open. Apparently it does not work! I was there the other day and it said the Chicago level was full which was hardly the case, there were at least 25% of the spots available. So what a waste of money, one more example!
Ken,
Not only do I agree with you, working the word "boondoggle" into a sentence was genius!
I would like to ask Diane G how a 1.5% tax is keeping her from eating out in Naperville? What is that on a $25 or 70 tab? Will an extra quarter or so in your pocket bring you back downtown? Methinks not.
It is time to repeal the Culture and Special Event tax. This tax was simply a terribly bad idea from the beginning.
Hardly any of the money collected was ever spent on culture any way. The vast majority of the money has been laundered thru the tax collection process and used as nothing more than a city employee overtime slush fund at Special Events that are WAY OVER STAFFED by city employees. This is and has been a shameful, self-serving method to personally enrich hundreds of city employees.
The balance of the money paid out has really gone to social service agencies. I am not questioning the community value of our social service agencies. However, I think it is morally wrong for the city council to pass taxes like this in the first place and then even worse to pay out the proceeds to recipients who clearly are not using the money for culture or special events. If a private business did this we would claim that they were guilty of bait and switch. Should we expect any less honesty and transparency from our elected representatives when they tell us a tax will be collected for one purpose and then turn around and use the money for another? If our elected representatives can not or will not be honest and transparent then they do not deserve the honor of representing us.
If the city council does not understand the difference between culture, special events, and social services then we will have to better educate them on these distinctions come next election. A couple of the incumbent council members are up for re-election. Maybe it is time for them to be schooled.
This additional tax most assuredly keeps some people from visiting our fair city and spending $$. I don't shop or go to restaurants in downtown Naperville that much because of the congestion and expense. I also try my best to not patronize restaurants, etc., with high sales tax rates. Just ask Cook County. They've taxed themselves right out of tax revenues. Let there be voluntary "culture" contributions at the Carillon and other downtown locations. And the money that the city used from this fund to pay for PD OT should be paid by the organizers of these events. Not the City and the taxpayers.
Speaking of tearing down statues we can start with the one of the mayor on Washington Street. This is the current worst example of the city council pandering to the mayor and the misuse of the culture tax.
Maybe some errant driver will loose control and just mow the damn thing down and do us all a favor.
Of all of the past mayors in Naperville our current mayor has hardly distinguished himself in what he has PERSONALLY accomplished while being mayor. True he takes credit for the hard work of a lot of other people, city council members, and city staff. Where are the statues for the prior mayors who actually did something to distinguish themselves or Naperville? Not that I want to see more statues, I don't. It's just one example of if we are going to start putting up statues I think the average citizens should have a lot of input on who gets memorialized. The fact that the mayor is still alive, not that I wish any ill on him, also stikes me as wrong.
Buildings, bridges, streets, parks, building, etc that get named after people should be done to memorialize them. Fact is a lot of people who are public figures these days turn out to be crooks and get convicted of a variety of crimes. I'd hate to see us name anything after someone and then have go and change the name because they got thrown in jail. Better to wait until after they are gone and their reputation is safe and sound.
I don't want more taxes. I don't want different taxes. I want to see the city council reduce taxes. I want to see the city council eliminate taxes. I want to see the city council reduce our total tax rate. I want to see the city council reduce city employment. I want to see the city council reduce city spending. I want to see the city council reduce city expenses. We simply waste too much money in Naperville.
If parking decks are needed in downtown Naperville let the downtown merchants either provide the decks or allow the private sector to build garages and charge whatever the market will demand. The whole concept of free parking is outdated. Motorist pay what the market demands when they purchase their car. They pay what the market will demand when they buy gasoline. They pay what the market will demand for maintenance. They pay what the market will demand for insurance. The is no rationale explanation that parking should be free.
Letting those who are willing to pay for a service is the right way to go. More and more government services have moved toward user fees rather than the broad brush of forcing everyone to pay for it whether they use it or not.
To the city council I say this: Stop forcing residents to subsidize the downtown merchants. Stop raising our taxes. Start representing the citizens of Naperville.
Let us not forget that $100,000 of this culture tax is used to pay police overtime during the Rib Fest and Last Fling.
This really PIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEESSSSS me off!!!!
The should be no tax for culture.
It should be private and voluntary!
We don't need statues of the founding fathers of the City.
This reminds me of Baghdad before the invasion in which every block had a statue of his Highness Saddam.
They all went down before he finally was hung and went down! Let us hope all our statues go down and cease before the City goes bankrupt building and polishing them!!!
Hard to imagine why someone would want to eliminate a tax, more than half of which is paid by people from outside Naperville? Great move Council...duh.
These are all great comments. We can thank former council woman Mary Ellingson for this great idea of the "culture tax". Most people in this town wouldn't know what culture is if it hit them in the side of the head. She is thankfully gone from the council. Hopefully, this dumb idea will be gone and forgotten about as well so we can look forward to paying the new 1.5% tax that will now be passed on to those who patronize the downtown.
Good Grief!!
I am pleased to read that another council incumbent is not running again. Two down with a few more to go and we will finally (and hopefully) get some new faces and fresh thinking. Maybe, some new council members that will side with the residents and not other interests.
Great, yet another tax for yet another parking deck we don't need. There is no shortage of parking in downtown Naperville. There will be a shortage of customers if we continue taxing the heck out of them.
We need to be encouraging people to get downtown in other ways: walking, biking, public transportation. Any urban planner will tell you that "free parking" is not really "free." Charging as little as a nickel per hour would get the city the revenue it wants and relieve any perceived "parking shortage" by encouraging people to walk instead of drive.
Seems like mostly political pandering to me. First he votes for a tax increase then he proposes a tax decrease. Even the most experienced politicians don't usually flip flop this fast or this close together. Oh, that's right I did say experienced politicians, didn't i? Would be foolhardy to use the word experienced in the same sentence with Wehrli.
Fact of the matter is the new tax he and the rest of the council voted for mostly pays for the proposed new downtown parking decks which most residents don't want and don't believe are needed. Not right now at least. Right now parking is available for those who are willing to walk a bit and who know where to look. Personally, I think the city council and city staff have been deceiving us with what they and the developers have been talking about and planning behind closed doors.
Existing demand simply does not indicate a need for all of the proposed parking decks. All of these decks are going to permanently alter and literally destroy the character of downtown Naperville. At the same time we need to recognize that the total capacity of all of these additional new parking desks is being planned for some type of demand that does not currently exist. There is simply way too much additional capacity being added to simply explain it as providing relief to the occasional high periods of demand. No, something else altogether is going on here.
The million dollar question is where is all of the anticipated development going to occur that is going to create a need for all of this additional parking? When is the city council going to start telling the truth about the grandiose plans they and the developers have in mind.
Rumor has it that discussions are under way to create additional TIF districts... one for the area bounded by Benton, Webster, Jefferson, and Eagle... another even more ambitious is bounded by Aurora Ave, Washington, Porter, and Webster, and then there is the target area which is bounded by Jefferson, Eagle, Jackson, and Mill.
Rumor also has it that the area south of Aurora Ave is highly likely due to the proximity of the Water Street TIF and the desire to create a "gateway" into downtown along Washington. Then there are others who seem to think two areas west of downtown north and south of Jefferson are more likely because of their proximity to some of the new parking decks the city intends to build.
But is any of this really what the citizens of Naperville want to see happen to their downtown area?
Is any of this what the residents who live in any of these areas being targeted by the developers want?
With changing economic times, the idea of cutting this tax should bring in more business (or curb the loss of customers due to the burden of the tax). Sounds like a win win. Of course there will be the inevitable belt tightening with regard to the affected events.
It is time that the city council take a very close look at "the downtown revenue machine" and keep it healthy and vibrant...Cut Taxes Now.
It is about time someone came to this conclussion!
The "tax because we can tax" also known as the Culture Tax is am elitist luxury whose time has definitley passed.
Only in Illinois. Yes let's raise taxes during the worst financial crisis since the depression. Yeah, that's the ticket. What a bunch of clueless idiots. I have an idea, why don't you stop some of those projects in the first place until the economy improves!
I think the tax should be cut out completely, and never reinstated even when times get better. As shown consistently here, one person's art or charity donation is another person's boondoggle. The city needs to be in the business of taking care of business, not deciding what group to donate to, or what statue to buy.
Is Mr. Wherli suggesting cuts to the "arts" funding?
Which "worthy" programs will be eliminated?
Bell tower $500K per year?
Subsidy for last fling and ribfest $250K per year?
The city of Naperville needs to learn to live within their means just as my family does. We no longer go downtown to eat due to the cost so this additional increase will not be coming out of my pocket. The art fund needs to be done away with due to the finacial crisis the city now faces. Yes I think money should go to humane society and YMCA, these organiztion help the community. We need to get back to basics and not all the fluff.