Proposed City Colleges tax hike draws fire

The headline from Crain's seems misleading. The article doesn't seem to suggest that the City Colleges can initiate a tax hike. Although it does offer that there is a need for a property tax hike...

A tax watchdog group says it has “strong reservations” about the proposed City Colleges of Chicago $389-million operating budget that relies on future tax increases to close a projected $7.9-million deficit.

A $9.7-million property-tax increase proposed for the fiscal 2009 budget amounts to a 4.1% boost that is the maximum allowed under the state property tax cap law.

Civic Federation President Laurence Msall, who plans to testify Wednesday at a public hearing on the budget, says, “In a time of economic hardship for Chicagoans, exacerbated by enormous recent property and sales tax increases, the federation believes that governments should focus their efforts on reducing costs, not increasing taxes and student fees.”

Confirming the numbers, City Colleges CFO Ken Gotsch says, “It’s a modest budget. We don’t have any tuition increases this year for the students. Obviously, we’re faced with the same inflationary pressures that other governments are faced with. It’s very small portion of the overall (tax burden).”