Naperville Should Consider A Police Proximity Fee

Naperville city officials are still searching for possible cuts in expenditures in order to cover the $1.8 million budget deficit. So far the only cut mentioned was outlined by Naperville city council member Patty Gustin:

At Costco’s current price of $3.39 for a case of 40 pint-size bottles, that will reduce the $1.8 million deficit by $22.44 over the year. Naperville city officials have yet to announce any other savings.

This comes after city officials voted to increase revenue, which means increased taxes and fees to residents, by installing a first-time ever municipal sales tax, increasing garbage pick-up fees by 617%, and charging a fee to folks wanting to use municipal meeting rooms.

City officials jump at the chance to increase revenues rather than curtailing expenses. Increasing revenues means extracting or squeezing it out of Naperville residents and businesses.

So while city officials are trying to figure out what additional expenses they can cut, other than water at the dais, how about a couple of guaranteed revenue generators.

How about a ‘Police Proximity Fee’. Police provide a necessary service, and just as paying a fee to use a meeting room, why not charge people a fee when in the proximity of a police officer. You never know when you’ll need the services of a police officer, so ante up a fee for the possible service of that officer. If a citizen is within sight of a police officer, then it requires a fee to be paid. The Naperville city council can work out the details later on how this would work.

Or how about a toll when entering downtown Naperville. It would be too difficult to do when entering the city of Naperville, but extracting a toll from cars entering the downtown area would be easy. Once the Water Street Project is completed, traffic will be moving so slow, there would be no problem utilizing toll gates and booths to collect the fee. The marketing catch phrase could be, “Come to downtown Naperville. We get you coming and going”.

There is absolutely no end to the creative ideas city officials can use to separate citizens from their hard-earned money. It’s possible that if city officials can come up with enough creative ideas, they can have water again at the dais.

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