Formerly family friendly Naperville continues to be not so friendly to its residents, as Naperville city officials and the Naperville Township highway commissioner continue to huff and puff, flex muscles, and threaten each other with hostile takeovers, no-shows during meetings, and endless delays on decisions.
It seems like all levels of government are moving from chaos, to mayhem, to bedlam, to pandemonium. Establishment Republicans won’t support presidential candidate Trump, Illinois governor Rauner and Michael Madigan are locked in budget death spiral, and Naperville city and township officials are fighting over maintenance control of 20 miles of roads.
Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said the city should consider a forced annexation (hostile takeover) of unincorporated Naperville Township if Township commissioner Stan Wojtasiak doesn’t accept the proposal that the City take control of township roads for maintenance purposes, thereby saving tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes. According to state rules, if the City can annex township property, the City can maintain township roads. It would be a slam-dunk.
Naperville city officials say the savings are accurate, while the township highway commissioner is disputing the savings. Part of the problem is that township residents are skeptical of Naperville city officials’ fuzzy math. And city officials have no one to blame on that issue, other than themselves.
When Naperville city officials were using forced installation of electric smart meters on homes and businesses in Naperville, they were touting the virtues of the meters including the idea that residents would save money on their electric bills. There hasn’t been a single dime’s worth of savings off any electric bill in Naperville. Not one word from any Naperville city official addressing the situation.
The real question would be, why are Naperville city officials so hellbent on supposedly helping residents save money on property taxes, when their primary goal is to typically separate residents from their hard-earned money.
The real problem again, is that residents and businesses are stuck in the middle between the City of Naperville officials (being less than honest), and Naperville Township Highway Commissioner Wojtasiak being more concerned about his job security than any savings that residents may realize on their property taxes.
Ironic, the guy that has always been critical of how local government spends the tax dollars of residents, suddenly questioning the city’s motive to be more fiscally responsible. Damned if the do and damned if they don’t.
This city council has never met a tax dollar that they couldn’t find a way to waste. Did anyone in Naperville Township ask for Steve Cherico to step in and save them anything? People choose to live in unincorporated areas to get away from the City council and Mayor that Naperville currently has “ruling over” them. Let people that actually live in the township decide for themselves instead of a forced takeover by Mayor Chorizo and his merry band of miscreants.