Naperville residents should prepare to get hammered by Naperville city officials when electric and water rates increase after the first of the year. The Naperville city council sees residents and businesses of Naperville as a ‘bank’, and when city officials need money, they simply make a withdrawal from the bank in the form of increased taxes, utility rates, fees, and fines. It’s the easy fix for council members. Looking for ways to cut expense or increasing revenue (without extracting it from residents) is more difficult, hence not much time or creativity is devoted in that effort.
One proven method of adding dollars to the city coffers is to conduct a special census showing additional head-count in the city, thereby getting additional funding from the state and federal government. Those dollars are are also from citizens, so the good folks of Naperville are still the source of the funding, but in a less direct manner. City officials don’t care how or where they get the money, as long as they get it.
Conducting a special census has been lucrative for city officials as the following chart shows, so why not do another one in 2018:
| Census Year | Cost | Added Population | Additional Revenue | Added Revenue per Person |
| 2003 | $121,000 | 8,041 | $2,600,000 | $323 |
| 2008 | $258,000 | 8,160 | $2,600,000 | $319 |
| 2018 | $238,000 | 4,650 | $1,600,000 | $344 |
The City’s ROI (return on investment) has been outstanding. Comparing the cost of the special census to the added revenue stream is a fun venture for city officials. The more people added to the city population, the more money the city gets.
Is it any wonder why Naperville city councilwoman Becky Anderson would like to make Naperville a ‘Welcoming’ city, another name for sanctuary city. More money for the city, and she could add voters to her ‘get-Anderson-elected-to-anything’ effort.
If estimates and projections for the special census are correct, what could the city get for the additional $1,600,000 in revenue? The answer is easy. It would almost pay the cumulative salaries of the top five Naperville School District 203 employees, along with the salaries for the highest paid park district, police department, and city of Naperville employees. That doesn’t count pensions; another special census would be needed for that.
What about the double dippers on the pensions. I would move to Munster but fighting wifey and not winning
The reality is all governments are funded in one way or another by it’s citizens, whether it is income tax, fuel tax, alcohol tax, sells tax, permit fees, inspection fees, etc., it all comes from citizens. And in exchange for these unjust takings we get useless things like roads, signal lights, schools, electricity, water, etc and useless services like street snow removal and salting, law enforcement, fire remediation, sanitation, etc.
I guess since any additional funds this census would bring to the city (not the school district, Park district, etc) would be coming from the citizens the city should not take it. They should just let the state and other government organizations give it to other communities that don’t have the additional population to support.
It’s called redistribution of wealth by stealing from one group and giving most of it to crooked politicians and political/bureaucrats in the form of jobs, salaries and benefits that far exceed the poor tax payers who are being gouged paying them. Merry Christmas suckers!
Please provide a list of the “group” being stole from and the crooked politicians that are profiting from doing so? This Census will only effect how tax dollars already being collected will be distributed, it will not result in any new taxes being imposed on taxpayers.
If you want to talk about wealth redistribution that screws the poor and middle class lets discuss the present GOP tax bill that Republicans plan to force through Congress this week.
Let’s discuss the GOP tax bill, hahahaha, that tired old trope. EVERYONE that pays income tax will benefit, EVERYONE, period. Will people that earn more get to keep more, yes, they pay more so it makes sense. It is not robbing anyone, it’s our money to begin with. It will NOT kill children, no one will die, due to this tax cut. Read it for yourself instead of parroting the lefty media.
Every economist and even the CBO and OBM say the most taxpayers will end up paying more taxes. The reductions in personal income tax rates are temporary and end in about 5 years while the corporate tax cuts are permanent. But you do not need to take my word for it simply take your tax filing for last year, cap your deduction for state and local taxes plus mortgage interest payments at $10K and recalculate your tax liability. That is what you will be paying when the temporary tax cuts for personal income go away.
Sorry Jim, it’s not wealth redistribution when I get to keep more of my own money. It’s the exact opposite. Because i make more or keep more, does not cause you to make less or keep less. There is no finite amount of money to be “shared” amoungst eveyone. You are free to earn as much as you are willing to work for and it will not limit my ability at all. So tax cuts cannot “screw” the poor, or anyone else.
This is the same type of tax change implemented by Reagan. The result the Reagan administrations tax cuts were two fold. First a shift in the amount of wealth held the wealthiest Americans compared to the poorest Americans, Reagan’s cuts produce the a massive shift that majority increased the personal wealth of this nations wealthiest while equally reducing the personal wealth of the poorest.To disregard this fact by claiming the 1% worked harder while the poorest 25% were simply lazy and work less is ludicrous at best. Second, yes there is a limit on how much a person can earn, there are only 24hours in a day so a minimum wage worker’s maximum income (if they stop sleeping and eating) is around $64K Gross (before taxes). And the argument that they could increase their earning potential by going to college or a good trade school is also a fallacy. Such an education/training would cost around $10K annually, but a fulltime minimum wage worker only grosses $15K annually which translates into a take home pay of $13K after taxes. A studio apartment cost $15K, Utilities cost $2.5K, transportation $9K add these up and you get $26.5K. Which means no money feed to yourself let alone to better yourself . This is why most minimum wage working in this country work 60 to 80 hours per week. Any tax cut that gives the wealthiest a larger tax cut then the poorest simply make the rich rich and the poor poorer.
A tax cut doesn’t give anybody anything but rather stops government from stealing more and more from less and less workers, earners, inventors, investors or business owners to redistribute to those who have refused to wisely provide for themselves through education, investment, hard work etc. The genius of this country has always been the guarantee of opportunity not outcome based on free market principles. Nobody but government makes you buy things like bad medical insurance. Microsoft, Apple, LG etc. did not make you buy their products and thus making their owners and investors rich. Communist and socialist daily spew the nonsense that creating products and services society willing buys is stealing from the masses because the people selling them are getting rich. This is the war raging right now in this country either to be great again or revert to the rubbish pile of failed countries which breed mediocrity and dependence.
The government steals nothing. It collects compensation for needed good sand services it provides to taxpayers (both individual and corporate). How successful do you thing UPS, Van Lines, Fedex, and other Freighting companies would have been if not for the government funded interstate Highway system. How successful do you thing any of the Airlines would be without the government funded National airport and navigation systems? How successful do you think all the Internet business would have been without the government funding the creation and startup of the Internet? People and Corporations are quick to disregard all the resource the government has provided them that makes it possible to be successful, yet they line up in droves to uses these resources. Like the US Patient Office that provides them the means to secure their innovations and profit from them rather then someone that simply steals what they created.
As to capitalism it is an ideological concept. There has never been a truly capitalist society in the history of humanity, just like there has never been a truly communist of socialist society. In fact economist and sociologist agree a true capitalist society could never exist because it would be quickly exploited by greedy individuals so lacking in compassion they would kill their own mother to make a profit. The problem is not with the system but with people. There will always be people that believe it is OK to exploit another person just because they let them do it. It is funny how our society condemns pips, human traffickers and and pedophiles for exploiting their victims weaknesses. But exploiting a person’s need to feed themselves and put a roof over their head by paying them a wage that requires working 60 to 80 hours a week to pay for these things is OK because it capitalism.