Portage residents decry proposed wheel tax at town hall meeting
Post-Tribune
April 16, 2016
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-portage-wheel-tax-st-0417-20160416-story.html
Portage residents came out in force Saturday to speak against a wheel tax proposed by the city.
About 70 people filled the community room at the Portage Library for the town hall meeting, which was held by Councilmen Collin Czilli, D-3rd District, and Scott Williams, D-5th District. The meeting was the third in a series held by the two since they took office in January.
Most residents decried paying the tax in light of other fee increases in the city, including the trash fee.
"Our primary earners in this area are the steel mills and they're struggling, and their employees are struggling. This is not a tax you want to put on them. It's not correct. It's not right," said Portage resident Raymond Sierra, whose comments drew applause.
"You cannot keep on coming to people like us who work for a living. After a while, you've got to stop. How about living within your means?"
An ordinance creating the wheel tax cleared a first reading earlier this month during a meeting that drew a large number of residents unhappy about the tax. The council is scheduled to vote on the tax at its 6:30 p.m. May 4 meeting at Woodland Park.
Mayor James Snyder, who was not at the town hall meeting, has said he believed Portage is the first city in the state to consider adopting the wheel tax, which is $25 for vehicles under 11,000 pounds and $40 for those over that weight.
The state is offering a match for money raised locally, and residents would pay the tax when they register at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
The proposed tax came from the mayor's office, Williams said, and is for the maximum allowed by the state. The ordinance, Czilli said, will likely be amended before the council votes on it so that if the county passed a wheel tax the city would drop theirs, though he found a county tax unlikely.
"I don't believe the county is going to enact one. I don't believe they have the votes, especially in an election year," he said.
Not everyone was against the tax, as long as the money was used for what it was designated.
"I have two vehicles and I have no problem with that tax if every penny goes to the roads," Portage resident Bobbie DeKemper said.
Czilli assured her that, under state law, the money only could be used for road improvements.
He and Williams encouraged residents to make their voices heard at the council's next meeting, which will include a hearing on the tax before members vote on it.
Neither councilman would say how he plans to vote that night on the tax.
"I don't like to say how I'm going to vote because if I do, I'm not going to hear your opinion on it," Czilli said.
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