Another administration plan to come up with cash—the unpopular idea to tax alley Dumpsters—has been put on hold repeatedly since last November because aldermen are weary of taking hits from angry business owners (including some whose waste haulers have already asked them to pay more even though the tax wasn’t yet in place). “All that we have are fees, fees, fees, and more fees,” said alderman Leslie Hairston. “We need to find a way to balance the budget that will keep people in the city without bankrupting them.”
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But another proposal designed to prevent a repeat of the meters fiasco–alderman Tom Allen’s plan to require a waiting period before a lease-deal vote–was tabled by the finance committee today. A few hours later aldermen signed off on the Dumpster tax because they didn’t know how else to start filling the latest budget deficit. As alderman Ed Burke explained to his colleagues just before the vote was called, “There ain’t no free lunch. Either we’re going to have to find sources of revenue or we’re going to have to cut expenditures.” Actually, it will probably end up being both. Today they went with the tax; the next round of cuts will come later.
There’s food for thought. In the meantime, it occurs to me that I may have heard some of this before.
