It’s bad enough that the Park District—which is funded by property tax revenues—agreed to a costly and unprecedented deal to pay property taxes on its central office. But it gets worse: as it turns out, the district paid even more than it said it would.
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The strange tale goes something like this: Property tax bills are paid in two installments. The bill for the first installment, which typically comes in February, covers the first half of the previous year; the second bill, which usually comes in August, covers the second half of the previous tax year. So property owners are paying their 2007 tax bills this year.
Since the 2006 second-installment bill was $1,214,319 for the whole building, the Park District should have owed around $267,000 when the tax bill was sent out last fall. Superintendent Tim Mitchell says it paid $679,000, or 56 percent.
Well, if it’s good enough for Burke and Madigan, it’s good enough for me. I won’t even spend the money on myself—I’ll let the Park District put it toward something useful, like an indoor track. —Ben Joravsky
