This week Reboot Illinois teamed with Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, for an Illinois budget forum in Lake Forest titled “Spent and Taxed.” Also on the panel were Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights, Stericycle Executive Chairman Mark Miller and Carl LaMell, president of Clearbrook, a suburban agency that serves people with developmental disabilities. The topics of the evening were Illinois tax and budget policy. Much of the focus was on the recently approved and deeply flawed 2015 state budget. Though members of different parties, Drury and Harris both were very critical of both the process behind the budget and the plan that eventually was approved. Though the budget passed on Democratic votes, Drury was a consistent dissenter on the eight bills it comprised. A few high points from the discussion included Harris calling out Democratic leadership for pushing a “maintenance” budget that managed to find extra funding for a handful of select entities.LaMell noted that agencies serving the developmentally disabled asked for an increase that amounted to $15 million, but got nothing. Drury, one of two House Democrats who had vowed to not vote in favor of making permanent the 2011 income tax increase, gives an interesting explanation why he believes taxpayers need to live under the promised tax decrease if they really want it. We’ve boiled it down to the highlights for this week’s “Only in Illinois.”
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