Even without the $100+ million combined sewer overflow (CSO) project figured in, Mayor Ardis says the city is looking at a budget deficit of $2.5-3 million. That money is going to have to come from somewhere. “Common sense would dictate there won’t just be a new discussion about a new revenue stream, there is going to have to be one,” Ardis told the Journal Star.

On WCBU news this morning, Mayor Ardis stated, “The last thing the council will consider is a real estate or tax increase.” In other words, they will look for ways to save money or find other revenue streams, and will consider a tax increase a last resort. (Nevertheless, Ardis supports the proposed downtown museum which can only be completed if a tax increase is implemented county-wide.)

So let’s talk taxes. The city’s portion of your property tax bill is actually quite low, only about 9-10¢ of each property tax dollar. It’s been kept that way because the city over the years has relied more and more heavily on sales taxes and additional fees like the so-called garbage fee.

The argument for this trend is that sales taxes are spread among everyone who shops in Peoria, not just property owners. That would include people from the surrounding cities and towns who come into Peoria to shop at the malls or eat dinner or see a movie. Harder to defend is the garbage fee — a flat, regressive tax applied to everyone who gets a water bill. Property tax increases are also considered a last resort because, although the city’s portion is small, property taxes overall are high, and the city wants to attract homeowners.

Perhaps this would be a good time for the council to start looking at root causes. Why are expenses so high and why are revenues not keeping up with expenses?

Could it be our penchant for annexing more and more land and building out more and more infrastructure for those “growth areas” in a city that hasn’t seen population growth in decades? Annexation is consistently presented as the path to financial solvency, but despite nearly a half-century of annexation that has seen the city more than double in size, our taxes are higher, population growth is stagnant, older parts of the city are hollowed out, and revenues are insufficient. Methinks this strategy is not working.