I couldn’t attend the council meeting last night, but I see in today’s paper that they’ve tacked on some more taxes to our water bills: “The council also voted to assess a 5 percent water utility tax . . . expected to generate $1.5 million annually.”

Technically, the city is taxing the water company, but Illinois American Water is fully expected to pass that cost on directly to consumers. And the selling point of this tax as opposed to a property tax increase is that it can also be collected from non-profit organizations. “City officials have estimated the typical residential customer of 6,000 gallons of water a month will pay $1.70 more a month,” according to the paper. Add that to the $6 per month we’re already paying through our water bills (the so-called “garbage fee”), and now we’re up to $7.70 — a 28% increase in water taxes/fees for the “typical residential customer.” Pretty soon, we’ll be paying more in taxes/fees than for the water portion of the water bill.

A few other interesting things about this tax:

• “[T]he council voted on a host of issues that leaves the city with a $1.4 million surplus heading into next year,” the paper explains, and this five percent tax will generate $1.5 million annually. A quick calculation tells me that only $100,000 was needed to actually balance the budget when all was said and done last night. But the council established a tax that will generate $1.5 million. A bit of overkill, wouldn’t you say? If they had established a 1% tax, it would presumably generate $300,000 — more than enough to cover the deficit left after other actions were taken last night.
• Despite coming up with a new revenue source that puts them in the black by $1.4 million, the council still decided to lay off 16 police officers. Public safety is evidently not real high on the council’s priority list. That’s okay. It’s not like we have a lot of crime in Peoria or anything. I’m sure the officers that are left can learn to work smarter, not harder, or something like that.
• Speaking about the new water utility tax: “This isn’t money we’ll wildly run out and spend,” Van Auken said. “We’re still facing a deficit next year.” Ha ha ha! No, the council wouldn’t wildly run out and spend it. Of course not. They’re the model of fiscal conservatism and strategic planning. You can trust them not to fritter away taxpayer money on non-essential, risky ventures.

Bah.