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Taxpayers United of America
407 S. Dearborn Street, Suite 1170 * Chicago, Illinois 60605-1150 (312) 427-5128 * Fax (312) 427-5139 * Website www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org * E-mail tua@NTUI.org |
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Dear Commuter,
The Illinois State Toll Highway
Authority wants to increase the tollway tax for drivers in a 12-county
area up to 90 percent! For drivers who pay cash on the tollways, this is
the second time tolls have been raised substantially in the past six
years. Now you will pay as much as $3.80 at a single toll booth if the
tollway tax increase is approved. Over the course of a year, this adds
potentially several hundred dollars more per year for your tollway
costs.
The Toll Highway Authority is expected
to vote on the tollway tax increase this month, after a rushed series of
public hearings. They want to sneak this 90% toll increase through
before drivers realize what is happening. I urge you to show up at the
public hearings and voice your opposition to this proposed 90% toll
increase. Here are the currently scheduled public hearings:
August 18, 4-6 p.m.
Kane County - Kane County Government
Center, 719 S. Batavia Avenue, Building A, Geneva
August 18, 7-9 p.m.
Cook County - Chicago Ridge City Hall,
10455 S. Ridgeland Avenue, Chicago Ridge
DuPage County - DuPage County Government
Center, 421 N. County Farm Road, Wheaton
Will County - Village of New Lenox, 1
Veterans Parkway, New Lenox
August 19, 7-9 p.m.
Boone County - Community Building, 111 W.
1st Street, Belvidere
DeKalb County - NIU-Convocation Center,
1525 W. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb
Lake County - Libertyville Civic Center,
135 W. Church Street, Libertyville
McHenry County - Village of Huntley, 10987
Main Street, Huntley
August 22, 7-9 p.m.
Lee County - Comfort Inn, 154 Plaza Drive,
Dixon
Ogle County - Comfort Inn & Suites, 1122 N.
Seventh Street, Rochelle
Whiteside County - Sterling Municipal
Building, 212 3rd Avenue, Sterling
Winnebago County - Clock Tower Resort, 7801
E. State Street, Rockford
August 23, 4-6 p.m.
Cook County - Schaumburg Prairie Center for
the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Court, Schaumburg
August 23, 7-9 p.m.
Lake County - Buffalo Grove Village Hall,
50 Raupp Boulevard, Buffalo Grove
At the hearing you attend, please make
the following points:
• Nothing is wrong with collecting user
fees to make necessary repairs. However, the Toll Highway Authority
refuses to prioritize projects effectively and control costs.
• The Elgin-O’Hare expansion and western
bypass, the most costly project, is publicly estimated at $2.2 to $3.6
billion—but predicted to cost $4.3 billion in the fine print. By the
time the project is finished, the costs are almost certain to soar even
higher.
• Money will be wasted on rebuilding the
Northwest Tollway. Twelve miles of this tollway were just repaved!
Rebuilding a highway costs ten times as much as repaving, and takes at
least twice as long. This scheduled rebuilding will disrupt traffic and
harm businesses in the area for two years!
• Cash tolls were doubled only six years
ago. Much of the increase has paid for exorbitant salaries of over
$140,000 for top administrators and over $50,000 for many of the 684
toll collectors, whose jobs require only junior-high math skills and the
ability to stand for long hours.
Finally, please call the office of
Gov. Patrick Quinn at 217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121, and ask that he
contact the Tollway Board and urge them to rescind their plans to double
tollway fees.
Unless the tollway bureaucrats
experience a groundswell of opposition, they will bulldoze this tollway
tax hikes through and commuters in the 12-county area will be spending
hundreds of dollars more a year to use these roads.
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Founded in 1976, TUA is one of the
largest taxpayer organizations in America.
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