Mayors, others oppose tax hike
Officials urge Thornton Township voters to reject increase request
Several mayors and other elected officials are urging voters to reject Thornton Township’s April 4 referendum seeking to raise taxes to fund mental health services.
Eleven mayors, a Cook County Board member and a state senator signed and circulated a letter Friday that said south suburban homeowners already pay too much in property taxes and cannot afford the township’s request for more tax dollars.
“We as a region are significantly overtaxed already,” officials wrote. “This region has some of the highest real estate taxes in the nation.”
The Thornton Township Board voted in January to place the referendum on ballots to raise about $500,000 annually in additional revenue. If approved, owners of a $200,000 home would pay an additional $90 per year in taxes, according to township officials.
The letter was signed by state Sen. Napoleon Harris of Harvey, Cook County Board member Donna Miller of Lynwood and the mayors of Calumet City, East Hazel Crest, Glenwood, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Homewood, Lansing, Markham, Riverdale, South Holland and Thornton.
The missive delivers a strong, unified message to the township, which is led by Supervisor Tiffany Henyard. The township board appointed Henyard to the $277,000-per-year post to fill the vacancy created when Frank Zuccarelli died in January 2022.
Zuccarelli was a revered public servant and respected political leader. He also was Democratic committeeman for Thornton Township. Voters in June elected Harris, a former NFL star, to the vacant committeeman post.
In contrast to Zuccarelli’s legacy of public service, critics have accused Henyard of cronyism, wasteful spending
and evading accountability. Henyard is also mayor of Dolton, where a Village Board majority has alleged Henyard’s administration has spent public funds without authorization and commingled township and village resources that should be kept separate.
Friday’s letter did not mention Henyard by name, but the message of fiscal responsibility was clear. Voters should reject the request to give the township more tax money, even for something as important as mental health services, officials said.
“We are united in understanding the good intent behind the referendum because we all deeply care about the mental health of our constituents,” officials wrote. “We recognize that mental health issues are a concern both in the south suburban region and worldwide.”
The referendum seeks to grant the township authority to collect additional taxes and is worded as follows:
“Shall Thornton Township levy an annual tax not to exceed 0.15% for the purpose of providing community mental health facilities and services including facilities and services for the person with a developmental disability or a substance abuse disorder, which levy will have a single additional tax of a maximum of .15% of the equalized assessed value of the taxable property therein extended for such purposes?”
The township’s total equalized assessed valuation, or EAV, for 2021 was $1.975 billion, a township finance official said in January.
Officials who signed the letter agreed there is a need to provide mental health services to residents, but they believe the township is the wrong level of government. County, state and federal sources of funding would be better, they wrote.
“Mental health care costs and care should be borne by the State and County governments, such as the transformational American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding proposal for a Cook County Health Far South Suburban Integrated Healthcare Clinic, including expanded behavioral health services, which unfortunately has not come to fruition,” officials wrote.
Other mental health resources available to serve township residents include the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Veterans Affairs services for military veterans, and wellness services offered through South Suburban College in South Holland.
The referendum would give Henyard authority to appoint seven volunteers to an oversight panel known as a 708 board. Voters in other townships and taxing bodies have approved similar referendums to create 708 boards.
Thornton Township would not hire personnel to directly provide mental health services but would contract with existing area providers, township officials said in January.
Jerry Weems, Thornton Township executive director of transitional operations, provided a response Friday on behalf of the township.
“We are disappointed by the sponsoring Mayors’ position on this matter,” Weems wrote. “Prior to sending this letter, the signers didn’t contact the township to discuss any concerns they had with the proposal but instead chose politics over caring for the most vulnerable in our society.”
Township officials were not surprised by the mayors’ stance, he wrote.
“We understand that their position has nothing to do with the merits of the 708 board proposal that would allow Thornton Township to better serve the needs of an ever increasing population of individuals suffering from mental illness, addictions (including opioid abuse), and special needs (e.g., autistic spectrum disorders),” he wrote.
The township hopes voters educate themselves on the question of funding mental health services and decide to support the measure, Weems wrote.
It was difficult to imagine south suburban voters voluntarily agreeing to pay more taxes for any reason, even before officials circulated Friday’s letter. Tax increase referendums are notoriously hard sells, even in affluent communities for such essential services as to improve fire protection or public school facilities.
Henyard has demonstrated a lack of respect for fiscal resources by calling grant funds “free money.”
Add to that the well-publicized questions about how Henyard’s administration is managing or mismanaging public funds in Dolton and one gets the sense Thornton Township voters should think carefully before giving Henyard the ability to control another dollar of taxpayer money.