Joliet City Council passes budget, tax increases; OKs library funding

A Joliet City Council divided along familiar lines Thursday approved a budget with increases in gas and hotel taxes.

The council cast several 5-3 votes, rejecting one proposal to rewrite the gas tax so it would primarily go to diesel fuel used by semitrailers and another that would have put a bond for library renovations to the voters through a referendum.

Finally, the $329 million budget, which includes bonds for the library without a referendum, was approved with the same 5-3 majority that was not available last week when the budget failed to pass.

Council member Bettye Gavin, who was out of town when the council was at a deadlock last week, added the fifth vote needed for approval.

Gavin at one point defended her vote, rejecting suggestions it was influenced by a political break with Mayor Bob O’Dekirk.

“My vote is not up for sale. It’s not in allegiance with anybody,” she said. “Nobody tells me how vote. I’m not in anybody’s pocket.”

O’Dekirk, who normally votes only in case of ties, did not vote Thursday.

But he made clear his objections to the budget and voted against it last week, contributing to the opposition in a 4-4 tie. Five votes were needed to pass the budget.

O'Dekirk more than once referred to the 5-3 split on the council that has been in place since the council in May rejected the mayor's efforts to give then-interim City Manager Martin Shanahan the job on a permanent basis without opening up the position to applicants.

“They’re going to ram through what they want to ram through,” O’Dekirk said Thursday. “There seemed to be confidence on staff that if Councilwoman Gavin was going to be here, they were going to have five votes.”

Also voting to approve the budget were Pat Mudron, Michael Turk, Sherri Reardon and Don Dickinson. Opposed were Larry Hug, Jan Quillman and Terry Morris.

The budget was virtually unchanged from the one that failed to pass last week.

The budget predicts that Joliet will end 2019 with an $11 million deficit, which interim City Manager Steve Jones said drove the need for tax and fee increases..

The Joliet gas tax rises from a penny now to 4 cents. The 7% tax rate on hotel stays goes up to 10%.

“The most politically popular thing to do is vote against it,” Turk said, adding that he believed the council has been “kicking the can down the road” to avoid key expenses.

The quadrupling of the gas tax will fund a replacement program for vehicles and equipment.