Burr Ridge Board again playing fast and loose with your money

Pay special attention to the actions of the village board over the next few weeks. You’re likely to end up a little poorer, and some of Mayor Gary Grasso’s friends a lot richer.

The board is considering a plan that would pile more cash on top of the several hundred thousand already donated to area restaurants in cash grants and tent rentals. Now, Grasso and his rubber-stamp board want to underwrite the cost of even more handouts to his favored few. Under the latest plan, three restaurants will receive a total of $600,000 for permanent outside enclosures. One of those restaurants, Capri, owned by Grasso’s biggest campaign donor, Phillip “Gigi” Rovito, is slated to get the largest share, $400,000. Gigi, as many of Grasso’s associates, has a colorful past.

The board is also considering a plan to increase our sales tax to fund a “Business Development District." The plan will neither grow business nor encourage development. When you tax something, you get less of it not more. Besides, we already have a beautiful new shopping area and business district.

At the same time, Grasso is also pushing to make significant zoning changes on the other side of town. He wants to put a huge truck sale, rental and leasing facility right on the corner of Madison street. That is a gateway to our town and has so much potential to be something better. Adding insult to injury, Grasso wants the board to consider eliminating the local sales tax we would collect on those truck sales. So he wants to raise taxes on anyone who shops or stays in Burr Ridge, but bring in another business that is wrong for Burr Ridge while cutting off the revenue the town would receive?

As just to really stick it in the eye of the voter, Grasso has one more dirty favor hidden on Monday’s consent agenda. Clearly he hopes the Board won’t discuss the vote on a very lucrative re-zoning of a property that, public records show, is owned by former Mayor Mickey Straub. I’m not sure who Straub’s realtor is, but hopefully it’s not a member of the Zoning Board. Somehow Straub’s name has been kept out of all of this. That is unusual, for the owner of a property seeking extensive zoning exceptions to have their name off of it. Why? Perhaps because these zoning variances are extensive and highly unusual. Seems to me like a very nice payback from Grasso and the rubber-stamp board to thank Mickey for keeping Grasso’s seat warm for him to come back when he was ready, and for making sure Grasso’s buddies were taken care of while he was away. Not to mention, Straub appointed members of the Zoning Board who approved this.

Back in March, voters, by an overwhelming margin, rejected a plan to make Burr Ridge a home rule municipality. They did so because they rightfully feared an array of tax increases and zoning changes with no citizen input; local tax rates in home rule municipalities in Illinois are not restrained by state law and home rule municipalities have a lot more power and citizens have much less recourse on wayward zoning decisions like those we see on Monday’s agenda.

But state law does allow non-home rule communities to create Business Development Districts, with an accompanying increase in the local sales tax. And state law does allow non-home rule communities to make bad zoning decisions that harm the public interest. The board, with Grasso’s endorsement, is considering creating the district so it can increase taxes as of way of end-running the voters’ wishes. The only way to stop it is if citizens call in to the meeting or email their objections to the board and staff.

On Monday, September 14, the board is expected to vote on aspects of all the above plans. I’m a “No” vote.