Burr Ridge Voters Can 'Fight City Hall': Official

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge's political establishment was behind the push to make the village a home rule town. But the voters disagreed, with an overwhelming majority voting against the idea Tuesday.

Trustee Zach Mottl, a village board member, was the public face of the opposition to home rule, saying it would pave the way for a tax increase. When home rule foes won Tuesday night, Mottl said, "They say you can't fight city hall, but we did here."

And he was fighting city hall. Mayor Gary Grasso supported home rule, and four of the six trustees favored putting the issue on the ballot for Tuesday's primary elections. Even former Mayor Mickey Straub got into the act, sending a mass email in favor of the proposal.

On Tuesday, 69.9 percent of voters opposed home rule. That was a reversal of fortunes for Mottl from last April's election when Grasso defeated Mottl with 71.1 percent in the mayoral contest.

Grasso has kept the majority of the village board on his side — Mottl calls the board a "rubberstamp." In November, Grasso persuaded trustees to censure Mottl, accusing him of making demeaning comments to village staff. In late January, at Grasso's urging, the board decided against allowing Mottl to participate in a meeting by phone, although it had allowed him and others to do so before. After the board's vote, the mayor said, "Please disconnect." Without Mottl present, the board then proceeded to spend much of the meeting criticizing him and calling for his resignation.

Some of Mottl's recent statements have angered his colleagues. When he voted against Trustee Tony Schiappa's wife's appointment to a village committee dealing with the U.S. Census, he said she did not have the right temperament for such a position, citing her social media posts against him in the last election.

Mottl also contended the mayor has a conflict of interest as liquor commissioner when his son's valet business serves several alcohol license holders.

Although the mayor holds the upper hand with the board majority, Tuesday's election was a victory for Mottl. He said he hoped the results show that voters have awoken to what's going on in village government. "We the voters need to pay attention," he said.

Mottl said Illinois Realtors and Chicago-based United Taxpayers of America provided valuable help for the anti-home rule campaign. The Realtors, he said, paid for yard signs.

Patch could find no reports on the state election board's website on how much had been spent in the home rule campaign. Quarterly reports are due in mid-April.

In late February, the Realtors donated $30,000 to the Realtors in Opposition to Home Rule political action committee. It's unknown where that money was spent, but it's likely that some of it was sent to Burr Ridge.

In an interview, Straub, the former mayor, said the anti-home rule group had far more money to spend and that is likely why the opponents won. "If we had gone dollar for dollar, the referendum would likely have passed," he said. He said he believed the anti-home rule side spent at least 10 times the amount of money as the proponents.

He said home rule was "not a question of if, but when." With escalating police pension costs, he said, the voters will want home rule to give the village more flexibility on finances.

Grasso and others said they wanted home rule to spend much of the hotel tax, largely paid by out-of-towners, to help pay pensions. Now, most of it must go toward tourism promotion.

Mottl said 25 percent of the hotel tax could be spent on infrastructure, which he said could free up other village money to go to police pensions. Also, he said the village has millions in its reserves.

Straub said that even if the village wanted to increase taxes, it would make little difference. He said village taxes make up just 3 percent of residents' property tax bills. Actually, it's even less, at least in some neighborhoods, depending on the boundaries of taxing districts. Patch checked houses in two Burr Ridge neighborhoods where the village's portion of the tax bill amounted to about 2 percent.

In a mass email a few days before the election, Straub said lies were behind the anti-home rule campaign, saying suggestions that the mayor and village board members get pensions are untrue.

Straub's email was titled, "The Truth About Home Rule." But sometimes what one person calls lies may just be honest mistakes.

In his email, Straub said that despite what the "political hit pieces are claiming, five of six Village Board members who are for it ... and the Mayor are not just trying to raise your real estate taxes, which would also raise their own taxes!"

Actually, four of the six trustees supported the referendum. Trustee Anita Mital joined Mottl in opposition. Straub said he did not realize that.