Joliet Mayor Tom Giarrante Reflects on Past 4 Years

Current Joliet Mayor Tom Giarrante has less than two weeks left at his desk. On May 4, Bob O’Dekirk, a city councilman and former police officer, will be sworn in as the new mayor.

In a phone interview today, Giarrante said there’s a lot he’s proud of in the four years he’s been mayor of Joliet, one of which was getting Joliet out of a budget deficit.

“We were looking at a $17 million dollar deficit and I bit the bullet and raised taxes and got us out of that deficit,” Giarrante said.

Joliet now boasts a $35 million reserve.

“If we have a major tornado go through, you gotta have that reserve,” he said. “Without the tax raise, our budget would be about $800,000 short.”

Giarrante said the final vote for raising the taxes was 5 to 4 and knew it may come back to bite him when the next campaign rolled around.

“I didn’t want to kick the can down the road like they’ve done in Springfield and they’ve done in Washington,” he said. “I wanted to face the problem and straighten it out.”

As for public opinion, Giarrante said he had hardly any reaction or blow back at all.

“Maybe two or three people approached me, but it was very, very minimal,” he said.

Giarrante’s also proud of the buildings and jobs he’s helped create.

“The four years before I took office, the city issued 890 building permits,” he said. “During my term they issued 21,000 building permits. A lot of good things happened.”

After Giarrante leaves, the council is going to have some challenging decisions to make, he said, citing the county’s desire to build a new courthouse, Evergreen Terrace and Gov. Rauner’s proposal to cut income tax revenue for suburban cities in half.

“If that happens we’re going to lose several million dollars,” he said. “There’s some challenging decisions that’s going to be facing this new mayor.”

One issue that he wishes he could have stayed more on top of was the unexpected snowfall of 16 inches this past winter.

“If we have a rash of water main breaks and all our crews are busy, we have contractors we can call out to help,” he said. “We should have developed a list for snow plowing, the same thing. That’s not only my deal, but that rests with the whole council. I didn’t think of it. Nobody thought of it. We should have had a list.”

Joliet could also use more police officers, but Giarrante encourages others to report crime if they see it happen.

“What the city needs is for the neighborhoods to start getting involved and if they see it, they need to start calling. If something happens, they need to step up and be witnesses,” Giarrante said.

Once O’Dekirk takes over, Giarrante is going to spend time with his family.

“This mayor is supposed to be a part-time position. It’s part-time pay. You are very busy seven days a week. Even Saturdays and Sundays, sometimes,” he said.

But as he leaves office, Giarrante said he doesn’t have any advice for O’Dekirk.

“He’s been around the block. He’s been on the council for three years. He knows what’s going on.”

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