Goodbye, ILLinois

True, but Texas has alot of problems other than the race track. I only pointed that out becuase they are still being sold a line of B.S. by the state officials. They are smart enough to keep taxes low so that business flock to the state. Infrastructure upkeep and building is going to be what hurts them and it is already starting to.

 

Key sentence that says it all:
"They are smart enough to keep taxes low so that business flock to the state."
Says something about the intelligence of Illinois politicians......

 

Yes they are inflated. Indy did even better and still lost money, and Indy already had a very large fan base and a track that only needed modification. The Indy 500 is still the biggest autosport event in the USA and is a large core fan base to start with. Maybe Cota can make the money back on country music concerts. My guess is the track cost over a half billion to build with the overtime blowing the so called projections out of the water. You won't hear about that for a few years You will not have an F1 race in Austin for 10 years. You will be lucky to have one for 5 years or as soon as they get the Mexican GP up and running..

As I said, low taxes will offset Texas arrogance and stupidity, but not for long.

That is not letting Springfield Illinois off the hook. They are hopeless!!

 

I think you know the person I was referring to, and she will have egg on her face in a few short years. And yes Illinois does have alot of problems. Enjoy your stay in Austin, one of the best small cities in Texas.

 

Mike,

What has been the most difficult transition with your move? What are some of the adjustments? I know not having a basement was one item.

 

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria - Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

 

Ok Mike place your Chicago order and I'll see what I can bring down for Amelia Island. It's a short trip, so all we have to do is a quick nuke job.

 

i bailed on Illinois about 8 years back... and it was awesome then compared to now!

 

I read property and sales taxes in TX are high to compensate for the no income tax? But are they that high?

 

bailed out of IL this year. Couldn't be happier with the choice. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, mentally & physically, but not emotionally.

 

In Houston mine are about $1800 a year per $100k of valuation. My parents, who don't live in a major city pay less than a third of that.

 

Sounds similar to Chicago taxes

 

Not even close to mine in the burbs.

 

Heaven knows our cities have issues. We certainly do here in/around the Motor.
But I came out of my chair reading this. I am certain he means it with the last two sentences:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL APPROVES EMANUEL MAJOR BORROWING PLAN WITHOUT DEBATE

Chicago Tribune

February 6, 2014



Mayor Rahm Emanuel convinced all but a handful of aldermen Wednesday to allow him to borrow $900 million with no debate and without saying how much of the money would be spent.

The 43-4 vote gives the Emanuel administration the power to issue $900 million in new bonds and to double the city’s short-term credit line to $1 billion.

The move illustrates the city’s shaky financial condition, as Emanuel continues a City Hall habit of using long-term borrowing to paper over budget shortfalls and push current costs onto future generations. The vast borrowing, which comes at a time when the city already is dealing with an outsized level of debt and a recent triple-downgrade in its bond rating, along with a major increase in police and fire pension payments looming next year.

The lack of significant opposition reflects a political reality that underlies many decisions the City Council makes: if aldermen voted down the mayor’s plan to borrow more money to pay for projects and to push existing debt further into the future, they’d have to come up with an alternative of their own.

The vote also was made easier by a carrot contained within the borrowing plan — $1.3 million in “menu money” each of the 50 aldermen receive every year, money typically used to repave streets and replace sidewalks.

“I think everybody here wants to do the mayor’s bidding. They don’t care,” said Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, a frequent Emanuel critic who voted against the borrowing. “The impact of passing this is so negative, and it happened without a discussion. Nobody wants to question it or deal with it. They just want to kick the can down the road.”

The vote to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars took just seconds, approved with a swift strike of Emanuel’s gavel. By contrast, more than a dozen aldermen spent at least 15 minutes heaping praise on an Emanuel appointee whose confirmation was never in doubt.

Those who voted “no” criticized Emanuel and his Chief Financial Officer Lois Scott for not laying out exactly how the administration intends to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars it plans to solicit from Wall Street.

Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said that even after asking Scott for more details on the plan, he still could not account for how much of the money Emanuel wanted to borrow would be spent.

“I was only able to put together about 60 percent of the earmarks for those bonds, and that 40 percent I wasn’t able to account for,” Reilly said. “And so when you’re talking about $380 to $400 million in bond proceeds that haven’t been earmarked, I’m not sure why I would be asked to support that.”

Asked by reporters after the council meeting what specific projects the money would be spent on, Emanuel spoke in generalities.

“It’s typical efforts to invest in our streets, our sidewalks, light poles, all the other infrastructure that improves our neighborhoods, the economic vitality of our neighborhoods like the central business district,” Emanuel said.

The mayor defended the additional borrowing and his fiscal record, by pointing to his ability to balance budgets without property, sales or gas tax increases and his streamlining of some city services. But last year’s Tribune series, “Broken Bonds,” revealed how Emanuel and predecessor Richard M. Daley used heavy borrowing to mask budget problems.

“It’s inherited from a set of practices years in the making,” Emanuel said Wednesday as he answered a question about the city’s debt. “You cannot just change that in two years without affecting the well-being of an economy.”

Before Wednesday’s vote, Chicago already had $7 billion in tax-backed debt, more per capita than any other major U.S. city except New York. That tally doesn’t include the $19.5 billion Chicago is short to fully fund its four pension systems, and the city soon will have to step up its payments into two of those funds unless state lawmakers approve some kind of relief.

As for the new borrowing authority, Scott has said the city plans to issue up to $450 million in bonds next month, with up to $300 million of that going to put off existing debt. The other $150 million would be new borrowed money spent on unspecified construction, building maintenance and new equipment.

The city plans to do another bond issue in second quarter of this year, Scott has said, but what that money would be used for is unknown.

“When I do research on other cities, what I find is plenty of documentation showing what the money is going to be spent on,” said Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd. “We weren’t given that information.”

In addition to issuing bonds, Emanuel’s plan also allows the city to double its short-term debt limit, known as commercial paper, from $500 million to $1 billion. Scott has said that money could be used for back pay that could be due when police and fire contracts are settled, and some would be used to pay legal settlements. Last year, settlements totaled nearly $100 million.

But Emanuel suggested Wednesday the city might not tap into that short-term credit line.

“I would look at that as more of an insurance policy,” he said. “We’re not even sure we’re going to use it.”

 

I sold my Illinois business in 2006 and moved back to Colorado after 30 years of high taxes and corruption.

I will never go back to Illinois. Never.

 

I can only wish I could do it......

 

Me too. Used to be family that kept me here, now I'm rooted in work.

Also agree about the taxs being much > than 1800 per 100k in the burbs. Obviously a large % goes towards the schools but I really believe it could be better appropriated to benefit the youth.

 

more like $3500/100k...