Vote on Budget Today

Today City Council; voted in to give residents of Chicago a big increase in taxes and fees and gave themselves a big increase in salary.

MAYOR DALEY’S $276.5 MILLION REVENUE PLAN BY THE NUMBERS

• $83.4 million property tax increase costing owner of a home sold for $250,000 roughly $60 more a year.

• $43.9 million increase in water rates.

• $20.8 million increase in sewer fees. Combined water and sewer increase costs the owner of the average single-family home $45 more each year.

• $10.5 million by imposing a new five-cent tax on each container of bottled water.

• $12 million liquor tax increase that’ll add seven cents to the cost of a six-pack of beer, two or six cents to a bottle of wine, depending on the liquor content, and 22 cents to a liter of hard liquor.

• $48 million by doubling — to $2.50 — the monthly surcharge on telephone bills.

• $24 million by raising the tax on lease transactions from 6 to 8 percent. It’ll add $4 to a $200 car rental fee and a dime to a $5 DVD rental.

• $8.7 million by raising 32 different parking fines. Individual increases range from 11 to 140 percent.

• $3.8 million by increasing the fine for being caught on camera running a red light from $90 to $100 and $5.7 million by installing red light cameras at 20 more intersections.

• $1 million by raising billboard fees and cracking down on illegal signs. Signs located on the premises of a business go from $75 to $200. Larger, off-premise billboards go from $75 to $500.

• $3.5 million by imposing a 25-cent development fee on every square foot of buildable floor area.

• $1.6 million by raising — from 1.50 to $2 — the cost of a strip of tickets to Taste of Chicago, Blues, Jazz and Celtic festivals.

• $6.2 million by raising the cost of a city sticker for SUV owners from $90 to $120.

• $3.9 million by raising the natural gas use tax from 5.2 cents to 6.3 cents per therm.