In trying to understand why the Village of Brookfield, after decades of peaceful co-existence, wants to stick Brookfield Zoo with a big new tax on admissions, we're reminded of what Willie Sutton said about why he robbed banks:
"That's where the money is."
The Village of Brookfield, like pretty much every suburb and Chicago, is hurting for money and desperate to find ways to increase revenues without hiking property taxes. If you're the City of Chicago, you resort to half-baked solutions like privatizing parking meters. If you're the Village of Brookfield, you go after the zoo, slapping a 25-cent amusement tax on every admission ticket, hoping to pull in up to $500,000 a year.
This is a bad idea for the zoo, for other tourist attractions on public land in Illinois that shudder at the precedent, for zoo-goers who already pay a stiff admission fee — as much as $25 — and for the law, which appears to prohibit such a tax.
Despite strong opposition from the Chicago Zoological Society, the Brookfield Village Board has approved an amusement tax that would generate its biggest portion of revenue from Brookfield Zoo admission fees.
The village expects to raise about $500,000 annually from the tax, which would be applied to sporting events, music events and admission to Brookfield Zoo.
The amusement tax was first proposed in June. The zoo immediately objected, maintaining that state law prohibits any portion of zoo admissions from being used for anything but the zoo operations and maintenance. The zoo and village have been at odds over the tax and a proposed water rate increase ever since.
"Any attempts by the village to divert zoo admissions proceeds away from the zoo is unlawful and will result in additional layoffs," said Matt Mayer, Brookfield Zoo's vice president of government affairs.
With a deficit in the Village General Fund the PEP Party is spending money on a concession stand!
Work expected to begin early in 2011
Brookfield village trustees on Oct. 25 voted unanimously to pay $108,000 to two firms engaged to design and manage a major improvement project at Jaycee/Ehlert Park, slated to break ground in 2011.
Hitchcock Design Group will get $103,000 to design, engineer and manage a project that officials hope will result in the construction of a new concession stand in the northwest quadrant of the park; a splash pad, pavilion and storm water retention area in the central area of the park.
Volo-based Hey and Associates will be paid $5,000 to perform topographic surveys related to the design.
Brookfield's PEP Party slates its 2011 hopefuls
Two incumbents, LeClere and Prause, bow out
Taken in part from the Landmark Newspaper …
Choosing not to run for re-election are trustees David LeClere and Yvonne Prause. Both trustees came up through the ranks via their involvement with the Brookfield Parks and Recreation Commission.
Cheaper rate was offered a couple of months ago
Brookfield Zoo officials trying to find a way around a steep water rate increase apparently were surprised to hear Wednesday that Brookfield officials had offered them a cheaper rate a couple of months ago.
Now, even as they ask the Brookfield-North Riverside Water Commission to sell them water directly, zoo officials are asking Brookfield whether its August offer is still on the table.
Brookfield Village Attorney Richard Ramello said it was possible, but he wanted to double-check the fees and percentages in the August agreement.
"The zoo had a 20-year-old water supply contract with the village," Ramello said. "That agreement has run out. We had no choice but to increase the water rate. We had inaction by the zoo."
After 4 years, Brookfield trustee's home passes muster
LeClere acts after village issued daily tickets
When Brookfield Trustee David LeClere bought his home in the 4400 block of DuBois Boulevard in November 2006, he had 60 days to complete various improvements and pass a resale inspection.
On Monday, nearly four years later, LeClere finally passed that inspection but only after the village's building department began to issue him daily tickets threatening a fine of up to $750 each day he failed to comply with that requirement.
No working relationship with Brookfield Zoo. Let's work together
Brookfield wants to hike rates by 112%
Brookfield Zoo officials are pursuing a plan today to allow the zoo to purchase its water directly from the Brookfield-North Riverside Water Commission and bypass entirely the village of Brookfield, whose trustees on Monday confirmed their intention to raise water rates for the zoo by 112 percent, a move that would cost the zoo between $300,000 and $700,000 annually.
Stuart Strahl, president and CEO of the Chicago Zoological Society, which operates the zoo, said the cash-strapped village was attempting to simply cash in on the existence of the zoo, which draws roughly 2 million visitors to the area each year.
Overcoming some confusion that led to some short-lived drama inside the Brookfield council chamber Thursday night, the village's Plan Commission voted 5-0 to recommend the village board deny preliminary approval for a proposed Methodist church on Grand Boulevard at Eight Corners.
The recommendation came amid accusations of a fix, shouted by two residents in the audience who also opposed the plan, after the Plan Commission mistakenly voted to recommend approval of the proposal.
During the ensuing drama - punctuated by a chest-to-chest standoff between former Village Manager Jim Mann and resident Frank Clarke and defused by Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral - Plan Commission members called for reconsideration of the vote.
Village, zoo leaders agree to keep talking
Brookfield officials on Monday night headed off a potentially explosive confrontation with scores of Chicago Zoological Society supporters, who turned out to protest a proposed tax on amusements which would have hit Brookfield Zoo particularly hard.
More than 125 people, many of them zoo employees clad in forest green golf shirts and zoo volunteers wearing their kelly green uniform shirts, responded to an e-mail blast last week by Stuart Strahl, the zoo's CEO, calling on members and supporters to speak out against a proposed tax that would have added charges to admission, parking, rentals and purchases. The village estimated, conservatively, that such a tax could bring in about $500,000 to village coffers.
But the subject was pulled off the table Monday night by Village President Michael Garvey, who announced a last-minute meeting between village and zoo officials had resulted in "productive discussions" and that further meetings would be forthcoming.
Stuart Strahl, president of the Chicago Zoological Society that operates Brookfield Zoo, is calling on Brookfield residents who are zoo members to protest a proposal for a new tax. The tax could add charges to everything from zoo memberships to parking, dolphin shows, special events and rides on the carousel.
In an e-mail sent today and marked "urgent," Strahl urged members to contact village board members (whose home and cell phone numbers are included) and attend Monday's village board meeting to voice opposition to the proposal.
"The Chicago Zoological Society strongly opposes this tax because it will negatively impact not only you, our member, but the society's ability to continue to judiciously operate Brookfield Zoo and its programs," Strahl said in the e-mail.