Every candidate for Village Trustee—including me—will tell you we need to control taxes. Voters like you wish you had more information about who has a well thought out plan and who is ready to take action. Here are the 6 steps I propose for how Village government can do its part, controlling taxes in smart ways that preserve and enhance Oak Park’s character. These ideas were developed in consultation with Oak Park citizens and experts. I look forward to listening and learning more.

1. Set a total spending limit, committed to INCREASE NO FASTER THAN INFLATION.

2. Set spending priorities within that limit, based on what benefits the most people, what benefits the people who need it most, and what benefits people most directly.

3. Keep our eye on ALL the ways the Village collects your money, not just on the property tax. Otherwise, government might just shift the affordability burden from property taxes to other fines and fees that might be even less fair. Property taxes are less than 20% of total revenue in the 2019 budget.

4. Find efficiencies through intergovernmental cooperation. Sharing services, especially administrative services, can produce cost savings and provide better services for every dollar spent. Collaboration is a better way to do this than consolidation.

5. Rely less on expensive outside consultants, rely more on the remarkable resources provided by our Citizen Commissions and community groups.

6. Initiate smarter, more diversified, more innovative approaches to economic development, with transparent approval processes that give citizens a real voice. Research and experience show that we cannot build our way to success with more and more high-rises. We need to attract more and better businesses and jobs, and better support the local businesses we have.

Please let me hear your ideas at KlaymanForOakPark@gmail.com