Crook County: Tax hikes for pensions but some traffic violations won't be prosecuted due to lack of staff

Connecting to pensions for
government workers? 

Last year a one-percent sales tax increase was forced upon Cook County residents such as myself to bail out the county's woefully underfunded public worker pension funds. Next month a huge soda tax goes into effect to pay for, you guessed it, pensions.

Is Cook County a retirement program? Or a government that provides services to citizens? It seems that "Yes" is the answer to my first question.

The Chicago Tribune explains, but let me point out some media bias to you. The article mentions "lack of personnel." That's technically correct, but lack of money is the cause. Remember what those tax increases will be paying for.

Citing a lack of personnel, the Cook County state's attorney's office plans to stop prosecuting certain traffic offenses, a top county official said.

Under a policy expected to take effect later this year, the state's attorney's office will not prosecute people accused of driving on licenses that have been suspended or revoked for financial reasons — such as failure to pay child support, tolls or parking tickets.

Instead, individual cities will have the option to prosecute those violations.

"We are in a triage mode, and we can't continue to do what we were doing 10 years ago with 30 percent less resources," Eric Sussman, the first assistant state's attorney, told the Tribune on Wednesday.

Recipients of SNAP benefits, what used to be called food stamps, who amount to an astounding 873,000 in Cook County, will not have to pay the soda tax.

The "N" in snap stands for nutrition.

There has not been a Republican president of the Cook County board of commissioners for nearly 50 years.

Bankruptcy is Cook County's only hope.