Lake County Gazette

Ann Taylor is campaigning to be mayor of Waukegan in the April 2021 election as an Independent rather than a Democrat or Republican because she believes she must work with everyone.

“I don’t want people to feel isolated,” Taylor told the Lake County Gazette. “Municipal-level politics should be united and you don’t need to be part of a political party to work at the municipal level.”

Taylor developed a knack for working with people from all walks of life as an alderman for the Ninth Ward whose diversity, she says, prepared her to become the mayor.

“The Ninth Ward is probably one of the most diverse wards,” Taylor said. “It’s economically diverse. There's a lot of businesses in the middle of the ward. I’m used to working with different people and, at the end of the day, we all want the same things. We want a city that works and we want people to be united. It has definitely prepared me to have a very large ward.”

Incumbent Sam Cunningham has been Waukegan's mayor since 2017, and Taylor alleges he’s hired 20 of his friends and family members for high-paying city jobs that are costing taxpayers more than $1 million annually.

“Mr. Cunningham has raised our property taxes by 13%, our water rates by 24% and our sales tax by a quarter percent,” she said. “The problem is that Waukegan is not a wealthy suburb. It's making people lose their homes. The rents are becoming too high and we're losing a lot of our residents. They're struggling. I want to make sure that people can afford to live, work and play in the city comfortably.”

Taylor vows to stop the downward trend by refraining from borrowing money if she’s elected.

“We don't have particular line items for capital expenditures, so every time we want to improve our streets, we take out bonds, which is the equivalent of charging it and paying back all that interest,” she said. “Yes, you may get some roads improved but you're paying for those for the next 20 years and those roads are going to need to be replaced again within that time period. You're never really getting ahead when you're always borrowing money.”

Among the first things she plans to do as mayor is to hire a city manager, also known as a city administrator.

“We need to have a professional government utilizing sound business practices to move our city forward,” Taylor said. “We're not doing that. That's a priority for me. I run my own business currently and have learned that you need the help of professionals if you want to take your business forward. You can't just keep the same people or appoint people to positions that really don't have business backgrounds and who don't have the ability to run a city. That's what a city manager does.”