Lake County Gazette

When Mayor Sam Cunningham campaigned in 2017, his political flyers promised that he would resist increasing property taxes but his opponent in the upcoming April 6 election alleges that he was not truthful.

“Within the first year he was mayor, he broke that promise,” said Ann Taylor, a Ninth Ward alderman who is challenging Cunningham. “It’s making it very difficult now for homeowners who are already struggling to actually make their payments, and now you add a pandemic on top of that and there will be people who end up losing their homes.”

The Chicago Tribune reported that in December 2017 when Cunningham was mayor, the Waukegan City Council approved a property tax levy of $24.1 million, which is a 3.95% increase over 2016.

“Sam Cunningham is confusing voters with tax rate versus tax levy,” Taylor told Lake County Gazette. “The tax rate is determined by the county. We as alderman don't vote on anything like that. What we vote on is the tax levy, not tax rate, and the tax levy is what we are asking residents to pay their portion.”

Taylor voted against the 2017 tax hike.

“When I have talked to Sam at the time that we voted on these tax increases, he's called me a liar but the fact of the matter is there are increases and if you ask homeowners, they know it,” she said. “Sam thinks he can put anything out there and people are going to believe it but, if that's the case, it’s insulting to our residents.”

Cunningham has raised the property tax levy three times since he was elected in 2017, according to Taylor.

“The city is in debt,” she said. “We're not living within our means. It’s really important that we get our budget under control. Part of the reason that we're asking for all this money is because we are taking out bonds to do improvements. We don't have line items for capital improvements.”

Rather than increasing taxes or using bonds to pay for infrastructure, Taylor, if elected, envisions paying down debt the city of Waukegan owes and then using tax revenues to fund capital improvements.

“If we don't take out any more bonds, we will already start paying off debt,” she said. “Our bonds will start to drop if we don't take any more out, but Sam Cunningham is looking at taking out another $88 million in bonds.”

Cunningham did not immediately respond to requests for comment.