March 17, 2025
Dear editor;
There are still townhall meetings for the Kane County Public Safety Sales Tax, so I am happy I probably can come March 20 since I am familiar with the church and it is a time, 6:30 p.m. I can probably exit my driveway at 6 p.m. in the Fifth Avenue steady traffic.
My concern is whether the merchants will be able or willing to collect this tax. I made a one-stop shopping trip March 14 that produced not only two pricing errors, but there is no sub-total! Why would a merchant omit this needed sub-total?
I guess money is tight all over. I went for an oil change and had a coupon. When I got to cashier, they did not have the coupon. I had to pay the full price. When I phoned the manager, they did meet me part-way in that their cost has to include disposal and tax. The coupon would have been a loss. He did not refer to it as a printing error, but it was clear the merchants wish to be able to advertise the lowest prices they can. This is difficult, if not impossible to do, in our current climate of taxation and government uncertainty.
I had another experience with the County being so desperate for additional property tax revenue they set aside, or otherwise delayed, processing my May check. When it was processed, it was after the due date! I had to pay $10 for that; I had to write a second check in June because no one had seen my May check and we did not know if it would be deposited (County or otherwise). All totaled, their dereliction of duty (mail collection is the responsibility of Treasurer) cost me $60: $30 to the bank, $10 to cover the cost of driving two trips to Geneva, and another $10 for certified mail to write an incident report to USPS.
The moral to my submission is: Money is tight all over. People are nervous whether they work or are retired. If they work, they may be worried their job could be cut suddenly.
Sincerely,
Mary Goetsch, Aurora