Politics & Government

'Like Kids in a Candy Store' — Trustee McDonald Speaks Out Against Spending

Shorewood Trustee Jim "Mac" McDonald was once again the lone voice of dissent when it came to the village spending on itself.

Twice the public works department asked the village board for big dollar purchases during Tuesday night's meeting, and twice the board went along with it — except for Shorewood Trustee Jim "Mac" McDonald.

"I just don't see wasting the money," McDonald explained after the meeting. "We're like kids in a candy store. They think that extra one penny is going to last forever."

The "one penny" McDonald referred to was the one-cent sales tax increase, part of which goes to fund Joliet's treatment of Shorewood's sewage, as well as to a real estate tax rebate for village residents. It is also supposed to fund road improvements.

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The sales tax increase went into effect July 1,

On Tuesday night, McDonald voted against buying a $144,217 dump truck and dropping another $12,500 for a log/pipe fork attachment for a loader.

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Public Works Director Roger Barrowman explained that the fork attachment will come in especially handy if Shorewood is ever stricken by a disaster.

"If we ever have a natural disaster, another one, in this area, we have a piece of equipment that's being under-utilized," Barrowman said.

McDonald wasn't buying it.

"I feel that some of this is unnecessary," he said. "I think we have stuff already that will last a little longer. The same thing with these expensive cars."

McDonald voted against buying both the "expensive cars" — a 2011 Chevy Tahoe for administrative police Cmdr. Aaron Klima and a 2012 Ford Escape for Building Inspector David Myers.

The village spent $30,305.75 on the four-wheel drive sport utility for Klima, who is also Shorewood's Emergency Services and Disaster Agency Director. Myers' four-wheel drive pickup truck cost  $20,043.

As with the votes Tuesday night, McDonald was the only trustee to vote against spending the money on the new trucks.

The Tuesday night meeting lacked Mayor Rick Chapman, who broke his ankle Sunday, and Trustee Celine Schwartz, who has been absent nearly all year as she struggles with a foot ailment. So this time McDonald was only outnumbered 4-1.


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