Wheeling Township Assessor Candidate: Donald A. Bussey

Patch wants to help you get to know your candidates for Wheeling Township highway assessor.

Donald A. Bussey

Age: 51

Family: Single, never married and no children

Education: I have an eclectic academic background of 176 hours of undergraduate credit including an AA and AS with Trustee's Honors and Phi Theta Kappa from Harper College and attendance at Northwestern University, Rutgers and Universite Francois Rabelais.

Occupation: Property tax advocate

Previous elected or appointed offices: This is my first time as a candidate for elected office.

Position sought: Wheeling Township Assessor

Political party: Democratic

Campaign E-mail address: info@donbussey.com

Campaign committee: Taxpayers for Bussey

Campaign Website: www.donbussey.com

Campaign Facebook: /donbusseynow

Campaign Twitter: @donbusseynow

What is the primary reason you are running for this office? I’m a 45 year resident of Arlington Heights.  I’m not a politician, but an ordinary citizen.  I’ve become a candidate for Wheeling Township Assessor because my property tax is out of control, my family’s are out of control, my neighbor’s, my friends and I suspect yours are, too. 

Home values have gone down significantly and property taxes have gone up dramatically.  Property taxes have become so intrusive in our lives that we are literally taxing people right out of the state. 

I personally understand the burden of property tax.  It is a significant threat to home ownership, secure a good retirement, for those already retired to maintain their standard of living and for the ability for our local economy to function and grow.  I want to try to make property tax more reasonable and fair.  I offer solid, creative ideas and a passion to make a real difference.

What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?

The most important priority if elected is to position the Wheeling Township Assessor's office as a real taxpayer advocate.

Surprisingly township assessors throughout suburban Cook County have little authority and even fewer rules.  Essentially township assessors have become ombudsman, but of dubious value.  In an era of depressed housing values and rising property taxes, more creative purpose and substantial justification should be expected for the expense of the township assessor's office. The assessor should be driven by the same responsive and accountable service of the most successful businesses and provide real access to the property tax process.

My vision is for an office of real taxpayer advocacy whose approach and perspective is to manage the growth of property tax in the short, intermediate and long term. The short term goal should be that homeowners pay not one dollar more than their fair share through service, access and real taxpayer advocacy. I call this “active advocacy.”  It includes things such as making certain that the property characteristics as listed with the county assessor’s office match the actual property.  This is one of the most common reasons for an overassessed situation.  We also have to make sure that property owners are receiving all the exceptions due them including looking to the past and partnering with homeowners in future renovation plans or lifestyle changes.  Most important is managing a homeowner’s assessment.  We want to offer the homeowner the full set of tools which allow for a successful outcome to the assessment complaint process.  I would like to see taxpayers in the office every first and third year of the assessment cycle. 

Active advocacy is a good short term way to manage tax growth, but it is not enough and this is what distinguishes my candidacy. If we as taxpayers desire to make a real difference in our property tax liability, we must operate with an intermediate and long term outlook.  It is not enough to manage one’s assessment; we must go beyond and look to the underlying drivers of tax growth.

I believe a property tax advocate has a unique insight regarding what's happening with your property tax bill.  The levy is the budget demands of local government, such as the village, library, park district, township, schools, etc. collected through property tax to fund their budgets and underlying spending. I know of no government official who offers property tax perspective for the taxpayer's consideration. We rely on media for oversight and indeed this is important. But I firmly believe that those closest to the process can offer a more comprehensive understanding of what factors drive your property taxes higher. I call this “passive advocacy.” I would like to engage with you in an ongoing conversation of these factors so you can make appropriate voting decisions in the intermediate term and where necessary support legislative changes in the long term. Your vote is powerful and an electorate's vote can change the course of government.

What are the top three issues facing Wheeling Township residents? Property taxes, property taxes and property taxes!  This is a simple answer, but it’s true.  Resident’s concerns largely surround the economy and property tax plays a crucial role in a local economy.  Let me offer a few examples and suggest their impact on the economy and taxpayer. I believe the underlying issue of voters in this municipal election is property tax.  I find this issue to be one of great concern for all and it should be. 

Wheeling Township Government has an operating budget of approximately $2.4 million per year, but they have cash reserves of nearly $4.6 million!  Township government could operate for two years without asking for one dime from the taxpayer.  This $4.6 million is money just sitting in the bank earning maybe ½% interest, non productive capital removed from the economy at a time when I’d say what keeps the economy from moving forward is a lack of capital. 

The Wheeling Township Supervisor says this is a fiscally responsible way to run the township.  The Illinois comptroller’s office guidance to local government is to have cash reserves of between 33 and 50% of operating income.  All of us maintain a rainy day fund, maybe six months expense.  The difference between the government and you is that the government doesn’t need two years of cash reserves because they will get their money from the taxpayer or the county will take your home. 

Is this right?  The printer of my campaign literature, a local business, says every dollar you can put into the hands of a consumer can be put back into the economy.  And he’s absolutely right.  The current Wheeling Township government is greedy in taking more property tax dollars from you than is necessary to run government and that’s just not right.  That is money that can be spent at a local merchant, donated to charity help pay bills or saved for your future.

Let’s look at another example.  The biggest driver of property tax is government pensions specifically the unfunded liability.  Unfunded essentially is the difference between the statutory annual rate of return on investment compared to actual rate of return.  If the fund manager, similar to you and your 401K, gets an annual return of say 3.3%, the government is obligated to add the 5% difference to total 8.8%.  A rate of return not tied to the economy or market.  Unfunded liability is really an 8.8% loan. 

Cook County is an example of a frightening pension system.  The taxpayer sends them $3 billion, yes, billion per year to operate Cook County Government.  The county has pension liability of nearly $15 billion of which about $8 billion is unfunded, nearly three times the annual budget of county government!  That $8 billion is a legal obligation that must be paid.  The question is will it be paid by raising property tax, raising the sales tax, maybe both?  Perhaps the state will assume the liability.  The governor already raised our personal income tax from three to five percent because of unfunded pension liability.

 Out of control property tax is a problem for the economy and for our personal economy.  The examples above are just a few of some serious issues.  What they say is that government behavior can impact your finances and the economy.  We need to address these issues to take the excessive property tax burden off the taxpayer so those dollars can flow back into the economy.  Illinois must get their hands around the pension system or risk a disincentive environment to start a business, attract existing business or maintain a business.   Business wages and profits drive property values.  It’s hard for a real estate market to recover when high property tax is the obstacle standing in the way.

What sets you apart from the other candidate? I believe it is very important to know how each candidate arrives at the point of deciding to become a candidate for Wheeling Township Assessor.  I make my living as a property tax advocate.  As such, I address issues of property tax and their impact on the taxpayer everyday.  My business emerged from my personal experience to try and control property tax expense.   There was little access to the process; it was difficult to obtain information about what was possible in property tax management and most maddening was government employees themselves seem to be bothered with a conversation about property tax.  

My business is organized to make a real and significant difference in the financial lives of homeowners.  We seek to control the growth of property tax ultimately helping clients maximize real property investment.  I deliver a service that is responsive and accountable to the client.  My service actually improves people’s financial well being.  I could have chosen another path in life, but I well understand the impact of excessive taxation on a homeowner.  At the end of the day I return to my life knowing I’ve made a real and positive contribution to my clients. 

My opponent is retired from a career at AT&T.  He is a long time political party operative who was appointed to his position.  His motivation for the assessor’s office comes from a desire to serve his party.  He says, “If you have any questions, call my office.”  Yes I have a question: “My property taxes are rising way beyond my annual growth in income.  What’s your plan to deal with unsustainable growth in property tax?”  My opponent wants to help you “file an appeal.”  I want to reduce your property tax.  With due respect for his present service, I believe the current assessor has neither the appreciation nor passion for the impact of property tax on people who want to live and raise their family in our community with rising home equity not eaten up by excessive property taxation.

Anything else you would like to add? I believe the stakes are really high in this election and that’s not hyperbole.  Government pensions are out of control.  The greedy desire of government to amass excessive cash balances is taking unnecessary property tax from us in a challenging economy.  Aggressive management of government debt (a good thing) will begin to open new spending for politicians if we don’t demand they lower the levy to take pressure off the taxpayer.

In this environment we must consider the candidate rather than party.  I want to become Wheeling Township Assessor because I believe I bring the right skills, business experience and proper perspective to address out of control property taxes.  In general, Wheeling Township votes republican in municipal elections.  I am running as a democrat.  My politics are what I would describe as progressive conservative: I am socially liberal, but fiscally conservative. The assessor does not deal with social issues. 

I would say those that grew up here did so raised with fiscally conservative values.  I do believe in government, but I feel its job is to steer, not row. The taxpayer does demand government services, but government must deliver those services responsive and accountable to the taxpayer. I also believe that government must evolve, adapt and partner with business and academia to meet the challenges of the 21st century.  This is smart, effective government possible from a new generation of leaders.

If your vote seeks a fiscally conservative voice, I ask you to take a look at my campaign, its message and goals.  Your vote is a real choice and can give me a chance to try and do something about out of control property taxes, for all of us. My election will not give me a magic wand to overnight lower all assessments.  We will have to work together both in the short and long term.  Your support of my campaign makes possible a fresh approach in the way we manage property tax and evaluate the shared expenses of our community. Electing a real property tax advocate to the office of Wheeling Township Assessor can help you pay a more reasonable property tax and maximize real property investment.