Lake County Council members muted any tough talk Monday about demanding that cities, towns, townships, schools and other local government units rein in their spending.
The five council members present gave positive recommendations to the proposed 2013 budgets of 61 taxing units, acknowledging they have neither the tools nor desire to second-guess local officials whose spending plans would escalate local tax rates well above the limits set by state's property tax circuit-breaker system.
That system caps the taxes that can be collected from any parcel of real estate at 1 percent of a home's assessed value before deductions, 2 percent for farms and rental housing and 3 percent for business.
Council members voted to include with their recommendations a letter urging the government agencies to gradually begin reducing their spending to a level beneath the tax caps.
However, those local officials can ignore that advice. The state law that has required the County Council to review their budgets for the last three years makes its recommendations nonbinding.
Council members complained earlier this month that overspending by cities and towns had the collateral effect of adding $4 million to county government's 2013 deficit, because the county must rely on municipal tax bases for its revenue, too.
Council members talked about giving unfavorable reviews of bloated budgets, but they questioned whether it would have any effect on state officials who have the final say on all Lake County budgets.
