At the close of last week’s village council meeting, commissioners took their usual turns making closing comments. Commissioner Maria Maxham used her opportunity to revisit the staggering $15 million deficit in the budget the council recently approved for the new fiscal year.

Specifically, she pointed to the council’s decision to skip past an actual proposal that Forest Park adopt a “places of eating” tax to raise some substantial new money to shovel into the budget’s gaping maw. After a quartet of local restaurant owners spoke and inevitably objected, the council caved on one of the very few chances it has to find new revenue.

Forest Park, a community with fewer than 25,000 residents, does not have Home Rule authority under state law. That means it is seriously limited in the ways it can impose taxes and fees to increase revenue. While bigger towns such as Oak Park can and do attach fees to everything that moves, Forest Park’s options are limited.

That makes dismissing a new revenue source, which could bring in up to $1 million a year, a case of local government malfeasance.

It is not possible for Forest Park to continue overspending its revenues by gobs of dollars, year after year. So far, we have no specific objections to how the village is spending the money it doesn’t have. After decades of disinvestment in its facilities and equipment, the spending is critical. But not if there isn’t any cash.

Maxham spoke up and talked sense. Commissioner Ryan Nero largely backed her up. Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin, who we generally admire, unfurled a stretch of bureaucratese that was discouraging and not reflective of the moment Forest Park leaders find themselves in.

Then there is Mayor Rory Hoskins who, again, was silent. The mayor is currently running for the U.S. Congress to replace the retiring Danny Davis. Perhaps he is drawn to serve in the federal government because it can spend money it doesn’t have while just piling up debt. But it doesn’t work that way in small-town America. 

Final thoughts: Get the places-of-eating tax back on the agenda. As Maxham suggested, debate its merits and consider starting the tax with a lower percentage amount. Pass this new tax promptly.

Maxham, who at one time was the editor of the Review, has previously said she would bring up the challenging topic of Home Rule.

Now is the time. It will take an affirmative vote of taxpayers to adopt Home Rule, and that is going to be a tough sell. This needs thoughtful discussion among commissioners, and for the mayor to build in protections for taxpayers by making the case that the benefits of Home Rule are necessary for a village with needs and ambitions to be a first-rate place to live and work.