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Politics & Government

The Rundown: Palos Hills City Council Honors Stagg, Hears From Local Business Owner

Kozy Koffee's former owner addressed the council, announcing that he would not reopen the shop and the state tax burden was the cause.

Stagg Special Olympics Honored: The City Council recognized the Special Olympics Unified Volleyball team at Thursday's meeting for their title.

“I would like to say congrats on behalf of the City Council and myself, those banners are hard to come by and it will look real nice hanging on the [city welcome] sign,” said Mayor Gerald Bennet. “Come back next year with another one.”

The mayor awarded the athletes a certificate and posed for pictures and a hand shake.

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Tax Woes: Joe Cantele, now former owner of spoke to the City Council during public comment in an effort to “make them aware of a problem in the state.”

“I've closed the coffee shop and I'm not opening it back up,” Cantele said. “I can't afford the taxes.”

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Cantele quickly acknowledged that he did not hold the City Council responsible, as municipal taxes were not what was draining, but he felt that “you people need to talk to the people above you about this problem.”

Cantele cited his books and said that last year alone the state generated over $39,000 in tax revenue from the shop. Cantele did not state what the revenue was, but it appeared to be an aggregate of all the tax money the state collected from the shop. He also stated that he paid over $18,000 on the 1,500 square-foot building.

“You're [legislators] cutting your own throats here,” he said, reciting some of the recent headlines regarding Indiana and other surrounding state's salivating over the economic pressures of doing business in Illinois.

Ald. William Hanson (3rd ward) said that Cantele (and all residents) should look at his pie chart of the distribution of real estate tax in the city and make sure that those in charge of the largest slices are up to the task.

Cantele said he was disheartened by politics and didn't believe, “there was such a thing as voting for the right person.”

“There is no accountability anymore – enough is enough,” he said. “Trying to vote for the right person is a joke.”

Tree City USA: Mayor Gerald Bennett announced that the Tree City USA awards – a designation Palos Hills holds – usually held at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle will move closer to the Southland with the event now scheduled to happen at .

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