Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. It is estimated that over 135 million people participate in Black Friday. It is not uncommon to see shoppers lined up for hours, even the night before. Not that any of you would do something that crazy. So why call it black then? It is considered the biggest shopping day for many retailers and thus a day that they go from being "in the red" to "in the black"…. You get the idea.

Now it looks like a local jurisdiction is trying to put a little red back into black Friday… the Village of Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago. Schaumburg is the home of one of the largest malls in the country, Woodfield Mall. Historically, the Village has never imposed a property tax, instead relying on some hefty sales tax revenues (many of which come from sales at Woodfield Mall). However, it seems with the shortfall in retail sales and thus the shortfall in sales tax revenues, they are proposing a new property tax. With this new tax the average homeowner will see an 8% increase in their annual property taxes. For Woodfield Mall this increases their property taxes by about $1.4 million annually. Ouch!

What ever happened to living within your means? Why do all the businesses in Schaumburg have to be creative in working through the recession and the Village can just add a new tax to cover shortfalls? Has the Board considered how this tax increase will affect future economic growth in the community? Have they contemplated the removal of this tax once the economy recovers?

The Village cites increases in health care costs, pension costs and a 64% increase in snow removal costs… snow in the North, go figure. Have costs gone down in any areas? Have they aggressively eliminated all possible expenses - and don’t pull the "public safety" card… I’m talking about the slush funds, the poor choices and the wants that have been redefined to be "needs"? In its efforts to reduce costs, the Village cites a 15.7 percent decrease in its work force but opponents state that the number of Village employees making over $100,000 per year has grown from 30 in 2005 to 110 in 2008. What’s up with that and I mean besides the salaries?

There are a whole lot of questions that need to be considered before turning someone’s Black Friday a little more red!

Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to cruise the Caribbean with my family. The warm sun… beautiful Islands… friendly people… fund excursions… exciting non-stop activities… drink of the day… amazing shows… exotic ocean life… great people watching… All of this was fantastic!

One of the most wonderful parts of cruising is the opportunity to consume more food in a week than you might have otherwise consumed in a month. You can eat constantly… 5, 6, even 7 meals a day. In fact you begin to "need" more meals as the week progresses. I felt the need to try everything on the buffet for breakfast, enjoy lunch in two different restaurants, order 2 main courses for dinner (with dessert – although it was small), squeeze in a quick bite of pizza before the show and grab a couple sandwiches - and a cookie - before bed.

For those of you who have cruised, you know the pinnacle of this eating frenzy is the midnight buffet. On one special night you top off the above described day of eating with a beautiful midnight buffet that would rival any glorious dining experience you’ve ever had. Or… at least they used to have midnight buffets. It seems tough economic times have caused the cruise lines to rethink what we "need" when it comes to eating.

How does this relate to property taxes? Well, I’ll tell you. It seems to me that spending for local government have become like my eating on a cruise ship. The more they spend, the more they "need". Where three meals were needed, now five are needed. This might explain why property taxes have risen every year since the 1930’s to an all time high of $400 billion in 2008. My favorite cruise line eliminated the midnight buffet. When will local governments eliminate theirs?