Letter to the editor: Evanston doesn’t need to increase taxes

Council Member Clare Kelly seems to be the only council member who is asking hard questions about the budget. She pointed out that staff suggested using an employee vacancy rate of 2%, rather than the 4% the city used for 2023 (the actual rate has been 5%). After much effort, her suggestion was accepted by the council and had the effect of trimming $1.8 million off the proposed tax increase. That leaves another $1.9 million to cut.