In the final scheduled days of the spring session, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is returning to familiar themes of his political life — bashing legislative Democrats and pushing to freeze property taxes.

The General Assembly is scheduled to finish on Wednesday amid doubtful prospects for an end to Illinois' historic budget stalemate, again leaving schools, universities and social services providers uncertain about what they can expect in the coming year.

In the late-session political posturing, Rauner has focused on property taxes, symbolizing a multipart strategy aimed at weathering political fallout in his 2018 re-election bid. To make his pitch, Rauner this week conducted numerous interviews and held a news conference at an Orland Park home to demand a freeze as a precondition for a budget agreement.

"We've got to bring down our property tax burden," Rauner said, standing in the home's back yard. "We cannot have the General Assembly pass a massive tax hike on income and sales and not provide property tax relief that is true and lasting."

The governor's push for a property tax freeze comes after Senate Democrats this week approved a package of spending plans and tax increases aimed at ending Illinois' streak of operating without a budget. That group of proposals didn't include Rauner's property tax demand, and majority Democrats in the House also haven't shown much inclination to go along with the state's Republican leader.

Moreover, House Democrats have indicated privately that they plan to go their own way on a budget proposal rather than accept the Senate's. A closed-door vote of Democrats on Friday found only 42 House votes in favor of the Senate plan. It would need 60 votes to pass.

Monique Garcia

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders are set to resume budget talks again Thursday morning as a stopgap spending plan is set to expire at year's end, and the governor is laying out his terms before the meeting even begins.Facing continued resistance from Democratic House Speaker...

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders are set to resume budget talks again Thursday morning as a stopgap spending plan is set to expire at year's end, and the governor is laying out his terms before the meeting even begins.Facing continued resistance from Democratic House Speaker...

(Monique Garcia)

As Democrats and Republicans continue to squabble over who is to blame for Illinois' budget troubles, a property tax freeze has become the latest in Rauner's must-haves after he has pared down what was once his "turnaround agenda" and relabeling it as "structural reforms."

Compared to some of his other asks, like complicated changes in workers' compensation rules or to legislative redistricting, a property tax freeze is easier for voters to understand.

In seeking a four-year freeze of real-estate tax levies, Rauner is reaching out to homeowners in the Republican-leaning suburbs. They typically face the highest bills, particularly because schools rely on those local taxes to operate. Under his plan, a voter referendum would allow taxpayers to reduce or increase individual levies of schools and local governments.

The issue also allows Rauner to continue to lash out at his favorite political target, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, a partner at the property tax appeals firm Madigan and Getzendanner.

Read ongoing coverage of Illinois' stalemate and stopgap budget.

Read ongoing coverage of Illinois' stalemate and stopgap budget.

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And Rauner's attack on the property tax system reprises Republican criticism of the assessment reduction that Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker received on appeal in Cook County, where the assessor is county Democratic Party chairman Joseph Berrios.

Last week on WGN AM-720, Rauner noted, "by the way, the rigged system for property tax assessments, property tax reductions, that our politicians are part of and make their money from, by the way. I want local residents who pay the taxes to control the process, not the local politicians."

Rauner's repeated injection of the phrase "by the way" was a vocal wink-and-a-nod to underscore a theme of insider dealings on property taxes likely to be repeated in campaigns against Democrats running for governor and for the General Assembly next year if no property tax relief is forthcoming. And it would be tossed on top of a Rauner campaign message that the first-term Republican rejected Democratic tax hike efforts.

Rauner isn't new to campaigning on the issue of onerous property taxation, first proposing a freeze and running ads about it during his bid for governor in 2014.

But local governments — villages, cities, counties — derive most of their funding from property taxes.

A property tax freeze "is the ultimate state unfunded mandate," said Brad Cole, a former mayor of Carbondale who is executive director of the Illinois Municipal League, an association of local governments.

"When you have a local city council or a village board that takes action to generate revenue and in some cases lower their property tax rates, those are decisions that are made locally," he said, after the group's annual meeting last month. "We don't think the state should dictate a … property tax freeze since they're not involved in that decision-making and local residents can elect their city council members and their mayor. They can make those decisions best at home."

But Rauner's call for a freeze could play havoc with school districts in a statewide education system that relies on local property taxes and fees for more than 67 percent of its income. Schools statewide get only a quarter of their money from the state. Federal funds make up the rest.

Rauner has frequently touted his desire to increase the state's share of funding for schools. It would take a significant tax increase to do it in a way that local property taxes could be pared back, though. At the moment, school districts and vendors are owed more than $1 billion because of the budget impasse's effect on state cash flow and delayed payments, State Board of Education records show.

The acknowledgment that Senate Democrats might even consider a more modest temporary tax freeze for schools is a recognition that Rauner's criticism over their lack of action may be having some political impact — something that has yet to be felt by Democrats in the House.

"I know (Rauner) knows it polls well. Everything he talks about he knows polls well," said state Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat who is a key point person on budget issues. But Harris also said it is just another of several shifting demands Rauner has created for his acceptance of a comprehensive budget package.

"If you remember, he's held out for something — it's just different things all the time. You remember when it was, 'I won't do anything if I don't get term limits. I won't do anything until we get redistricting. I won't do anything now until I get local government consolidation.' It's a constantly moving target," Harris said.

When the House returns on Sunday after a brief holiday break, it's scheduled to hold a series of committee hearings to examine the Senate Democrat-passed budget plan. Harris said the goal is to try to reach consensus between House and Senate Democrats on a final plan to send Rauner, but there are significant disagreements.

One main point of contention: Harris said House Democrats are united in their opposition to making the income tax hike retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year as the Senate called for. If lawmakers approved a higher rate starting at the first of the year, Illinoisans would have more money withheld from their paychecks to cover income from the first several months of 2017. The biggest question that remains, however, is what kind of tax proposal House Democrats could get behind, and whether they would be willing to pass it without Republican support.

Madigan has long insisted that Republicans must share in the responsibility — and blame — of raising taxes. But some Democrats frustrated with years of inaction say they'd rather be able to tell voters back home that they took a stand to help dig Illinois out of the financial morass, even it if it's not politically popular.

They contend that no matter what path they take, Rauner is likely to go on the attack against them in next year's legislative contests, similar to how he spent millions of dollars against Democrats in last year's elections for the General Assembly.

rap30@aol.com

mcgarcia@chicagotribune

kgeiger@chicagotribune.com

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