Lake County Commissioners faced more than three hours of blistering criticism Tuesday evening for their plan to raise property taxes by 11 percent.
The criticism came from mothers of special needs children, the elderly and small business owners in a public hearing on the tax hike. County officers including Sheriff Gary Borders, Public Defender Mike Graves and State Attorney Brad King also took their turn before the commission making their cases for not cutting budgets.
Originally, the commission had planned to raise taxes 18 percent, but later ratcheted it back to 11 percent.
But after being battered for three hours, commissioners voted 3-2 to nudge the increase back up to 13 percent. Commissioners Leslie Campione and Tim Sullivan voted against the increase.
A second public hearing on the millage rate is set for Sept. 23.
