Chicago mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy, a Democrat, suggested earlier this week that the city should annex suburban communities, including Evergreen Park, which that municipality's Mayor James Sexton said will never happen.
"It’s a very complicated issue," Sexton said in an interview with the South Cook News. "I don’t think the candidate explained it would have to go to referendum."
Sexton said just as the people of Evergreen Park had to vote 125 years ago to incorporate, they would have to vote to join the city of Chicago.
Evergreen Park Mayor James Sexton
"I’m not sure that would go well," Sexton said. "We have a great credit rating. We pay our pensions."
Sexton said Evergreen Park pays its bills on time and has a very low crime rate.
"I’m not sure why the people of Evergreen Park would want to be annexed by the city of Chicago, with some of their problems," Sexton said.
When asked how a possible annexation would affect the community, Sexton said it would not.
"It won’t impact the community because it will never happen," Sexton said.
Sexton said a lot of people have moved to Evergreen Park from the city because of the safety the village provides.
"We pay our pensions as we go and our bills as we go, and maybe that’s why we don’t have that heavy deficit (like Chicago)," Sexton said.
McCarthy suggested annexing several suburbs of Chicago in order to help generate revenue to help pay pension payments, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The suburbs McCarthy suggested were Norridge, Oak Park, Oak Lawn and Evergreen Park, according to the article.
McCarthy spoke up about annexation during an endorsement session with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board, according to the article, and he suggested that it would be a "double-barreled" solution because Chicago has suffered such a dramatic loss in population in recent years, as well as helping to pay pensions.
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