Orland Park residents hammered with new fee from Fire District

With the Orland Fire Protection District already in political disarray and conflict, now they decided that the best way to deal with their incompetence is to hammer residents with an excessive charge for ambulance service -- something that TAXPAYERS ALREADY PAY FOR IN THEIR TAXES.

Not that anyone in Orland Park cares, though, right? I mean Mayor Dan McLaughlin only cares about his union clout and his prestige, and the Orland Park Village trustees -- most of them -- only care about their re-elections and are pals with the Orland Park Fire Protection District.

No one cares about the taxpayers. That's obvious from the total disregard we get from our elected officials, from the Village Clerk David P. Maher who continues to violate the Open Meetings Act by placing wording at the top of his public meeting notices declaring the notices are not for newspaper publication. (Hey, even Mayor Daley has a lifelong difficulty with the English language and you can't nottin' to no one.)

Now, the board that Maher's kid controls, the Orland Park Fire Protection District, thinks that the best way to protect their salaries and pensions and political clout (since so many relatives of village employees, political activists and government officials work on either side of the Village-OFPD fence) is to not protect the residents of Orland Park.

The Orland Park Fire Protection District has a history of poor decisionmaking and poor leadership under its current boss, Patrick Maher, the son of David Maher. Read this from the Better Government Association Web Site.

The Fire Protection district and several village officials are the target of a lawsuit that coulds cause major financial problems for the District and Maher's leadership there. Here's the link to that story that no one wrote about.

The Fire Protection DIstrict said they made the stupid decision in public and didn't try to hide anything. Sure. They know that if they don't tell you they are going to do something important at a board meeting, the public -- which works at REAL JOBS -- won't have the time to show up at the the meetings to hold Maher and his crony's feet to the political fire. Of course, instead of important issues, the OPFPD did promote their "rodeo" ... read that story? The OPFPD loves to promote the fluff, but not something serious, of course.

The DailySouthtown reported one ambulance bill topped $760 and the Fire Protection District is squirrling away cash with more than $7 million in a surplus, which in local tax terms means that they have been gouging taxpayers. (They are not the US Budget and don't need a surplus ever). The people hurt the most are senior citizens and those in need.

Imagine, someone in your family needs an ambulance and the OPFPD shows up and hammers you with a $760 bill. Outrageous, but, what we are used to in "Orland Peyton Place Park."

But then, what do you care? It's just your money and Mayor Happy McLaughlin and OFPD Chief Maher just do whatever they want anyway.