Evanston aldermen approved a resolution at City Council on Monday that urged Illinois legislators to extend a temporary state income tax.

The extension would stop the tax from dropping from 5 to 3.75 percent in 2015. Despite the resolution passing 6 to 3, some aldermen said they felt passing the tax was unavoidable, as Illinois had no other way to pay what it owes and avoid statewide budget cuts.

“They have to do what they have to do,” Ald. Donald Wilson (4th) said. “They’ve gotten into the mess that they’ve gotten into, and they’re going to have to pass this in order to have the funds to pay the bills.”

Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said she supported the tax increase solely because of the interests of Evanston. If the tax hike were to fail, the city would be subject to “devastating” budget cuts on top of the ones that have already occurred, she said.

“I’m concerned about what happens in the city of Evanston if that tax is not maintained,” Tisdahl said. “I’d rather be proactive than simply sit and complain about (a budget cut) when it happens to us which, if we don’t act, it will.”

Some aldermen expressed concern with the actions of state legislators, citing a lack of confidence and faith in them. Wilson said that although he supports the tax increase in order to fund the state, it doesn’t mean he approves of the situation.

Ald. Jane Grover (7th) made the distinction between issues of extending the tax and reforming the way the state legislature acts, and said both were possible.

“I think the votes on the resolution tonight ought to be a signal … that there’s a high degree of distrust about how they operate in Springfield,” Grover said.

The council also passed a resolution that advocated equally taxing calls to 911 made from landlines and mobile phones in order to increase funding. Under the current system, only calls made from landline phones are taxed, even though the majority of calls are made from cell phones.

Because of the lack of landline phones used to call for emergencies, there’s a decrease in the amount of revenue coming in to support 911 operations, Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said.

“The people who use their cell phones to call 911 need to pay the same fee that those of us who call 911 on our landline phones pay, and that’s not happening,” she said. “The more landline phones that are disconnected and the more cellphones that are going into service has nothing to do with the number of calls made to 911. They still keep coming.”

Wilson said he was reluctant to support the resolution because he was unsure that all the money produced from the state tax would return to Evanston, as the current phone tax ensures.

Council also heard an update on the status of the Evanston Animal Shelter, which is in a transition period as the city searches for new leadership. The shelter, currently run by the Evanston Police Department and local volunteers, is working smoothly and is ready to offer some pets for adoption, EPD Deputy Chief Joseph Wazny said.

City manager Wally Bobkiewicz said financial issues regarding the Community Animal Rescue Effort, the organization that formerly operated out of the shelter, will be discussed at the council meeting on May 27.

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