what she described as a 'structural deficit', meaning increases in revenue being unable to match increases in expense, citing runaway health care costs among other problems. A county spokesman indicated that it would most likely happen in three or four years, well into the next county presidential term. Because of a number of unanswered questions and unresolved issues surrounding the county tax increase, Cook County's outlying communities, particularly Palatine, IL, considered secession and threatened to do so unless an explanation was provided. To avoid this schism, officials from Palatine and Cook County, including Stroger initially, agreed to hold a town hall meeting at Harper College on April 30 to discuss details of the hike that remain unclear. However, on April 29, Stroger announced that he would not attend, accusing Palatine officials of using the meeting for political grandstanding indicating that he "[would] not debate local Palatine elected officials who expect to exploit this opportunity to further their own political agendas". Eventually, Stroger did attend the Town Hall, which resulted in heavy press coverage and several Daily Herald articles refuting the claims he made while presenting there. The tax increase was later partially rolled back by 0.5%. Chicago's overall sales tax is 9.75% and suburban Cook County is at minimum 8.25%. References 1963 births African-American state legislators in Illinois Chicago City Council members Living people Politicians from Chicago Presidents of the Cook County Board of Commissioners St. Ignatius College Prep alumni Xavier University of Louisiana alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people