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In these tight budget times, Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool has a common-sense proposal that the Cook County Forest Preserve District charge market-rate rent for housing it offers to its employees as a way to raise additional revenue. Currently the district charges an artificially low flat rate: either $225 or $450 a month. Commissioner John Stroger says the issue of market-based rent needs to be studied. Well, back in 1975, the Better Government Association investigated the district's housing program and found that it was rife with cronyism and abuse. One of the recommendations we came up with was to charge market-based rent as opposed to the policy of the time of charging no rent. The District Advisory Committee commissioned a report by an independent appraisal firm to calculate the revenue the 73 houses that were occupied by employees in 1975 would generate if they charged market-based rent. The firm estimated they would generate about $250,000 annually or about $285 per month per house. Because of the low rate set by the district, its housing rental revenues in 2003 were $257,461. If the district charged the same rent it estimated each house was worth in 1975, factored in with inflation, the rent per house per month on average would be about $1,000 or $720,000 annually for all the houses combined. If Stroger needs more recent information about market-based rents, he should simply pick up the phone and talk to his counterparts in Lake County who already have such a program. It shouldn't be too hard; I made the calls and found Lake County officials to be very helpful in explaining how their program works. The district's housing program has long been a costly embarrassment. Recent news stories show that this tradition continues to the present day. The basic story is usually the same, select employees -- almost invariably connected to influential political figures -- get to live in district houses at artificially low rental rates and often fail to perform the duties that are a prerequisite for obtaining the sweetheart deal. Given the size of the budget deficit facing Cook County, the additional revenues would not solve the county's budget shortfall. But it would go a long way to convincing the public that the county isn't going to look to a tax increase as the first option in solving its budgetary woes. Jay Stewart, executive director, Better Government Association