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The Cook County Board put the brakes on runaway property tax rates and motorized scooters Tuesday. By a 16-1 vote, board members approved the "7 percent solution" signed by Gov. Blagojevich Monday that limits property tax increases to about 7 percent a year. Chicago homeowners whose assessments jumped 150 percent or more can rest assured that the tax bill they get this fall will be no more than 7 percent more than their last tax bill. Without a word of discussion, county board members also approved a ban on motorized scooters that will take effect Jan. 13. "Clearly, the idea of a 9-year-old kid barreling down the street at 40 miles an hour is troubling," said Commissioner Carl Hansen after the meeting. The Mount Prospect Republican championed the ban, saying 5,000 people have been injured or killed by the scooters nationally. Hansen was the lone vote against the property tax relief measure, arguing it will shift the tax burden from owners of rapidly-appreciating property to owners of businesses and multi-unit apartment buildings. Yes, there will be a shift, County Assessor Jim Houlihan conceded. But it will be a shift of about 1.9 percent, less than the shift in recent years from businesses to homeowners because residential property values have risen faster than business values. "This will slow down the shift," Houlihan said. Board member Larry Suffredin, who led the charge for the 7 percent solution, held up a box of adhesive bandages as he proclaimed, "This is a Band-Aid. This is a good first step." He, Houlihan and many of the other commissioners voting for the plan said the real solution to high property taxes was a drastic switch in the way Illinois funds education. The largest chunk of most people's real estate tax bills goes to school districts. That's because the state does not live up to its constitutional obligation to be the major funder of education in Illinois, said Commissioner Forest Claypool. The solution, Houlihan and many commissioners said, was a hike in the state income tax from 3 percent to 4 percent.