Peter Gariepy
Peter Gariepy is an officeholder of the Ladue Schools, At-large in Missouri. He assumed office in 2023. His current term ends in 2026.
Gariepy ran for election for Chicago City Treasurer in Illinois. He lost in the general election on February 26, 2019.
Gariepy completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Gariepy responded to Ballotpedia's unique candidate survey for 2019 Chicago candidates. The survey questions were developed with input from more than 100 Chicagoans in the months preceding the 2019 election. Here is one selected response:
"As city treasurer, I will partner with private funds, which can amplify the impact of dollars invested by thoughtfully embracing investments in Opportunity Funds that fall within Chicago’s approximately 130 Opportunity Zones."
Click here to read more of Gariepy's responses.
Gariepy was a Democratic candidate for Cook County Treasurer in Illinois. Gariepy lost the primary on March 20, 2018.
Biography
Peter Gariepy was born in Southfield, Michigan, and lives in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. He earned a bachelor's degree in public accounting and a master's degree in taxation from Fordham University and a master's degree in civil engineering from Northwestern University. Gariepy’s career experience includes working as a licensed Certified Public Accountant.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Treasurer
Melissa Conyears-Ervin defeated Ameya Pawar in the general runoff election for Chicago City Treasurer on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Melissa Conyears-Ervin (Nonpartisan)  | 59.4 | 296,293 |
 | Ameya Pawar (Nonpartisan) | 40.6 | 202,714 | |
| Total votes: 499,007 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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General election
General election for Chicago City Treasurer
Melissa Conyears-Ervin and Ameya Pawar advanced to a runoff. They defeated Peter Gariepy in the general election for Chicago City Treasurer on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Melissa Conyears-Ervin (Nonpartisan) | 44.3 | 225,385 |
| ✔ | | Ameya Pawar (Nonpartisan) | 41.6 | 211,759 |
 | Peter Gariepy (Nonpartisan) | 14.2 | 72,068 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 4 | ||
| Total votes: 509,216 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Richard Mayers (Nonpartisan)
2018
See also: Municipal elections in Cook County, Illinois (2018)
General election
General election for Cook County Treasurer
Incumbent Maria Pappas won election in the general election for Cook County Treasurer on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Maria Pappas (D) | 99.3 | 1,447,145 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 10,780 | ||
| Total votes: 1,457,925 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Cook County Treasurer
Incumbent Maria Pappas defeated Peter Gariepy in the Democratic primary for Cook County Treasurer on March 20, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Maria Pappas | 82.3 | 579,453 | |
| Peter Gariepy | 17.7 | 124,742 | |
| Total votes: 704,195 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Peter Gariepy completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gariepy's responses.
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
For the six members of the Chicago Board of Education, to ensure maximum representation from stakeholders, I would like to see two members chosen by the Chicago Teachers Union, two chosen by the mayor and confirmed by the city council, and two elected by the voting public.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
Tragically, home is not a consistently dependable refuge for every child. For every student to experience and view school as a sanctuary, public school buildings in high-risk communities should receive taxpayer dollars to remain open and secure twenty-four hours a day with social workers and security personnel on hand so that children will always have a dependable, safe option. A similar idea was proposed by the U.S.Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Before departing office in March 2017, Zachary Fardon drafted a letter to his staff about the challenges, opportunities, and experiences encountered during his time as the Obama Administration’s U.S. Attorney in Chicago from October 23, 2013, to March 13, 2017. In his letter, Fardon suggested neighborhood safe havens for Chicago’s youth at the highest risk of committing or being victimized by gang-related violence, urging the city to: “[C]reate new youth pathway centers, in the handful of most afflicted neighborhoods, that are not subject to the shifting winds of politics and government. The kids in our hardest hit neighborhoods are gang affiliating as young as 10, 11, 12 years old. Once that’s happened, it’s too late; their fate is sealed.” Mr. Fardon further laid out the importance of a safe haven for youth in at-risk neighborhoods: “To do that, we should have a brick and mortar place, in each afflicted neighborhood, that is base, the home, the epicenter to that effort. No different than combining our federal law enforcement resources makes sense, combining our social services resources to maximize impact in these neighborhoods makes sense. There are smart and passionate social services workers out there right now, every day, trying to help. But no different than our police, systemic deficiencies are making it impossible for them to succeed. Brick and mortar. Create a place. Call it anything. Fund it with federal, state, or philanthropic funds, or some combination. But do not continue this madness of annualized state or federal grant funding to where all these not-for-profits have time to do is fight for those peanuts, compete with each other and hope to survive. That serves no one. There is plenty of money and good will in this town. And there are millions of federal dollars spent across this town every year. So let’s find that money and put it to use by creating youth centers, brick and mortar, funding social workers and experts, and intervening to save the lives of kids and young adults.” Children, particularly those in at-risk situations, deserve a safety net, a place of refuge at which they can always find shelter and security. No child is born broken or bad. No child deserves to feel scared or pressured into making an uncomfortable choice because it is their least worst option. Brick-and-mortar locations that are well resourced, thoughtfully designed, and strategically located could make the difference for a child who otherwise might not be able to escape the pressure or solitude that leads to a destructive decision. As taxpayers, we should fund daring and groundbreaking efforts to uphold and advance the principles of justice and equality upon which our nation was founded. All of our children deserve to have everything they need to grow up and offer society their best, and it is long overdue for we taxpayers to demand whatever we need to confidently provide the financial resources to support the minds most at-risk within our future generations.
Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
While this step will not cure Chicago’s political environment of all corruption, one of the most important steps that can be taken is ending Aldermanic prerogative for affordable housing decisions, and giving authority to the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, which is better positioned to make decisions that affect the city’s stock and location of affordable housing units.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
If elected City Treasurer of Chicago, I will utilize city funds eligible for investment, particularly the Chicago Community Catalyst Fund, to support the availability of affordable housing in the areas of our city where Chicagoans are at higher risk of homelessness, violence and or substance abuse. For underserved Chicagoans to have the best chance at thriving in our city, an affordable place to live cannot be the end goal; those in a position to drive decisions via the investment of public dollars, such as the City Treasurer’s office, must demand more. In March 2018, UCLA published a study that examined Oakland, California’s Fruitvale Village as a real estate development that has preserved affordability, community, and culture within a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. Fruitvale Village is a transit-oriented development with affordable housing, medical services, a public library, an early childhood education center, a senior center, and retail. Affordable housing alone is not enough. An affordable place to live must be thoughtfully coupled with the support services and amenities people need to thrive, not just survive. Proximity to social services, healthy and affordable food, reliable public transportation, medical care and room for recreation are indispensable to the chance of success for an individual or family who already faces a mountain of challenges. The component of community and the proximity to necessary amenities cannot be overlooked or undervalued when investing public dollars in developments aimed at Chicagoans in need of an opportunity to thrive, not just survive. Chicago must advance a similar approach for the sake of vulnerable residents, and the City Treasurer’s office must have a leader who is looking for realistically feasible solutions that better serve at-risk Chicagoans while generating value for taxpayers.
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
As city treasurer, I will partner with private funds, which can amplify the impact of dollars invested by thoughtfully embracing investments in Opportunity Funds that fall within Chicago’s approximately 130 Opportunity Zones. Created by 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Opportunity Funds allow investors to defer an unrealized capital gain for a tiered amount of time if the unrealized gain from a previous investment is put into a fund that supports an under-resourced geographic area designated by each state’s governor as being in need of investment. By combining taxpayer-funded investments from the city treasurer’s office with private dollars, we will mitigate investment risk to taxpayers while supporting the creation of a tangible economic benefit for Chicago neighborhoods hungry for investment. New Market Tax Credits will remain an essential tool to incentivize private investment in Chicago communities in need of investment. Part of 2000’s Community Renewal Tax Relief Act, the New Market Tax Credit program offers a federal tax credit for investments in businesses and real estate development within financially distressed communities. These credits represent another proven avenue for the treasurer’s office to partner with private investors to invest Chicago’s money where Chicago needs it most.
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
Treasurer Summers took steps to invest Chicago's dollars in Chicago when he deposited $20 million into Chicago's last black-owned bank, Illinois Service Federal, since renamed GN Bank. Under my leadership, the treasurer's office will continue to deposit funds in financial institutions that invest in communities most in need of financial support. To be among the depositories considered, institutions must have a Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rating of "satisfactory" or "outstanding." The treasurer’s office will follow best practices set forth by the Government Finance Officers Association by performing a quarterly bank review of all current and potential banking institutions to ensure that those banks and credit unions in which Chicago has invested, are regularly investing in Chicagoans across the socioeconomic spectrum.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
By virtue of the office, the city treasurer is the only elected official to serve on the board member of the four city pension funds (Municipal Employees, Laborers, Firefighters, and Police Officers), my foremost duty is to the taxpayers who are legally and morally responsible for the $1 billion annual pension payment needed to meet actuarial projections that will balloon to $2.13 billion by 2023. Thus, it is in the interest of the city pensioners whose livelihoods depend on their respective fund’s performance and the taxpayers whose taxes will be impacted by any underperformance of the funds, for each of the four funds to pursue low-cost investments with little-expected volatility, while exploring opportunities for cost aggregation among common services required by more than one fund when appropriate. Additionally, I would move the Municipal Employees’ Pension Fund to add a board seat for a retiree representative. Currently, the Municipal Employees’ Pension Fund is the only one of the four city pension funds without a board member elected by the fund’s retirees. As the largest of the city pension funds, it is imperative that the fund’s retirees have a seat at the table. As far as pursuing investments that protect taxpayers from exposure to risky investments and respects the principles of our city, I will maintain Chicago’s commitment to the United Nation’s Six Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) because the pursuit of a financial return and an investment’s positive non-financial impact are not mutually exclusive goals. Among the PRI’s objectives is that annual financial reports integrate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) metrics, standardized and set by tools such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). I believe an organization’s bottom line and long-term viability is directly related to its impact on issues such as climate change, human rights, and corruption; thus the standardized disclosure of an entity’s efforts on those fronts is necessary to assessing and projecting performance. Under the leadership of current Treasurer Summers, the city’s portfolio has grown from $48 million to $109 million while reaching ESG milestones that surpass the average of all other investors measured by the same ESG portfolio scoring system. I will continue to hold Chicago’s investments to the same high standards for positive social and environmental concern.
What’s your opinion on tax increment financing (a program that funds development using any additional property tax revenue that results from an increase in appraised property values)? What, if any, changes would you make to the use of TIF?
As recently as 2017, Chicago TIFs absorbed a record $660 million of taxpayer dollars from the city’s 143 TIF districts. I would like to see the TIF formula revised to send one third to CPS, one third to the city’s pension debt and one third into the respective TIF. While an additional $220 million will not solve every challenge face CPS, it is an excellent place to start without raising taxes in what is already an unjust system of local taxation. My idea for TIF reform draws inspiration from the Transit TIF that the Chicago City Council enacted in 2016. The Transit TIF sends half of his funds to Chicago Public Schools, 40% to the TIF’s transit project and the remaining 10% to other taxing districts. With the pension deficit and public education among Chicago’s most pressing responsibilities, I would like to see each receive an equal share of every TIF dollar, in addition to its annually budgeted appropriation.
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
Chicago’s precarious financial situation will require both greater revenue and savings to maintain the current level of public services in the presence of ballooning pension commitments. Among the exploration of a local and progressively tiered income tax and TIF reform, Chicago should pursue savings in other areas. For example, in September 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a law that states not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois do not have to pay property taxes as long as the value of their charitable services is at least equal to what they would otherwise pay in taxes. While I disagree with cuts to CPS that can compromise the medical well-being of students, as a way to alleviate some of the shortage of available medical care available to CPS students, I would like to see those not-for-profit hospitals who are not paying property taxes commit funds and personnel to those CPS schools most in need of an onsite medical professional that CPS could otherwise not afford for that particular school. In fact, on December 5, 2018, CPS officials requested the Chicago Board of Education to allot $26 million to contract with a private nursing agency to address the shortfall of nurses in Chicago Public Schools for January 2019 through June 2021.
Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
Yes, low-income households should receive cover from rising property taxes. The problem is that home value does not always rise and fall in accordance with one’s income. In our current approach to local taxation, the theory is that as the value of a person’s home rises so does their income. In neighborhoods experiencing rapid gentrification, longtime residents who made the area attractive to developers and wealthier prospective residents are priced out through their property taxes. If the value of your home raises your tax bill faster than your income grows, you’ll be priced out despite well-intentioned property tax exemptions. To adequately and fairly fund local coffers, a local income tax should replace residential property taxes, while commercial property taxes should remain. After all, a property’s assessed value is a poor way of determining the ability of a taxpayer to fund local services. I support the Illinois General Assembly investigating a progressively tiered income tax applied to all income earned at the county level for those earning above a certain threshold. That local income tax must accompany a reduced reliance on property taxes to minimize the impact of extraordinarily high property taxes on those of modest means and on landlords who pass along rising property taxes to tenants in the form on increased rents. A local tax driven by income, rather than assessed property value, will yield a more equitable system of funding our local services and amenities.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
Qualification matters. Putting qualified people with strong core beliefs is how progress is not only achieved, but how it is maintained. The Chicago City Treasurer's office is responsible for overseeing the city's $8 billion investment portfolio, and representing both taxpayers and pensioners on the board of Chicago's four pension funds. Any missteps by the treasurer could cost taxpayers a great deal of money, which is why it is essential to make sure the office is led by a licensed financial professional. Is there anything you would like to add? As a CPA, I am running for Chicago City Treasurer to ensure that taxpayers have a professional, rather than a politician, overseeing the investment of the City’s tax dollars and the solvency of the underfunded pensions that are positioned to drive up property taxes and make Chicago less financially welcoming for all who seek to make their home in our world-class city. |
” |
| —Peter Gariepy[3] | ||
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Peter Gariepy, "About," accessed February 11, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on January 14, 2019
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