An article has been published by the Metropolitan Planning Council about cemetery districts:
Behind the Numbers: Saving money on cemetery districts
Written by Sean Wiley, M.P.P. candidate, University of Chicago Harris School, it somehow missed the at least the Nunda Township Cemetery Districts. ( I guess that’s because it is not listed on the State Comptroller’s web site. I had trouble with the link. If you do and want more information, start here and type in “cemetery.”)
Holcombville Cemetery on Crystal Springs Road in Nunda Township.
The author suggests consolidating “into other cemetery districts or governing bodies to become a more efficient public good.”
A bill passed by State Rep. Jack Franks, widely-touted, but of little consequence would allow the two cemetery districts in McHenry County to be absorbed by their parent township governments.
There were a couple of sentences that I found of interest, but from the viewpoint of my suggestion of helping pay for Lakewood’s RedTail Golf Course operating and desired deferred capital expenses:
The main cost savings from consolidation comes from the sharing of capital assets and labor costs.
Maintaining the grounds is the main task of a cemetery district, and it requires expensive machinery.
Districts will pay less money when they share those assets.
The Lakewood golf course, probably has the needed machinery already, except for maybe a back hoe.
“The Lakewood golf course, probably has the needed machinery already, except for maybe a back hoe.”
Come on, Cal, have you played Redtail lately?
Maintaining a cemetery like that is no way to show respect for the dead.
I admit to having never played RedTail.
The two most likely possibilities as to why the Nunda Township Cemetery District is not in the Illinois Comptroller Data Ware are:
1. The Comptroller’s office made a mistake and for some reason the cemetery district is not on their radar; or
2. The cemetery district is component of another taxing district such as Nunda Township or the county, and thus the cemetery districts financials are rolled up into that parent district.
The Cemetery District is listed in the McHenry County Treasurer’s Tax Distribution Reports / Settlement Sheets.
https://www.co.mchenry.il.us/county-government/departments-j-z/treasurer/distribution-reports
https://www.co.mchenry.il.us/home/showdocument?id=50328
The Illinois Department of Revenue has an ID for the Cemetery District (0565190012).
Once again, the focus needs to be on Pensions, not townships or cemetery districts.
And the focus on pensions needs to be to repeal in its entirety via state constitutional amendment the pension sentence added to the Illinois State Constitution on December 15, 1970.
“Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
The first step is to educate voters on why the sentence should be repealed.
The second step is to pass a House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment (HJRCA) or Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment (SJRCA) which the Governor signs.
Then voters approve the amendment in an election.
Then we can start clawing back hiked pension and retiree healthcare benefits which were passed while pension were already underfunded, a legislative and Governor failure to represent the taxpayers and the State of Illinois, rather putting their political careers and special interest groups first, the biggest which is public sector unions.
It appears as if Nunda Township Cemetery is already part of Nunda Township government, whereas Richmond Township Cemetery is not already part of Richmond Township government.
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Nunda Township has a cemetery fund in its financial records.
http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ProcessSearchResults.cfm?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Fund%20Listing%20and%20Account%20Groups&Code=063/140/01&CFY=2014&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No
From the URL above, Nunda Township Cemetery Expenditures were $29,522 in fiscal year 2013 and $19,404 in FY 2014.
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As stated in the blog article the Nunda Township Cemetery District does not appear when doing a search in the Comptroller Data Warehouse (type in Nunda at the below URL).
http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/
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The Nunda Township Cemetery Tax Levy Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2016 is $19,762.
http://www.nundatownship.com/supervisor/PDFs/2015%20Levy%20Proposals.pdf
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Richmond Township, on the other hand, does not have a Cemetery Fund in its financial records.
http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ProcessSearchResults.cfm?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Fund%20Listing%20and%20Account%20Groups&Code=063/150/01&CFY=2015&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No
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The Richmond Township Cemetery District does appear when doing a search in the Comptroller Data Warehouse (type in Richmond at the below URL).
http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com
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Richmond Township:
Revenues – FY 2013 –
Property Tax – $24,487
State Replacement Tax – $577
Charges for other Services – $12,180
Total Revenues – $37,244
http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ProcessSearchResults.cfm?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Revenues&Code=063/010/04&CFY=2014&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No
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The Comptroller Data Warehouse is nice, but it’s “dumb” data that needs to be cute and pasted into a spreadsheet to perform data analysis.
Another transparency failure of Illinois Government.
All data in the Comptroller Data Warehouse should be downloadable into a spreadsheet.
I attended a Nunda Township Board meeting when a trustee was appointed to the Cemetery District.
Mark, we really need to talk you into running for something.
The solution is easy.
Nunda has the option of turning the cemeteries over to McHenry County.
They can then eliminate the Cemetery District, and the taxes collected to support it.
The county already collects taxed to care for cemeteries which have been abandoned.
This is established Illinois Law.