The continuing contentious relationship between McHenry Township Highway Commissioner Jim Condon and the majority of the Township Trustees peaked at the last meeting.
In Public Comment, Condon went on the offensive charging that Trustee Steve Verr had made an offensive hand mortion to a Highway Department crew.
Verr hotly conested the charge saying that he never used the finger.
In the interchange, Verr learned that Condon had prepared three affidavits for his employees and they had been notarized by a township employee.
That was just part of the preliminaries, which included a Public Comment from Robert Beltran contending that the Board could “reduce the budget, but can’t release the levy.”
That led up to the main event–consideration of the Road District tax levy.
Verr led off with
“The only way to control funding is to cut governmnt funding.
“They’ve got to be cuts.
“That’s our motto, ‘Doing More with Less.'”
He recommend a 30% cut in the Hard Road Fund and a million dollar cut in the Road and Bridge Fund.
The question of whether the Township Board has the authority to reduce the levy brought the following statements from Verr:
“If the Township Road Commissioner doesn’t think he needs to come to us, he can just file it himself.
“If the Township Board has the authority to approve [the tax levy], it has the abililty to disapprove.”
The minority Republican member on the Board, Stan Wojewski, pointed out that the $3 million levy had not been raised in four years and suggested a 5% reduction of $150,000.
Trustee Bob Anderson said he thought “the Road District is overstaffed.”
He pointed to drainage work done by the Department in the Village of McCullum Lake that was a “freebie.”
Verr suggestest taking the Hard Road Fund down from $1.5 million to $995,000 and the Road and Bridge Fund from $1.5 million to $1.1 million.
He noted that because of excessive reserve funds, the Road District had been successfully sued for overaccumulation in a tax proitest suit.
“This accumlation of funds leads to bloat, all kinds of makework projects.”
Verr wondered if Condon was getting money from other townships as a consultant, just as former Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Bob Miller was hired as a consultant by Condon.
Inquiry was made of Condon as to the state of his reserves.
“Six months, two months ago,” he replied.
Wojewski moved that the levy be cut by “5% across the board.”
The motion failed on a 1-3, with Verr, Anderson and Mike Rakestraw voting in opposition.
“If he wants zero, OK,” Verr commented.
It was noted that a line on the levy form called for the Highway Commissioner’s signature.
“If he [Condon] won’t sign it [the levy], it’s up to him.
“Then he can file his own levy.”
The Board passed a levy 3-1 which contained
- $995 for the Hard Road Fund
- $1.1 million for the Road and Bridge Fund
Condon refused to sign the paperwork.
= = = = =
Tomorrow read an article on a court suit filed by Condon.
That levy meeting was the most idiotic I’ve seen.
Who uses a reverse auction to set a budget?
Up. Down. Down. Up.
✌️😎
The motto:
Doing more (damage) with less (brains).
Seems like Verr should be governor.
If you want to cut government spending, cut funding.
The board did just that.
What will JB cut? This township argument isn’t even peanuts.
Illinois’ current budget started out at a deficit, hoped for a tax increase that was rejected and counted on a federal bail-out that never came. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s best fix is pension reform.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is looking for $700 million in budget cuts as a budget deficit of $3.9 billion looms.
Pritzker said Dec. 15 he is looking at closing prisons and cutting public safety, unpaid furlough days for state workers, delaying a promised raise for community care workers, freezing or cutting 5% from economic grants, halting vehicle purchases and a litany of other cuts. He is negotiating $75 million in personnel cuts with AFSCME Council 31 and other state employee unions.
“I promised to be a governor who balances the budget and begins paying down the bills that my predecessor left behind,” he said. “And despite all the current challenges, I am confident we will continue our ascent to economic strength and fiscal stability.”
Pritzker also just borrowed another $2 billion from the Municipal Liquidity Facility, the Federal Reserve’s lender of last resort. Pritzker in June borrowed $1.2 billion from the same source at nearly 4% interest and with a one-year repayment schedule, becoming the first state to do so after Illinois failed to sell the bonds on the open market. Illinois’ credit rating is the nation’s lowest, at just a notch above junk status.
Pritzker’s negotiation seeking $75 million from AFSCME and other unions comes eight months after he choose not to delay $261 million in raises for the union’s workers amid soaring unemployment as his COVID-19 mandates shut down the Illinois economy. Other Democratic governors at the time were seeking concessions or furloughing their state workers to deal with revenue declines.
Pritzker said about half of the deficit is thanks to COVID-19 damage to state revenue, but he blamed the other half on voters’ rejection Nov. 3 of his “fair tax.”
“The best way to fix our structural problems is to fix our unfair tax system,” Pritzker said.
In reality, the best way to fix the state’s structural problems is not by taxing residents more, but to reform its largest cost driver – the one that continues to grow regardless of how much of the state budget it eats: government worker pensions.
Pensions will consume $11.6 billion in fiscal year 2021, or 28.5% of the state budget. Still, Illinois has the nation’s worst pension debt at $144.4 billion in 2020 by its own accounting, but possibly more like $261 billion by estimates using more realistic assumptions about investment returns.
Illinois spends more than any other state on pensions and only has about 40% of what it needs to meet its obligations. Illinois would either need to spend more than half of the state budget on pensions or raise taxes on the median income family by over $1,800 a year to eliminate its pension debt.
The more pension spending grows, the more other state services suffer.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/pritzker-calls-for-700m-in-service-cuts-silent-on-pension-reform/
With this budget, who ever wins the spring election will have to decide on a couple options.
Do normal road repair and don’t do any snow plowing, or let the roads go back to gravel and get the graders with V plows and wings do the snow removal.
Once tax payers receive services at a certain level, it’s really a tough thing to cut back on.
These dudes so ready to cut the budget should be in the office next winter answering phone calls.
People don’t mind paying for roads that are black all year round and safe enough to drive 10 over on.
Fact!
Can someone remind me how many miles of road McHenry Twp maintains?
Maybe if the Twp roads are not plowed this winter but city roads are, residents will finally figure out how little the Twp. maintains.
Nob knows it,
The county’s three stooges are McHenry Township psychopath Trustees Bob Anderson, Steve Verrs, tax deadbeat Mike Rakestraw.
They tried to wreck the township when they illegally cut the tax levies for the Road Dist and Township.
When people die from poor roads (can’t get to Hospital due to snow pileups not plowed), have malnourished kids because the general assistance levy got cut, isolated, suicidal and depressed seniors because of cut funding for senior center, people dying because they couldn’t get transport to kidney dialsus care and other medical apointments because the free bus service was destroyed.
These rats only care about themselves and cost us so much more than the microscopic taxes they say they cut,
They should be charged with public malfeasance and selfishnesh.
Anderson is like Ahab in Mobey Dick, crazy old geezer on a crazy mission to kill a whale that’s just trying to live, putting everybody in danger and in the end killing everybody.
Should be fool Steve Verr above.
Joot, McHenry township has over 100 miles of roads more than many of the municipalities.
Townships 4ever needs to take a course in accounting with a review of basic math.
Democrats love to add, but fail miserably at subtraction when it comes to spending someone else’s money.
Nob doesn’t know what he’s yammering about.
McHenry Township only has 49 miles of roads.
The Road Commissioner Condom counts ‘lane miles’.
A mile stretch of road counts as 2 miles because it’s 2 lanes.
He counts turning lanes as an extra lane, too.
McHenry (City) is in the process of annexing another 27 miles of the township’s road so that will be in in 2021.
Condom has been rounding up non dedicated private roads at taxpayer expense to try and bloat out his road miles and buy votes from people who in the past had to bring their roads up to county standards.
Condon’s house was in foreclosure awhile back, bankruptcies, but he’s in charge of a $4 million!
Bankrupts should not be allowed to have access of public funds under any circumstances!
per the website “The McHenry Township Road District provides maintenance and reconstruction of approximately 145 miles of roads and adjacent right-of-way. We are dedicated to provide quality service to all of our residents and pride ourselves in Always Doing More For Less through procurement of grants, Intergovernmental Agreements, Motor Fuel Tax funds and our paving programs.”
p.s. per the Illinois Township Code the Township Board may not increase/decrease the Levy presented by the Road Commissioner.
The Board receives the notice of the Levy and the Township Clerk as the keeper of Road District records is responsible to report the Levy to the County.
The Township and the Road District are two separate legal entities with separate line items on your Tax Bill.
Really Chapman?
If that was true, why even have the board approve?
Crazy, but that’s what townships are.
Do you believe everything on a website, Chapman?
Biden Hunter, people will DIE if the road district isn’t funded enough.
Go after school districts.
Leave townships alone.
You’ll never get the great deal as good as townships.
Don’t be fooled by Anderson.
If townships were eliminated , our roads would become impassible.
Township roads would become the responsibility of McHenry County government, if a township were abolished, that is, consolidated into McHenry County government.
Townships 4ever sure sounds like Dan Aylward, he must be looking for job security for now & forever?
Grown men acting like they’re afraid of a 99%+ curable virus. SMH