McHenry County Blog

From Provena's web page.

A decision by the Illinois Supreme Court striping Urbana’s Provena Covenant Medical Centerl’s not-for-profit real estate tax exemption will reverberate across the state. Thanks to Capital Fax Blog for alerting me to the case.

Folks in Cook County have already been eying taxing hospitals. The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago filed a brief in support of ending the exemption.

This case may mean that any Board of Review can impose taxes on a hospital by removing its charitable exemption, if the Illinois Department of Revenue agrees.

Elgin’s Provena St. Joseph Hospital is part of the four-facility Catholic Church ownership group.

2nd Appellate Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas concurred with the opinion.

The property tax bill in question amounted to $1.1 million.

Below is the reaction of the hospital to the decision:

Provena Covenant Officials Comment on High Court Ruling
03/18/2010Officials at Urbana-based Provena Covenant today released the following statement regarding an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that denied the Catholic hospital ministry exemption from paying property taxes:

“We are deeply disappointed that the Illinois Supreme Court has denied the property tax exemption of Provena Covenant Medical Center,” said Jon “Cody” Sokolski, Chair of the Board of Provena Covenant Medical Center.

“Provena Covenant Medical Center cares for all in our community who need our health services regardless of their ability to pay. Throughout this controversy, we continued to demonstrate that enduring commitment to Urbana-Champaign. In 2008, we provided more than $38 million in free care and other community benefits. Our goal is to carry on in our charitable works, despite the fact that this ruling restricts our ability to do so.”

David Bertauski, President and CEO of Provena Covenant, added,

“We are deeply grateful to those who support us, especially our dedicated employees who selflessly bring compassionate, faith-based care to our patients each and every day.

“We can only hope this troubling ruling prompts a dialogue among hospitals and elected officials to dialogue about not only how we define charity care but also how we better ensure that the people who need financial assistance get it. We will work to lead the way.”

In reading the decision, one deciding factor seems to be

“its funds are not derived mainly from private and public charity and held in trust for the purposes expressed in the charter. They are generated, overwhelmingly, by providing medical services for a fee.”

Another deciding factor was Provena

“likewise failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that it satisfied factors three or five, namely, that it dispensed charity to all who needed it and applied for it and did not appear to place any obstacles in the way of those who needed and would have availed themselves of the charitable benefits it dispenses.”

This part of the decision seems important:

“While Illinois law has never required that there be a direct, dollar-for-dollar correlation between the value of the tax exemption and the value of the goods or services provided by the charity, it is a sine qua non of charitable status that those seeking a charitable exemption be able to demonstrate that their activities will help alleviate some financial burden incurred by the affected taxing bodies in performing their governmental functions.”

In a dissent by Justice Ann Burke, she wrote,

“By imposing a quantum of care requirement and monetary threshold, the plurality is injecting itself into matters best left to the legislature.

“The legislature did not set forth a monetary threshold for evaluating charitable use. We may not annex new provisions or add conditions to the language of a statute.”

The wife of Chicago Alderman Ed Burke is, of course, a Democrat.

She “also disagree(d) with the plurality’s conclusion that Provena Hospitals was ‘required to demonstrate that its use of the property helped alleviate the financial burdens faced by the county or at least one of the other entities supported by the county’s taxpayers.’”

Two women appointed by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Miller, Appellate Court Justices Ann Jorgensen and Mary Schostok, carried the day Tuesday.

Below you see the preliminary results of the judicial district that sprawls across northern Illinois from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.

Jorgensen beat out former DuPage County Judge Kenneth Moy by a margin of 2-1.  Schostok’s race was significantly closer.  She defeated McHenry County attorney Donna Kelly 54% to 46%.

Name Party Votes Vote % Jorgensen , Ann GOP 153,996 67% Moy , Kenneth GOP 76,836 33%

Name Party Votes Vote % Schostok , Mary GOP 118,573 54% Kelly , Donna GOP 102,588 46%

Kenneth Moy's third mailing.

Moy sent out at least three large postcard mailers.

The back of Kenneth Moy's third mailing.

Jorgensen countered with one.  Click to enlarge any image.

Justice Ann Jorgensen's only mailing. She won 2-1.

Jorgensen used a comparison approach based on bar association members’ evaluations of the two candidates.

On the back of her comparison piece, Justice Ann Jorgensen listed her endorsements. The one from the Chicago Tribune was even more impressive than the quote she used. The Tribune suggested people should not be surprised to see her serve on the Illinois Supreme Court in the future. The photo does not do her justice. I guess her advisers wanted her to look "judicially serious."

In the second contest, Schostok was pitted against McHenry County attorney Donna Kelly.

Kelly carried McHenry County 11,751 to 10,198. She received 53.5% of the vote, giving her a leg up as a proven vote getter for the next local judgeship.

I saw yard signs for Kelly, but no mailing or literature.

The only candidates that I have seen campaigning for the 2nd Appellate Court were endorsed today by the Chicago Tribune.

Mary Schostok, who held a fund raiser in Crystal Lake Thursday night, and Ann Jorgensen, who was Schostok’s “special guest” at the event, were given the nod by the leading paper in Illinois.

Jorgensen was even mentioned as a possibility to succeed Bob Thomas on the Illinois Supreme Court.

And, the endorsement came complete with color photographs. That doesn’t happen that often.

Meanwhile, Jorgensen opponent Kenneth Moy mailed out an 8½ by 11 inch post card this past week, which you see below. Click to enlarge any image.

Running a very low key campaign against Schostok is McHenry attorney Donna Kelly. I am told she is a very talented lawyer with a resume that portends future judicial campaigns likely to have more success than this one.

Freshman State Senator Dan Duffy, a businessman from Lake Barrington in Lake County, was touted for governor in Chicago Sun-Times columnist Steven Huntley’s column yesterday.

In an piece entitled,

Duffy’s name pops up in the middle of the column, right after the self-dismissals of

• Illinois Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas,
• Bush HUD Secretary Steve Preston (who?),
• Chicago equity fund chairman Bruce Rauner,
• Congressmen Mark Kirk and
• Peter Roskam, and
• U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Here’s what Huntley wrote:

“State Sen. Dan Duffy of Barrington, a Legislative newcomer, impresses many in the party. He acknowledges hearing suggestions he run, but no one in the party leadership has approached him.

“The party is now evaluating a lot of people and that’s a good thing,” he says. “If party leaders aid, ‘You’re that person,’ I’d have to have a serious conversation with my family and find out if this is the right time for me. Bit we’re not there yet.”

“A jump from newly minted legislator to governor in just two years would be quite a challenge.”

The column continues with former candidates for governor, State Senator Bill Brady, who ran third in the 2006 gubernatorial primary, Ron Gidwitz (4th) and Jim Oberweis, who ran second.

DuPage County Board Republicans, Chairman Bob Schillerstrom and State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, they of the tripling of the RTA sales tax.

Doug Whitley is also mentioned…more favorably than others actively seeking the office.