Here is an invitation from McHenry County Board member Nick Provenzano for a fundraiser at Plum Garden on February 8th.The price is $40 and the event runs from 5-7.
February 8th is the date for Nick Provenzano’s Plum Garden fundraiser.
Nick Provenzano Sets Fundraiser for Chinese New Year
To my recollection, nick has been on MCBOT for many years when valley hi levy routinely approved.
Why didn’t nick ever object to valley hi levy given it was accumulating 40 million dollars in reserves.
Why hasn’t this Joe Walsh conservative loyalist led the charge in not only stopping this theft of taxpayer monies but implementing a plan to return these funds to their rightful owner.
Joe Walsh at republican county event the other night said we all need to get angry and right these wrongs.
I would think this rule applies to Joe Walsh soldiers as well.
Nick will you be getting angry and right this wrong?
The first step in honest and good government begins with cleaning up our own corner of the world.
I agree. We need County Board members who have shown a continued pattern of voting down waste.
REGARDLESS of party..
We need to hold every official accountable.
David,
Thanks for comments.
I commend both you and Cynthia for using your real names.
A few things I would mention, To get anything passed we need thirteen like minded board members – that’s gotten much easier recently with the addition of my good friends and fellow conservatives (Wheeler, Gasser, Kurtz, Evertsen).
For years it was just Hammerand, Ersel and myself.
During the last few years, we were only marginally successful in “tapping the breaks” on Valley Hi levy – mainly because the board was too cautious (cuts in state reimbursements, Obamacare etc).
Not what we wanted but what we could get passed.
This last year the consensus was reducing the levy by $250,000.
We were thwarted on several attempts to get that meager amount cut and that’s when I led the charge with Wheeler at finance and still got voted down by Skala, McCann, Heisler and Smith.
It wasn’t until the day of the full board budget/levy vote on the board floor that we got some traction.
Skala wanted to kill even the modest $275k in levy reduction and try to do it another time in the future.
I WAS THE BOARD MEMBER THAT LED THAT FIGHT, MADE THE MOTION AND BUILT CONSENSUS TO DROP THE LEVY AS FAR AS WE COULD GO!!.
AND DEMANDED WE VOTE THAT DAY TO CUT THE $3M!!
Keep in mind the levy is like a faucet, the lowest level is off not negative numbers.
At the time I called that a good start because now we need to move forward with the reduction of the reserves.
That’s where it get’s complicated.
Because it was referendum based we can’t use it to pay other expenses (thereby reducing other levies).
I’m working with staff to identify options to either refund, abate etc a large portion of the reserves.
Several years ago we were blasted by the press for “loosing” money at Valley Hi.
I appreciate that we needed to improve some personnel issues and become more efficient out there but caring for poor seniors can’t be a profit center or even a break-even proposition.
The board went too far with the bed mix and today at Valley Hi we have pretty much turned it into a home for private pay and the more lucrative Medicare rehab patients.
The number of beds dedicated to poor people on Medicaid have been reduces dramatically.
That’s a major shift in objective.
I don’t want Valley Hi competing with the private sector nursing homes.
Now that the board has shifted the bed mix to look like The Fountains or The Garlands, we should go back to the voters and have another referendum.
In case you did not make the county board candidate debate, here’s my Opening and Closing comments:
Since my first day as a County Board member I have strived to be the voice of taxpayers who are demanding lower taxes and smaller, less intrusive government.
My guiding principles have been a demand for respect for residents and their hard-earned tax dollars.
I have worked to be their fiscal watchdog because I understand that it is their money that government is spending.
That is why I successfully led the fight to keep the County taxes flat for three years in a row.
This year I led the effort to CUT the County taxes by $3 million.
All together that’s more than $14 million in tax relief through experienced, proven leadership working for the taxpayers of McHenry County.
I also voted against pay raises for county elected officials and government employess.
I will continue to hold the line on spending, reduce redundancies, and streamline inefficiencies to ensure we are spending every dollar wisely.
I believe the best government is the smallest, most efficient government that lives within its means and isn’t burdensome to families and businesses.
I want to continue to be the voice of taxpayers who are demanding lower taxes and smaller, less intrusive government.
Transparency and accountability are absolutely paramount in the operation of good government.
I strongly support the notion that everything in government belongs to the taxpayers and with very limited exceptions information should be PROACTIVELY RELEASED to the public.
Which led me to take the charge to unseal two secret internal audits that revealed close to ½ million dollars in misappropriation by two county employees.
Through my leadership, the county board finally got the opportunity to vote to unseal and publicly release those audits.
I ushered in the first ever ethics ordinance in McHenry County and supported the Whistle Blower Ordinance.
I led the effort for direct elections of the County Board Chairman, the fight for live streaming of Board meetings, and voted to open the books on County Board Member expense accounts.
Simply wont support a candidate who likes Chinese food.
In the interest of so-called transparency, Nick, do you not earn about $80,000 of taxpayer dollars working for Randy Hultgren?
In addition you are raking in close to another $40,000 of taxpayer dollars with your little County office.
Your little speech makes it appear we do not need the other 23 Board members because by golly, you do it all!!!
Nick:
Should the county operate its own nursing home?
Why or why not?
Why not shut it down?
Nick can be controversial.
However, he is consistently among the most well informed and diligent board members.