From Lakewood Village Trustee Gene Furey:
Gene Furey
The process for managing the Village finances requires the following steps:
- Passage of a levy for the coming fiscal year.
- A series of Budget Workshops by the Village Board to review all revenues and every expenditure in detail.
- Final passage of the Budget before the end of the fiscal year.
So far, only one of the “Lakewood Tax Fighter” Board candidates has seen their way to attend these meetings.
Although their platform states their commitment to reduce taxes, they have shown no interest in Village finances.
Each was sent the Board agenda and Budget detail.
There is no reason to not attend…………except not caring.
The Village has always developed balanced budgets and are rightfully proud of our S&P AAA Bond Rating.
We have one of the lowest tax rates in our county and are prudent with our finances.
You have a choice. Vote for people who care enough to take this process seriously!
For Experience, Integrity and Vision, vote for John Schrauf and Gene Furey.
So people who are running to unseat trustees should turn out to hear the bloviating nonsense of the good old boys who refuse to cut budgets and levies?
I’d stay home too.
There is no participation, nothing to be learned, no input to me made from residents, nothing to be accomplished.
The ides that that any candidate being present would benefit the candidate or residents is absurd.
Just get the team across the finish line… Get elected… and once you take office.. *wait for it*………… AMEND THAT BUDGET!!!
I love how Smith, Furey, Santowski and the rest love to cite “the lowest municipal tax rate” smoke and mirrors… You never hear them talk about “the tax levy”…. The only thing causing Lakewood’s low tax rate is the higher valued homes!
Take the identical village, identical spending, identical taxing and replace the homes with those from surrounding LITH or Algonquin… That tax rate will suddenly be exponentially more.
Furey, Schrauf, Santowski and their Business as Usual ways… Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out guys!!
and thank you Mr. Furey for thinking of the residents safety and well being when you lobbied to do away with police officers in our village at night!
That was mighty thoughtful of you, to want to afford residents ZERO POLICE PRESENCE in the middle of the night and you’re bold enough to put in writing that you will use the cost savings from police salaries toward the design phase of the new village hall??
That’s what you call representing residents interests?
Lakewood Residents, and others, give this link a good look!
https://www.lakewoodtaxfighter.com/issues-police-pubic-safety
oh, and thank you trustee Furey, for putting Lakewood taxpayers on the hook for $9000 per child/per year for potentially hundreds of children!
When our property tax LEVY goes up by 50%, what will that do to our “low tax rate”?
This here is worth a read:
https://www.lakewoodtaxfighter.com/issues-property-tax-time-bomb
and, I would be remiss if I didn’t also take a minute to express our thanks for OPPOSING Lakewood’s Property Tax Referendum!
You, John Schrauf, Ken Santowski, Smith… ALL OPPOSING a resident initiative to have a say in property taxes??
Why??
And you wouldn’t even sign our petition to at least get it on the ballot so we could vote on it???
WHY????
Please Mr. Furey, and You too Mr. Schrauf… Just leave us alone!!
Any unsuspecting residents left… please be sure to read this: https://www.lakewoodtaxfighter.com/issues-property-taxes
Let’s critique this.
First, Mr. Furey says “There is no reason to not attend…………except not caring.”
This is flatly false. There are many good reasons not to attend: (a) Paul keeps them up to date; (b) they can find out what happened by reading the minutes; (c) they would have no effect on the outcome even if they attend.
These are just a few reasons. I could easily come up with more.
Now, either Mr. Furey knows this, which is evidence of his ethics, or he doesn’t know this, which is evidence of… Well, let’s just stop there.
But more important is that this issue is a red herring, an attempt to draw attention away from the most important reason for selecting ANY candidate.
And what is that most important reason?
It isn’t whether candidates attend meetings when they’re not on the board.
It’s whether or not you agree with the candidate’s position on the issues.
Mr. Furey believes in big government, even in a little town.
Paul and his running mates do not.
So, vote for Mr. Furey if you like big government, if you think our little town should be speculating in real estate with the taxpayers’ money, should be offering subsidies to any yahoo with a pie in the sky plan for a big project, and should build “sewer improvements” that flood Broadway and that place eight foot by eight foot stainless steel control boxes in someone’s (not his) front yard.
Vote for Mr. Furey if you want someone who tries to divert attention from the most important reason to vote for a candidate and who offers a flatly false interpretation of his opponent’s motives.
Or vote for the Lakewood Taxfighters if you think government should be smaller, taxes should be cut, and our little board should stick to the knitting: police, fire, road maintenance, decent snow removal, and a smaller budget and lower taxes.
@ Steve Wilson:
Noboby ever made more sense.
GOD BLESS.
“Tax Rate” is politician code for “We don’t want people talking about our budget and tax levy” …
Steve Willson said it perfectly!
Willson for Pres!
We WILL be voting for people who care enough to take this process seriously!
and you’re not on the list Furey! You’re the epitome of ‘business as usual’ and Lord knows, we don’t need or want that!
Applaud @ Applaud @ Applaud
Long live Queen Erin and her pipers!
Vote Serwatka
Drain that swamp!
By the way, Gene, the steps you describe may be the way YOU “manage” the Village’s finances, but it’s not the right way.
First, you don’t start with the levy.
The levy is the last step, the number you back into once you’ve determined how much you need to spend (need — not want) and how much revenue you have from all other sources.
Second, you don’t do a bunch of “budget workshops” managed by the Village staff.
Your job is to be a check on the bureaucracy, not their willing follower.
The proper way to do a budget is:
(a) Make a list of everything the Village does;
(b) Make a list of everything the Village SHOULD do;
(c) Get rid of everything that’s on the first list and not on the second;
(d) Spend the entire year reviewing all the things left on the list to see if they’re being done well, if there are better ways to do things, and if there are cheaper ways to do things.
If you follow those steps, the budget follows naturally from the work you’ve done throughout the year and because YOU, the trustees, did your own investigation instead of relying on the staff to spoon feed you, you have justifiable confidence in your outcomes.