A description of maintainance reduction is another element in the argument being advanced by the McHenry County Conservation District to convince the McHenry County Board that it should approve its budget and levy.
After this budget presentation was made, the rumor mill at the county building picked up that County Board Chairman Jack Franks wanted it cut 5% more.
Of course, Franks was skillful enough not to put that in writing.
Property taxpayers upset with high property taxes are probably not too happy that since FY 2008 the Conservation District has opened 7 new conservation areas with expanded trails and amenities at several existing sites and 3 new bicycle trails.
Some of the budget money probably came from state and Federal and possibly other grants, possibly some of which was matching funds.
In which case your state and/or federal tax dollars were used to fund the expansion.
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How easy would it to be to locate the costs associated with constructing and opening of those 7 new conservation areas.
One could submit a FOIA request for documents indicating such costs and sift through the results.
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The 7 member Conservation District Board of Trustees is appointed by the Chairman of the County Board with the consent of the County Board members to five year uncompensated terms.
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Once again it is nice to know over the savings achieved over the last several years, but how about the savings proposed for the upcoming fiscal year, over the last fiscal year?
Maybe that information is forthcoming.
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The collective bargaining agreements of the two bargaining units at the Conservation District were set to expire March 31, 2017.
What is the status of those negotiations?
How about furloughs or wage freezes?
The two bargaining units are:
– Conservation District Police, represented by FOP.
– Land & Facilities, represented by IUOE Local 150.
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County Board Chair Democrat Jack Franks never speaks out about obtaining concessions from organized labor.
He did call Republican Governor Bruce Rauner a union buster.
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In Illinois if the employer and labor union bargaining unit cannot reach a decision, either party can request the case can go to an appointed interest arbitrator who makes a decision on the final agreement.