DeKalb’s expenses are outpacing revenues: The city will spend at least $30 million from its general fund, a 5.4 percent increase from this fiscal year. The city’s general fund pays for city personnel, equipment, and contractual services. The city is projecting $31.1 million in revenue for fiscal 2014, a 4.2 percent increase from this fiscal…
Category: State Watch
DeKalb’s Website Transparency Mystery Solved
Just in time for Sunshine Week, I’ve re-scored the City of DeKalb’s website transparency score from scratch. Does it come anywhere near the Illinois Policy Institute’s score of 88.1 points? No. But at least I have found out why. Check out the scoring rubric, here. This is the one I used both in December 2010…
Something Odd About the Public Library Construction Grant Program
Because the local library applied for a state construction grant in 2012, I decided to read up on these grants. One result of the research is doubt that all the money from a new library grant “pot” has all gone to libraries — but I am having a difficult time finding out for sure. This…
DeKalb’s Daily Chronicle Trashes the Stop the Mega Dump Group
In “Time to Dump Landfill Protests,” the Chronicle lays out reasons for trashing the efforts of the little people. Reason 1: There’s nowhere else for the anti-landfill group to turn short of the Illinois Supreme Court, which might decline to hear the case. Stop the Mega Dump should quit because the Supremes might reject it?…
State Budget Crisis Task Force Report is Out
It’s a 69-page PDF file. I just got my hands on it and will read it this weekend. The New York Times published a story. So did the Chicago Trib, but the Times story is a bit “fuller.” I actually saw news of the report’s release first at The Stephenson Blumdoggle, so here’s a tip…
Trib’s Undeniable Indictment of Home Rule
Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune: “Towns Borrow, You Pay”. When the Trib covered the Rosemont story a few weeks ago, it looked at Home Rule but more tangentially. This time, the poster child is Bellwood and Home Rule, which gives municipalities free rein on borrowing and taxation, is front and center: The vast majority of states —…
Here’s an Interesting Change to the Open Meetings Act
Changes such as the addition of the right to speak during government meetings will take effect in 2013. (g) Any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials under the rules established and recorded by the public body. Looks like we’ll be allowed our three minutes apiece at all public meetings beginning next…
Mt. Vernon Residents to See Home Rule Question on November Ballot
When last we left our Mt. Vernon heroes, they had just presented a petition to have the question of revoking Home Rule put on the ballot in November. I was a little alarmed that the Mt. Vernon city council had planned to vet the petition. In DeKalb this would probably constitute the kiss of death,…
Home Rule and the Real Estate Transfer Tax
**Updated July 31 at end of post.** Believe it or not, there’s at least one limit to Illinois Home Rule! Here’s a post from the blog of the Illinois Association of Realtors: I was discussing a transaction in the home rule community of West Frankfort. “My client was surprised to learn at closing she had…
Mt. Vernon Group Presents Petition to Revoke Home Rule
Illinois communities automatically receive Home Rule powers when their populations reach 25,000. Mt. Vernon is not one of them because it’s too small (about Sycamore-sized). The city’s residents had to vote for Home Rule, and they reportedly did it in order to finance a sewer project in the 80s. So what’s the problem? According to…