Thanks to all our candidates and volunteers for their dedication in the DG Township elections. While we didn't win we informed voters about many issues and we will continue to hold the current officers feet to the fire. Watch this space for updates on our efforts to get the Downers Grove Township officers to do their jobs transparently and according to Illinois state law.
An Open Letter to the Current Downers Grove Township Elected Officials.
At the Township Meeting Thursday night March 19th the new illegally appointed Trustee Kathleen Abbate asked how the real estate tax levy is calculated. None of the sitting elected officials, who all happen to be Republicans and who have been in Downers Grove Township government for an average of 17 years, could answer her question. So Chris Hotchkin Democratic candidate for Trustee was kind enough to write this little primer explaining it for them.
How is a RE tax levy calculated?
A taxing body determines the amount of funds it needs to operate. This is it's levy. This levy amount is divided by the total assessed valuation of all the property in that body’s taxing district (in Downers Grove Township this is the property's actual value equalized by multiplying it by about .33). This determines the rate: levy/EAV. So, if the township needs to levy $4,000,000 and the total equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of all the property in the township is $8,000,000,000, the tax rate for the township would be .0005 or $.05 for every $100 of equalized assessed value of the property. This rate is added to the rates of other taxing bodies (school districts, county, village, library district) to create the aggregate property tax rate for a property owner.
In DuPage County our taxing bodies are subject to the tax cap. This means that the taxing body cannot increase its levy by more than 5% over the previous year or by more than the previous year’s cost of living increase, whichever is lower.
The question you have to ask yourself is why would you want to reelect Officials to the Township Government who after all these years don't even know how to figure out how they get most of their money?
The following is some background on Downers Grove Township, it's
government structure including it's elected body, the Downers Grove
Township Board and the duties it performs.
Township government
is grassroots government, the closest level of government to the
people. Our township, Downers Grove Township (DGT), is the southeastern
corner DuPage County. If you live in Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills,
Darien, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Lemont, Oak Brook, Westmont,
Willowbrook or Woodridge from County Line Road on the east to Woodward
Avenue on the west, from 39th Street to the north to the Des Plaines
River on the south you live in DGT. Altogether DGT is the largest
township in DuPage with approximately 148,000 residents covering 54
square miles, 128 precincts and 9 incorporated towns.
By
statute, three services have to be provided by township government: a
general assistance program to qualifying residents, property
assessment, and maintenance of township roads and bridges. General
assistance at the township level provides immediate help to the
destitute, depending on local standards using local dollars. Property
assessments provide the basis for real estate tax levies that fund all
local governments. The township highway commission is directly
responsible for maintaining 74 miles of township roads. Beyond these
mandated functions, the township offers a variety of social services
for township residents, including senior citizen and youth programs,
transportation, and cemetery maintenance. The DG Township government
had 36 full time and 11 part time employees and an annual budget of
over $4.7 million dollars in 2008 to carry out these tasks.
Township
Elected Officials include a Supervisor, a Clerk, an Assessor, a Highway
Commissioner, and four Trustees. All of these positions are up for
election every four years and the next election is on April 7, 2009.
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Here in Downers Grove Township we have a tiny government, sort of an
vestigial appendage left over from the days of the Northwest
Territories when there were few villages, towns or counties let alone
cities to provide services. DGT government has less than a $5 million
dollar budget and mainly serves to take care of roads in unincorporated
areas and make property assessments. There's a few ancillary duties like help for the qualified destitute,
some senior and youth services, & old cemetery maintenance. To give you an idea of how small
it's duties are the Village of Downers Grove itself has over ten times the number
of employees, yet the Village of DG is only 1 of 9 municipalities in the township.
Republicans, as far as anyone knows, have held every position in DGT
township government since there's been one, or at least since the Whig
party died. They run a very sloppy ship. Lately they screwed up appointing board members. Their own handpicked
auditor said their last year end financial statement didn't follow
accepted procedure and wasn't accurate enough to present a fair picture
of how they spent our money. We'll have more on that later. The Highway
Commision takes half the budget and is a microcosm of Streets and San
in the city with all the reputed nepotism there. This careless compliance, slipshod
accounting, and cronyism are hallmarks of bad government and ought to
raise red flags.
Recently several members of the Downers Grove Township Government chose
to retire. Edward P. Smith, the Highway Commissioner left office on
December 31, 2008. Supervisor Barbara Wheat proffered her resignation
letter effective January 16th. It appears rather than serve out the last few
months of their elected terms they left early so their appointed
successors could run as incumbents with the attendant advantages.
Illinois statutes (60 ILCS 1/60-5) say that's a legal maneuver, the
Board is charged with filling vacancies by appointment, but let's look
at the way they did it.
Those same Illinois statutes (60 ILCS 1/60-20) also say Whenever they
(the Board) accept a resignation, the township clerk shall make a
minute of the acceptance upon the township records. Nowhere in the
minutes published over the last 6 months does it show the Board made a
motion to accept the resignations of either Smith or Wheat. There was
no motion made to accept the resignation of Frank Wurster as Trustee.
The December 4th minutes show the clerk did read a resolution honoring
Highway Commissioner Smith for his many years of service which was
passed by vote along with a mention that his successor, Lawrence
Anderson would be appointed in January. A resolution honoring someone
is not the same as a motion to accept a resignation.
During the January 22 meeting Clerk Diane Konicek acknowledged
receiving Barbara Wheat's resignation letter on January 16, 2009. Clerk
Konicek slso informed the Board Trustee Frank Wurster had tendered his
resignation effective January 22, 2009. Trustee Rita Carlson then made
a motion to appoint Kathleen Abbate as Trustee to fill the remaining
term of Mr. Wurster which was seconded by Trustee Robert Del Sarto with
"all" voting aye.
The next order of business was the appointment of Frank Wurster as
Supervisor. Trustee Carlson then made a motion to appoint Frank Wurster
as Supervisor for the remainder of Wheat's term, seconded by Trustee
Del Sarto, again with "all" voting aye.
In order for Wurster to be appointed Supervisor he first had to resign
his Trustee position (as he did), he's not allowed to hold two voting
positions on the Board simultaneously, however briefly. In order for
Abbate to be appointed Trustee Wurster also could not remain in that
position, the seat had to be vacant.
There are five voting positions on the Board, the Supervisor and the
four Trustees. Neither Supervisor Barbara Wheat or Trustee William
Swanston were present at that meeting. That left three voting members,
one of whom was Wurster who had resigned his position to be appointed
to Supervisor, thus leaving only two qualified voting members.
Two qualified voting members of the Board do not constitute a quorum.
According to the Illinois State Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/1.02)
(from Ch. 102, par. 41.02) for a 5-member public body, 3 members of
the body constitute a quorum and the affirmative vote of 3 members is
necessary to adopt any motion, resolution, or ordinance . Thus the
appointment of Frank Wurster to DGT Supervisor and Kathleen Abbate to
succeed him as Trustee were not legally done under Illinois law.
Neither is any action the Board has taken during or since that meeting
as they don't have a legally constituted Board.
Now this might seem like nitpicking to some. But appointing successors
for elected officers is a pretty rare occurrence and serious business,
especially right before an election. The law is very specific but also
flexible, there were any number of ways they could have done this
correctly and stayed within the law. But the all Republican Board, many
of whom have been there for years if not decades, and really ought to
know better ignored the statutes and instead made sloppy and ultimately
illegal appointments. If that's how they conduct very rare business
like this in open meetings when it's bound to attract attention, how
are they conducting the people's business when nobody is watching their
everyday activities?
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