McHenry County Blog

One of the most notorious violations of taxpayers used by school districts is the use of Working Cash Funds.

The scam works this way.

The school board passes a resolution to borrow money (issue bonds).

Taxpayers do have a short time to gather an extraordinary percentage of the voters’ signatures.

Districts typically publish the notice of the possibility of what is called a “backdoor” referendum during the winter when people find it too cold to go door-to-door.

“Sneaky” does not begin to describe this practice. “Evil” comes to mind.

If enough signatures are not gathered to force a referendum, taxes go up to pay back the bonds.

In the worst-case scenario, the school district then drains the Working Cash Fund and the process starts all over.

A tax increase without a referendum followed by another tax increase without a referendum, ad infinitum.

The Belvidere School Board is using a different permutation of this scam, a friend of McHenry County Blog has informed me.

The Belvidere school board tax hikers want $23 million, but don’t want to have to go through one of those messy referendums.

After all, when the district asked for $54.5 million, the voters said, “No.”

So much easier just to take almost half that amount with a majority vote of the school board.

Hey, it’ll only cost 3-5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation says PMA financial advisor Scott Smith, but he told Rockford Register-Star reporter Kevin Haas,

“Right now, it is difficult to say what would happen with the tax rate overall.”

This guy Smith says it will only cost $20 to $34 more a year on a $200,000 house.

How many years?

T-W-E-N-T-Y !!!

Taxpayers wanting the courtesy of a vote on the November ballot have until February 25th to gather more than 2,500 signatures.

Considering the cost, it might be worth the work of gathering petition signatures.

Petitions are supposed to be provided by the school district. (If they are not, please let me know.)

Here’s what Lyle Morgensen, a former business manager for School District 100 told Haas,

“It seems to me that the taxpayer should have the opportunity to decide if this is a good thing for the district or not.”

And, should they get than number, based on the experience of folks in the Elgin school district who did similarly, the local school board will hire lawyers to eliminate the unregistered voters in order to get the number lower than 10% and kill the referendum.

So, if you go after signatures aim for at least 3,500.

35 people would only have to get 100 per person.

Don't tell me it can't be done.

That’s no reason not to try, though.

I gathered 1,100 signatures in one week (I’ll grant it was summer) standing outside of the Jewel grocery store in Crystal Lake in the late 1980’s.

So, don’t tell me it can’t be done.

I’ll be some high traffic store would let you stand inside.

And, start thinking about who is going to run against these anti-democratic school board members next year.

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Signs are from the second Belvidere school bond referendum.

Labels: Backdoor Referendum, Belvidere School District, PMA, Scott Smith, Working Cash Fund

I learned something new about Google over the weekend.

There is a search engine for scholarly articles.

Want to guess what subject held my interest?

It’s whether baseball stadiums are all that McHenry County College officials have cracked them up to be.

Here’s the link to “local government” and “minor league baseball."

And, take a look at this one, too. Its search items are “minor league baseball” and “investment.”

Do you think in doing the “due diligence” that MCC board members attorney Scott Summers and Mary Miller, http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=18132518&postID=5170660480287301800 a Crystal Lake CPA, read any of them?

Think the supposedly academically-minded college staff examined any?

(I’ve got an idea? I’ll ask them?)

MCC also refused to release a supposed “due diligence” review by an outfit called PMA. They were the folks paid by Huntley School District 158 to tell it that an unneeded referendum was necessary.

Labels: CPA, Due Deligence, Huntley School District 158, Mary Miller, MCC, McHenry County College, PMA, Scott Summers

Again McHenry County College offers up a BIG NO to McHenry County Blog’s request for documents that led its board to think receipts from a minor league baseball team will to pay off $35 million of public debt.

Here is what I requested:

a copy of any documents upon which the following MCC Trustees’ comments at the April 26, 2007, meeting were based (quoted parts from page 4 of minutes MCC previously provided):

1. Trustee Summers conclusion that “…we are defraying the public expenditures with private money…” and
2. “Ms. Miller(‘s) refer(ring) to her CPA standing and stat(ing) that all the figures are in order for us to go ahead with this.”

The excuse this time?

The same as before:

With regard to your first request, the College asserts that certain documents responsive to your request are exempt under Section 7, paragraph (g) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140.7 (g)). Notwithstanding said exemption, the College has identified the following document as responsive:

Letter with attachment re: the Health and Wellness Complex, Feasibility Study Construction Cost Review from Robert Brown, PMA Consultants of Illinois to Dave Penoyer, Director of Business Services, McHenry County College.

The FOI reply goes on to point out that I have already received this document, which is true.

The problem is that the so-called responsive document merely deals with construction costs.

It gives no clue as to how revenue from a minor league baseball team will pay off all or even two-thirds of the $36 million for which MCC taxpayers will soon be committed to repaying, which MCC President Walt Packard asserted June 7th.

I filed my Freedom of Information request on June 13th and, amazingly enough, this reply came two days later.

At least the college is improving its turnaround time.

Labels: 5 ILCS 140/7(g), Freedom of Information Act, Mary Miller, MCC, McHenry County College, PMA, Scott Summers, Walt Packard

I don’t often comment on Northwest Herald stories on its web site, but reporter Jocelyan Allison follow-up story today to McHenry County Blog's two days ago about MCC’s May 24th signing of the baseball stadium lease with promoter Pete Heitman deserved one.

She got a detail the college has been unwilling to provide in writing to me, despite numerous Freedom of Information requests.

Here’s what the story adds to the discussion:

College officials expect that revenue from the team will cover two-thirds of the debt to build the complex. The remaining debt will be paid through renting out the fitness center, which includes indoor basketball and volleyball courts, to traveling sports teams, (MCC President Walt) Packard said.

From Tim Stratton, former MCC board member, McHenry County Blog learned that the college should not to expect “any significant revenue from the project” for the first five years! Stratton informed McHenry County Blog this afternoon that he left the firm of Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co. on May 30, 2007.

My comment under the Allison article follow (I have added the paragraphing that the NW Herald’s web site does not allow):

Congratulations for getting an outline of how the college intends to pay for this baseball stadium.

Taxpayers are still are denied the no-bid underlining documents from Equity One Development Compnay, which supposedly told MCC how the team and the fitness center will generate the money to repay upwards of $30 million worth of debt.

MCC also refuses to release the document from no-bid vendor PMA, which supposed conducted a "due diligence" review of, I suppose, the secret Equity One study.

SUSPICIOUS WAY TO AVOID A REFERENDUM.

Reminds me of Jimmy Carter's primary election line "TRUST ME.”

Labels: Equity One, Equity One Development Corporation, PMA

So, what do make of this?

A copy of excerpts of the minutes from the McHenry County College Board have been filed as part of an official document, but they are not on the MCC web site yet?

They are for the baseball stadium approval meeting on April 26, 2007, and concern “committee reports.”

They certainly don’t tell much. I would hope there was more discussion than is indicated in the minutes.

Also found, but not yet available on the college’s internet web site are more extensive minutes for the Committee of the Whole meeting held on April 23rd with no prior public notice on that same web site.

They are more interesting items, including news that PMA, the ex-financial advisor of the Huntley School District and, more recently, advisor to Carpentersville District 300 on things financial, reviewed construction costs of the new complex.

The minutes said they were “the third party reviewer” of somebody else's estimate of construction costs. That ”resulted in a revision of their statement to come up with approximately the same construction costs.”

Not a lot of details there.

And, guess what?

Requests for Qualification “for bond advisers have gone out.”

But, there’s nothing about this meeting on the MCC web site either.

The reason that would be given, of course, is that the minutes have not been approved yet.

If so, how could they be submitted as part of an official document?

I can find no indication that the recipient is not supposed to think they are the real thing.

But, as Terry Mutchler, Lisa Madigan's top Open Meetings and Freedom of Information lawyer, said when she spoke in another room at McHenry County College while the MCC Board was meeting on April 26th,

"Either You Are For Open Government or You’re Not."

= = = = =
"Either You Are For Open Government or You’re Not "– MCC - Part 1A

"Either You Are For Open Government or You’re Not "– MCC - Part 1B

Labels: MCC, McHenry County College, PMA

A final look at what District 300 vendors over the last 5½ years contributed to finance the tax hike and bond referendum committees. Previously, McHenry County Blog has articles on the financing role of school vendors, including their business, specific amounts given, and evidence of work done for District 300 when found on the web

Part 1 - District 300 Vendors Major Contributors to Tax Hike Committees; Pay to Play?

Part 2 - District 300 Vendors Major Contributors to Tax Hike Committees; Pay to Play?

District 300’s School Construction Manager--Another Vendor--Contributed to Tax Hike Efforts

Who Wants To Raise Your Taxes? Getting School Vendors To Contribute – An Expert’s Advice.

Today, a comparison of contributions to District 300 checks paid to the donating businesses is examined. The short of it is that no company gave a very large percentage of the amount District 300 paid it.

McHenry County Blog found $36,880 in contributions from 13 vendors whose payments could be identified. (First American Bank also contributed $850, but figuring out the value of the District 300 float and any other benefits wasn’t worth the effort.)

Over the 5½-year period, the 13 companies received $75,730,477 in payments from District 300. $75.8 million out of the taxpayers’ pockets and $37,000 to committees who want to hike taxes more.

That means the average company contributed just 5/100 of 1% of the money it received from District 300 to the district’s tax hike committees.

If this were characterized as a “pay to play” scenario, such as is hinted at in Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times article on its I-PASS transponder marketer, each District 300 vendor dropped precious little money into the hands of the tax hike committees. The Sun-Times found IGOR’s owners contributed $76,000 for a $7 million contract, meaning its owners paid, opps, I mean contributed 1.1% for the business received. (The Sun-Times runs a follow-up story today.)

Of District 300’s contributors, Telstar American Corporation contributed the highest percentage--1.2% contributed of the almost $71,000 it was paid.

PMA Financial was also over 1%. PMA appears to be the only firm that contributed before getting business from the district.

There were two other companies whose campaign contributions exceeded 1/10 of 1% of the business they received from District 300:

· J&E Duff Company, a masonry company, at 36/100 of 1%
· Burnidge Cassell, the district’s architects, at 3/10 of 1%
· Turner Construction, the construction management firm, at 19/100 of 1%
· Tessendorf Mechanical at 17/100 of 1%
· Freund International at 12/100 of 1%
· Cruise Boiler & Repair at 1/10 of 1%

Those companies donating less than 1/10 of 1% follow:

· Carey Electric at 6/100 of 1%
· Hawks Auto Parts at 5/100 of 1%
· Trane Company at 3/100 of 1%
· Elgin Roofing at 2/100 of 1%
· Lamp, Inc., at 2/100 of 1%. (Lamp got paid over $60 million, the bulk of the almost $78 million analyzed.)

Labels: Burnidge Cassell, Carey Electric, Cruise Boiler, Elgin Roofing, Freund International, J and E Duff, Lamp Inc, PMA, Tessendorf Mechinaical, Trane