Wednesday, May 11, 2011
 
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Alderwoman Joni Tibbs affixes her signature to a letter addressed to Gov. Pat Quinn. In recent weeks Quinn has proposed denying municipalities any share of annual income tax collections as a means of helping to resolve the state's gigantic deficit. City aldermen, Mayor Keith Snyder and Treasurer Chuck Conzo signed a letter of protest that will go to Quinn and the four state legislators representing the area.

City: Council addresses funding issues in a letter to Quinn

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[May 11, 2011]  At the request of the council, Mayor Keith Snyder has written a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn in regard to the governor's proposal to take funding away from municipalities by eliminating their share of the annual income tax collections.

Tuesday evening, all 10 members of the city council were present and placed their names on the letter along with Snyder and the city treasurer, Chuck Conzo.

The letter will be mailed to Quinn, with copies going to the four legislators representing the area.

Snyder provided a copy of the letter to the media for publication:

May 10, 2011

Governor Pat Quinn
207 State Capitol
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Quinn,

On behalf of the people of the City of Lincoln we are writing to oppose in the strongest terms possible your plan to suspend Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) payments to Illinois municipalities. The loss of income tax proceeds would be devastating to the City's FY12 budget which we just passed two weeks ago.

LGDF receipts amount to $1.2 million (or over 20%) of our $5.8 million general funds budget. The economic downturn of the last three years has left us with no balance to absorb a cut of any size. If 30% or more of LGDF is withheld, severe cuts will be required – cuts that will result in the loss of jobs, reduction of public safety, and indefinite postponement of overdue infrastructure maintenance.

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The City of Lincoln has faced decreasing revenues for each of the past four fiscal years. That decrease was caused partly by the economy and partly by delays in the payments of State obligations.

Unlike the State and federal governments, however, we have made tough decisions and we have cut spending to live within our means in each of those years.

We have made the preservation of jobs a top priority. As a result, we have cut into the bone on non-personnel costs, eliminated capital expenditures, left critical vacancies unfilled, and implemented furlough days.

The City has not been alone in facing these economic problems.

Both our high school and elementary districts have had to make sizeable cuts and RIF personnel. The loss of young educational professionals is especially difficult in smaller communities such as Lincoln who work hard to attract young people and young families to town to foster future growth.

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To now have the State of Illinois tell us we have to "share in the sacrifice" is disingenuous at best. The City of Lincoln has not shirked its responsibility and has worked hard to weather this economic storm we all have faced.

We know these are not easy days for you and the General Assembly. We wholeheartedly understand the difficult choices that must be made to balance a budget because we have been doing it for the past four years. We have shared in the sacrifice daily over that time as State income tax proceeds have fallen from $92 per person to $73 per person. We survived that $19 reduction per person by tightening our belts, re-prioritizing, deferring, and making-do. Your proposed cut of an additional $23.40 per person (or more) will not be sustained without severe reductions in personnel and cuts to essential services that will be felt by every individual, home, business, and organization in our community.

The State of Illinois didn’t get into its financial condition because it shared too much revenue with municipalities, particularly the City of Lincoln. We would ask that you not cut the current level of LGDF funding and that you not delay or suspend any further payments.

Thank you for your consideration of this serious matter.

[By NILA SMITH, with letter copied from file received]

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