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Chairman Bob Farmer moved the matter to the first order of
business.
Finance chairman Chuck Ruben brought forward the ordinance at the committee’s
recommended rate of 1 percent. The motion was seconded by Andrew
Meister, then opened for discussion.
At last week’s board of whole meeting, there had been
considerable discussion and an amendment that gained significant
support to set the rate at one half of one percent.
Jean Anderson, Superintendent for the Regional Offices of
Education (ROE) was present.
Ruben asked Anderson if she would come forward to answer some of the
board’s questions about the administration of the funds and who
would be responsible for seeing that the funds would be used
appropriately.
Anderson began by explaining the system of checks and balances
set by the state of Illinois that includes her office, school
districts and the county officials.
She recently attended the annual training that is specific for
administering the program. This was provided through the Illinois
State Board of Education.
There is a best practice already established, she said. How it
all works would be explained in more detail through the media
releases and made available on the ROE website.
The tax dollars would be put in a specific fund in the Illinois
State Treasurer’s office and transferred direct to the ROE.
At the individual school district level, the sales tax must be
deposited in a separate dedicated account titled the School Facility
Sales Tax Fund, and it would be used only for school facility
purposes.
The Illinois Attorney Generals Office audits ROE’s. A copy of the
ROE audit is provided to the county every year.
The ROE receives and reviews school district budgets every year
and those are available to the county. The building projects with
details have been, and would continue to be under the ROE purview.
Recalling the board’s concern for accountable use and
administration of the funds, Anderson said, “I know you are just
concerned that money is going to be distributed in an appropriate
way.”
She also reiterated individual district plans to abate a portion
property taxes with the sales tax that would come in:
- LCHS would rebate a portion of property tax with all the tax
that comes in and West Lincoln Broadwell a portion of those taxes.
Other districts hope to stabilize using the new tax fund toward
required upgrades, and thereby not have to ask for an increase in
property taxes, she said.
- Mount Pulaski intends to pay off a recent building project and
then do needed upgrades to 1912 and 1927 sections of the high
school.
- Olympia has roofing work.
- CEL is in the middle of a major boiler project that would get
paid off more quickly
- Hartsburg Emden has restrooms that have been closed off on
second floor. “Something right away is going to have to be done to
those.”
- Lincoln Elementary – roof and boiler repairs
- New Holland – Middletown has repairs including the gymnasium
floor.
One of the areas of use for the tax is to meet “life safety”
measures.
Life safety requirements are driven by lawsuit or probable
lawsuit situations, Anderson explained. Life safety regulations are
part of the school code set by the state and subject to frequent
changes. “So, schools have have to keep up with those changes. They
don’t have a choice.”
Moving to another concern observed by a board member last week,
Anderson explained that, yes, one of the school districts does have
plans to purchase property. The Lincoln Land Technical Educaton
Cooperative (LTEC), a six-district board run program is considering
a lot for its building trades program for next year. The students in
that program have built a complete house for the past 46 years.
“That is something that not every school district or county can brag
about,” she said.
Another option LTEC is considering, is to buy an existing
building to renovate for a Lincoln for beautification project.
LTEC is also seeking to start a cosmetology program.
Other LTEC plans include sharing space with Heartland Community
College and participation in the Development Partnership’s Business
Incubator project.
Anderson also assured the board that schools have “made
sacrifices and cut costs to reflect the times.” She illustrated with
the two biggest school districts:
- LCHS has reduced two administrative positions and eight
teaching positions, reduced its budget by $1 million and is
currently discussing the possibilities of shared transportation.
- District 27 eliminated many certified and non-certified
positions last year.
“Please keep in mind that when positions are eliminated, that’s
people, that’s jobs. It’s hard. But, they’re doing what they have to
do.”
In additional assurance, she said that our districts are looking for
ways to use our tax dollars in efficient and effective ways.
A program was started last fall that targeted students most at
risk to not graduate that has saved seven students, six already
graduated, one on track to graduate soon.
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In Illinois, 11 counties have passed this sales tax starting with
Williamson County in 2008, then Cass, Champaign, Jo Davies,
Schuyler, Lawrence Knox, Macon, Warren with the two newest from the
April election being Franklin and Logan.
Anderson was confident that voters understood the request to be
for the full 1% as it was promoted and put on the ballot that way.
She invited any questions from the board.
Board member Gene Rohlfs stated, “This is a brand new source of
revenue.” He then asked, “Why is it important to set it at the top
limit at this time?”
Anderson replied, “Should the entire amount (1 percent) not be
implemented, it is possible that property tax would have to be
increased in order to cover pressing needs that cannot be ignored.”
She referenced broken boilers, leaky roofs and restrooms that
pose risks to students and adults.
“It makes no sense to me to enact half of it, and then the districts
have to go out and bond, and raise property taxes to get the other
half, when this could be done without utilizing that source,” she
said.
Rohlfs commented on the flip side about how the new tax would
inflate purchases, specifically targeting fuel. He observed that
gasoline has about doubled as it is since the new tax initiative was
begun.
Anderson countered, questioning whether that would be a
“negative?” She gave as example a Logan County business she knows of
that often fuels its fleet in Macon County, and is already paying
the increase there. And, the Macon County schools are benefiting,
she said.
She heard from Mark Hughes of Inland Tool in Mount Pulaski that
the Warrensburg-Latham School District just built an $11million
addition, and his property taxes are set to go down $500 a year.
Champaign County has something like a $170 million building
project going on because their school districts had been so
neglected, and now they have the funding without going out and
burdening their property tax payers, Anderson said.
Williamson County has collected $14 million since 2008.
Ruben contributed to the line of thinking about the rise and fall
of gas prices, which would lead to more and less sales tax income
for the schools, and how that might impact the schools especially if
it were only half a percent. “We can’t change it (the rate) on a
moments notice.”
In a closing example, Anderson said, We had one of those buckets
of chicken the other night and it was $10. It would have cost an
extra dime. I find dimes that people drop on the ground and don’t
even bother to (she paused)… I pick them up, and pennies and
anything else.” which brought chuckles around the room.
She acknowledged that the sales tax would be more noticeable on
big ticket items, but most of the time not even noticed and would
add up nicely for the schools.
When chairman Bob Farmer called for the vote nine board members
approved the full 1 percent, Rohlfs was the single no. Aylesworth
and Jan Schumacher were absent.
The ordinance now goes on display for 30 days and then will be
sent to the state. The tax on sales begins on January 1, 2012.
Schools could begin seeing those funds return in March.
[Jan Youngquist
Sales tax to go to schools could be set below 1 percent
[By
JAN YOUNGQUIST] |
