Spending

Today's News-Gazette:

The county's lack of financial support has been a sore spot for years among other supporters of the economic development corporation – particularly the cities of Champaign and Urbana. The county board has two representatives on the development group's board of directors, even though the county chips in no money.

In contrast, Champaign gives about $115,000 a year, and Urbana gives about $33,000 a year. The group also gets annual commitments from Rantoul, Savoy, Mahomet, Tolono and Fisher.

Dimit said he felt a $5,000 contribution from the county would be reasonable, given financial pressures the county is facing with its nursing home.

Discuss.

Our State Rep., Naomi Jakobsson, had an interesting legislative session last week.

As you may recall, the State House was called into special session by Gov. Blagojevich to consider the capital plan, and a variety of revenue generating measures to pay for the capital plan and other state spending.

Rep. Jakobsson, though not a prolific legislator, is one of five House sponsors of the spending portion of the capital plan legislation.  However, last week, she voted against the funding mechanism for the capital plan - a gaming expansion bill.  Her explanation was two-fold.  First, she doesn't like gaming expansion, which is admirable enough.  But then she said:

"He promised the money for Lincoln Hall, and he's never come through," Jakobsson said. "He made a promise he didn't keep. I can't vote for $34 billion to give a man and not have him live up to his promises."

She's sponsoring the bill to give Blagojevich the authority to spend $34 billion yet doesn't trust him enough to allow him to spend $34 billion?

City of Champaign Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy, who is asking voters for a property tax increase this fall because she feels she doesn't have enough money to provide general assistance to township residents, somehow submitted a budget which inlcuded several thousand dollars in legal fees despite the City of Champaign providing free legal service for the Township.

Tension was higher than normal as the town of the city of Champaign Township debated their budget for Fiscal Year 2008-09 Tuesday night.

Though the township board eventually passed the budget, debate ensued about a $9,000 line item, of which a large portion was called "a supreme waste of money." An amendment was eventually added re-appropriating the $9,000 of the $688,668 budget. Originally, $3,000 of that money was allotted for professional fees such as membership to the Township Officials of Illinois, while the other $6,000 was appropriated for legal fees, which a number of the Board members had a problem with.

The legal fees were said to be used for outside legal counsel, despite the fact that the city of Champaign currently allows the township to use their attorneys.

"It sounds like there could be a fight on the horizon," said Board member Tom Bruno. "I don't want to suggest we get separate legal counsel if that's not the case. It seems like a supreme waste of money."

Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy said the counsel was not going to be used for any legal action brought up against the city of Champaign but rather to get advice about how to properly run the township and utilize its resources.

"This is not about a lawsuit," she said. "What (the board members) are doing is polarizing the issue."

Sheesh.

This, Sen. Mike Frerichs and Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, is why it's irresponsible to pass a budget that is so badly out of balance that you must rely on Gov. Blagojevich to cut things in order to balance it.  Does anyone really expect, when the Governor is considering where to cut, that the University or local legislative districts will be treated well? 

But at least our local legislators can sleep easy knowing they have done their masters' legislative leaders' bidding.

Normally, I wouldn't comment on such a pointless media pop, but something about yesterday's press conference by State legislators in front of Lincoln Hall demanding Speaker Mike Madigan pass a capital plan rubbed me the wrong way:

State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville said the state was in danger of losing millions in federal matching funds if it did not move forward.

First, Rep. Hoffman is lying about losing federal matching funds if the state doesn't pass a capital plan.  From Rich Miller at Capitol Fax Blog:

Nobody has yet been able to prove to me that this “We’re gonna lose $9 billion” statement is a fact. Yet, it is contantly passed along by reporters as if it is true.

Second, Hoffman's dear friend and close political ally, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, promised the funding to renovate Lincoln Hall way back in 2003, when then Sen. Rick Winkel agreed to break with Republicans and vote for Blagojevich's bond refinancing proposal.  Blagojevich has yet to deliver on the promised funding from five years ago, so for Hoffman to stand up and demand that Madigan do something to fund Lincoln Hall is the height of chutzpah. 

If Hoffman really wants to help renovate Lincoln Hall, he should call on Blagojevich - again, they are very close friends personally and thisclose politically - to keep his promises, as the reason there has been no real capital plan is because nobody trusts the Governor to honor the funding promises which would be included in one.

UPDATE:  Here's the recent quote from Sen. Winkel, which I was having difficulty locating earlier:

In exchange for his vote in 2003 - and for which he got a lot of heat from other Senate Republicans - Winkel was supposed to get a commitment from Blagojevich to undertake the long-awaited renovation of Lincoln Hall on the University of Illinois campus.

It still hasn't happened.

"I found out who I was working with," Winkel said. "From my experience I wouldn't do it again."

First, he said he wouldn't trust Blagojevich. He isn't alone, of course, the General Assembly is full of members who believe they've been burned by the governor and his administration.

Second, Winkel said he didn't like the way political insiders, including GOP heavyweight Robert Kjellander, profited from the bond deal.

"I wouldn't do it again," Winkel said. "Besides, who's vote to give him a ton of money that he could use as a discretionary fund?"

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Here's another example of this tired trick:

Poor Joe White. The University of Illinois president apparently really believes Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the governor's claim - in a press release anyway - that if a big gambling expansion bill gets the Legislature's OK it means the UI's Lincoln Hall will finally, finally, finally get a long-promised $55 million makeover.

Where have we heard that promise from Blagojevich before?

Well, just four years ago.

Unfortunately, Joe White wasn't at the UI then. So maybe he can be forgiven for drinking the Blagojevich Kool-Aid and allowing himself to be used last week as a prop in the governor's latest stunt - sending deputies and assistants around the state to appear with local officials to promote a $25 billion capital improvements plan financed with proceeds from gambling expansion.

But even if the money for Lincoln Hall stays in the bill, and even if the bill passes, and even if the bill is signed by the governor, and even if the project is authorized that still doesn't mean the money would be released by the governor. This governor doesn't work that way. Deals are aborted. Promises are forgotten.

That's why a lot of state lawmakers don't trust Blagojevich, and why Joe White shouldn't either. The UI president is only setting himself up for a $55 million disappointment.

"I would have no confidence that any agreement would be honored or kept," said former state Sen. Rick Winkel - now a UI faculty member - who was burned by a Blagojevich "agreement" when he was in the Legislature. The pact was that if Winkel broke from his Republican caucus and voted for a $10 billion pension bond sale that Blagojevich wanted, Winkel would get construction money for Lincoln Hall and two other projects, the Post Genomic Institute and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

How many times will Lincoln Hall be used as bait by Gov. Blagojevich as his allies to get gullible legislators to go along with his budget schemes?  Rep. Hoffman is the Governor's buddy, so his motives are transparent, but Rep. Black and Rep. Rose should know better than to participate in this.  Why are they standing with Blagojevich on this when they know he cannot be relied upon to fulfill commitments made more than five years ago?

And, at some point, it would be nice if the media attending one of these press conferences actually reported on the number of times Lincoln Hall funding has been promised and withdrawn by this Governor.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE (and bumped to the top):  Someone saw this post today, and wanted to send along this poll recently conducted in Rep. Hoffman's 112th District, a fairly Democratic district down by St. Louis.

Client: PRIVATE BY REQUEST
Date of Poll: June 11, 2008
Polling Area: 112th House District
Number of Participants: 3,772
Margin of Error: ± 1.57%

1.  Do you think it is appropriate for the Illinois Legislature to form a special impeachment
committee? - 65.46 percent

2.  Do you want your local legislators to support the formation of that special impeachment
committee? - 65.67 percent

3. Based on what you know about Gov. Blagojevich, do you think the legislature SHOULD attempt
to remove him from office? - 56.81 percent

Cross-tabs are at the link above.  Can someone please explain to me why the House Republicans are standing with Rod Blagojevich to call for this $34 billion capital plan, when nobody trusts him, even in Democratic district represented by his staunchest ally?

DISCLAIMER:  I built the campaign website for Hoffman's opponent several months ago, but I don't have any ongoing involvement with that campaign.  I didn't talk to them about this post, didn't get any information for it from them, and did not get the poll from Hoffman's opponent or his campaign.

Today's News-Gazette:

Urbana High School is facing restructuring after five years of groups within the school failing to meet testing benchmarks set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. As a result, the district needs to come up with a plan that is approved not only by the Urbana school board, but also by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Though the Urbana board approved a plan earlier in the spring, passing the state board is proving a hurdle. The Urbana-board-approved restructuring plan called for extra time for freshmen and sophomores to work one-on-one with teachers in subject areas in which the students need help, as well as more frequent classroom evaluations.

But the Urbana board did not approve a new $70,000 administrator position for evaluation and accountability, one recommendation from the original restructuring plan.

And on June 4, Carol Diedrichsen of the state board told the district that the restructuring plan "does not sufficiently describe a change of governance as required by law. ... The plan needs revision to include the structure for accountability, monitoring and support necessary to effect significant change in instruction."

Discuss.

The CCNH Advisory Board has approved a consulting contract with Management Performance Associates, sending it to the full County Board for approval this week.

The county nursing home's directors worked out their differences Monday to unanimously recommend a management contract for the facility.

Action on the $15,000-a-month contract would still have to be taken by the full Champaign County Board, which meets at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Brookens Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U.

Discuss.

Today's News-Gazette:

The budget put forward by Prussing includes $36,000, including salary and benefits, for a three-quarter time arts coordinator and $24,000 in rent subsidies for art galleries that have opened in downtown Urbana. But the $50,000 line item for public arts projects relies on the donations and arts events revenue.

Chynoweth wants to raise the public arts line item, which could pay for arts grants and commissioning public art, to $76,000 and to use tax increment money instead of hoped-for donations.

"One of our top council goals was to provide a dedicated revenue stream for the arts," Chynoweth said. "We created a task force and then a public arts commission. Now it comes to budget time and we say 'Whoops, there's no money for art!'"

Prussing said the budget reflects what the city can afford.

Discuss.

Ross Perot has a new (at least it's new to me) website with some educational information including a

slide show on federal revenues and spending and projections for the future.

Champaign's Council has unanimously passed a FY09 budget:

Capital improvement spending is set at $29 million. The budget includes $12 million in funding for a 600-space parking deck at the southeast corner of Hill and Randolph streets that is under construction; $950,000 to improve the intersection at Windsor Road and First Street; and $4.2 million to widen Curtis Road to four and five lanes next year for 2 miles between Wynstone Drive and Wesley Avenue.

The capital budget also sets aside $6.1 million for the Boneyard Creek detention project, also known as the Second Street reach. Work will begin this year on drainage improvements, including underground conveyance of storm water, in Scott Park.

Discuss.

I've obtained this memo sent to Champaign County Board members outlining the announced plans of each of the County's school districts if the proposed one percent sales tax increase for education facilities passes in November.

There's no real new information in this, but it is a very useful summary of plans.  You can read the whole thing yourself, but you'll note that every district which has existing debt is currently promising to use sales tax revenue to abate or eliminate that debt (and reduce property taxes as a consequence), although the amounts vary.

Key information to remember (taken from the memo):

Each of the Boards of Education of the 14 school districts in Champaign County has passed a resolution requesting that the Champaign County Board put the question of imposing a 1% sales tax for school facility purposes for submission to the voters of Champaign County at the November 4, 2008, election. If this resolution passes and the County Board implements the full 1% sales tax, the revenue can be used for the following purposes:

• Pay for projects as you go
• Leverage revenue for current needs (use revenue to pay for bonds)
• Retire existing debt issued for capital purposes (abate taxes)
• Any combination of the above

Discuss.

Random thoughts about the boondoggle state budget passed by the House and Senate Democrats over the weekend:

• The budget is so badly out of balance ($2 billion?!?) that someone - the Legislature expects it to be the Governor, and vice versa - will have to make severe cuts.  I hope it's the legislature, because I disagree with so many of the Governor's spending priorities.  And I still don't understand how the legislature can abdicate so much authority and discretion to a Governor whom none of them trust.
• You will see lots of stories claiming that the UI got such-and-such funding increase, and lots of mail and press releases from Rep. Naomi Jakobsson and Sen. Mike Frerichs claiming that they secured that increase.  But all they've really done is ask the Governor to make $2 billion in spending cuts, and they know that higher education will be one of his first targets.  So take all the bragging with a huge grain of salt until the UI actually receives the increased funds.
• Speaking of Sen. Frerichs, he voted against the gaming expansion and lottery sales which were to fund the $34 billion capital plan, but voted present on the spending portion of that plan.  That's a great example of consistent, principled, "tough and independent" leadership, eh?
• I'm glad that no Republicans voted for this budget, unlike last year, when so many were lured by the siren song of pork.

UPDATE:  Sen. Frerichs says that the deficit isn't that bad:

State Sen. Mike Frerichs (D - Champaign) said the governor has the power to balance the budget himself by vetoing the specific expenses he deems unnecessary and doubts the size of the deficit is as large as Blagojevich claimed Monday morning.

"According to our budget staff, it is not that large," Frerichs said.

How large is it?  And why did Sen. Frerichs vote for an unbalanced budget, trusting the Governor to make such important budgetary decisions?

These cartoons are compliments of an Ohio friend.  Pattsi Petrie

Special interests lobby our state officials and the result is unfunded mandates where the many taxpayers get stuck paying while the few benefit. This is particularly devastating at the municipal level.

A possible solution is to consider total compensation as wages, medical, and retirement benefits combined. We could start negotiating total compensation and budget accordingly. This would effectively insulate the taxpayer from special interests and technically would not adversely affect anyone (from the standpoint of total compensation).

Just an idea that doesn't involve getting creative about how we impose more taxes and fees.

From today's News-Gazette:

The Illinois House on Tuesday passed legislation appropriating $25 million for the design and construction of the school, which would be the first of its kind in the state. The bill now goes to the state Senate.

"We're excited to get to this step," said Greg Wolfe, Oakwood School Board president. "It's what we've been hopeful for and working towards. ... We can't foot this on our own. It's critical that we have state assistance."

State Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, introduced House Bill 628 in February 2007. It originally appropriated $15 million for the project, but the amount was increased to $25 million.

In 2006, Black laid the groundwork by spearheading the passage of a law that makes cooperative high schools eligible for some of the same incentive funding offered to districts that consolidate.

Didn't I just see a letter to the editor from the Vermilion County Democratic Chairman stating that Bill Black was too old to effectively serve in the legislature?

Good article:

This coming fiscal year, Urbana expects to allocate $300,000 toward social service grants. That's an increase of $12,000 compared with the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

That level stands in contrast with Champaign, which this coming fiscal year plans to spend $113,000 on social service grants – but has announced that such grants will be ended, starting July 1, 2009.

Discuss.

From yesterday's News-Gazette:

The Champaign County Nursing Home, which will have to borrow money from the county to stay afloat, could save money by altering its mix of clients to reduce Medicaid patients – which would go against its tradition of serving the poor.

About 60 percent of its residents are on Medicaid, up from 48 percent in 2000, the first year for which Administrator Andrew Buffenbarger has census records.

About 28 percent are private paid and 10 percent Medicare, which has a higher level of reimbursement.

Taking care of the less-well-off has been part of the county's mission since it ran a poor farm on the same site as county offices.

But the rising proportion of Medicaid residents is hard on the nursing home's finances, Buffenbarger said, because "Medicaid reimbursement is considerably lower than the cost of services."

In other words, if Buffenbarger filled every bed in the new $24 million facility with Medicaid patients, the nursing home would lose even more than the up to $100,000 a month it has lost in the last two years. Instead, the home has run with about 80 of 243 beds empty recently.

Additionally, Medicaid reimbursement has not only been cut by $600,000, it's months behind.

Discuss.

UPDATE:  Big E has more thoughts here.

Some apparently expect the home to run on at least a break-even basis. But if that is the case, why is government involved at all? Is there a lack of private nursing home companies out there? Not likely. Why in the world would an impotent county government imagine that it is in a better position than a professional private company to run this operation? If the goal is to minimize expense to taxpayers, sell the damn thing to a professional operator and cut your losses.

It is not a little ironic that the idea of booting impoverished Medicaid recipients is being floated. If the goal of the facility is to provide refuge to those who would otherwise be out in the cold, this step would be absolutely contraindicated.

So what's it going to be, you dummies? A decision to provide heavily-subsidized care, or to make the facility a self-sufficient enterprise? The choices could not be more stark, but resolution will require courage and clear-thinking. I, for one, am not holding my breath.

From today's News-Gazette:

The Champaign County Board will look at ways to rescue county finances from deficit-spending on its nursing home Thursday night – including the possibilities of raising taxes or even selling the facility.

The finance committee meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Brookens Administration Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U.

The nursing home lost $600,000 in Medicaid funding this spring, faces higher costs for agency nurses because it has had difficulty finding full-time nurses, has already borrowed from the county and expects to borrow more next month.

Finance committee Chairman Brendan McGinty said the committee's discussions would include a possible question on the November ballot to raise taxes to help fund nursing home operations, an idea raised by union members at the nursing home, which had layoffs this week.

On the other extreme, the committee will start the process of looking for a buyer of the $24 million facility, which opened last year.

That process is one "we don't have to execute, if we fix things in the interim," the Urbana Democrat said.

I'm amused, however, to notice media coverage of concern about the massive legal fees owed by the County related to the Nursing Home.  If I remember correctly, someone correctly predicted exactly this problem and was ignored. 

Of course, this isn't the only nursing home-related issue on which Mark has been both prescient and ignored, so we should probably be used to it...

From today's News-Gazette:

Board member Valerie Woodruff said she's been approached by individuals who don't know much about the tax but are automatically opposed to new taxes.

But when board members explain that it could provide some property tax relief, "they're good with it" said board member Max McComb.

But one of the forum's attendees, Lea Ehrhardt, said she's not so sure that property tax relief will happen.

"The lottery was supposed to help pay for education. It didn't work," she said. "It looks like a good deal but it doesn't seem to happen that way."

She and two other attendees, Eric Thorsland and Joe Tandy, all said they'd like to see some sort of clause in the legislation that provides for an end to the tax unless it's reapproved by voters.

People are right to be skeptical.  Even in the best-case scenarios, residents of two school districts in Chamapign County would get absolutely no property tax relief, and residents of other districts would get much less property tax relief than this new tax would generate.

This is from Saturday, but I thought you might want to discuss:

Champaign County's struggling nursing home will lay off 27 employees next week.

Administrator Andrew Buffenbarger said Friday that the positions will come from a variety of departments. He was meeting with employees in general Friday, and will meet individually with staffers Monday. He said he wouldn't delineate positions or savings until he had met with them.

One area that won't be cut is nursing. Buffenbarger has told the Champaign County Board that one reason the home has run into financial troubles is that it can't hire enough permanent nurses, and instead has to contract for more expensive agency nurses.