A broad-based coalition of local governments statewide is joining Illinois lawmakers in calling for the State to increase local revenue funds to lessen the property tax burden on homeowners.
Since 1969, local governments across Illinois have received a portion of income taxes generated by residents and businesses, known as the Local Government Distributive Fund. For years, the State allocated 10% of total income tax collections to local governments through LGDF, but since 2011, it has gradually reduced their share to just 6.06% today.
Executive Director of the Illinois Municipal League Brad Cole says county governments and municipalities need that money to continue to provide services directly to people who pay the taxes: “Municipalities have been receiving less and less funding from the state and more and more unfunded mandates, so we are just simply requesting that our funding be returned to the level that it was previously and help us do the work at the local level that residents require…The reasoning in the past [that we’ve been given about the reduction in funding] has been because the state needed the money. Now, we are seeing where there are more dollars available for the state so we are seeking to have that [funding] returned so that local governments don’t have to increase local taxes and fees.”
Cole says its an annual issue of whose money is it and how much of it is actually going to be provided to municipal governments. Cole says the stripping away of funds hits the smallest communities in the state the hardest: “Certainly the smallest communities have the fewest resources to be able to handle their problems or address their issues. Very small communities only have state-shared revenues and property tax, so those only go so far. When one of them is cut, the other is left to carry the burden. For very small communities that need to replace their infrastructure – whether it’s water and sewer or sidewalks, or anything else – when the Local Government Distributive Fund is cut or when it’s not fully funded at what was the 10% level, then those things go without getting done.”
IML is just one of 12 other organizations pushing for the restoration of the LGDF to help bring stability to local government budgets across the state. In its most recent proposal, the coalition is asking that the 10% level of funding be restored by 2025.
The Morgan County Commissioners met in quick fashion this morning with just two action items.
The most important was paying the county’s bill. Morgan County Commissioner Chair Brad Zeller says only one bill was out of the ordinary in the current cycle: “We have bills in the stated amount of $50,835.89. The only bill that I pulled out was $10,609 for DevNet.”
DevNet is the county’s software licensing company.
Zeller gave an update about American Rescue Plan funding after the meeting. He says that the county is very grateful for the extra funds to help complete the Morgan County Health Department’s move to the former Putnam-Springer Center on the old MacMurray College campus. He says once the move is completed in March, the county is looking at one more major project with the funds: “Then, we are going to be able to do a very substantial upgrade to the security system at the Morgan County Jail that [the commissioners] feel is way overdue. It’s been a blessing for Morgan County to have that extra influx of capital money.”
The commissioners will meet again next week. Zeller says it’s a bit out of sequence for them to meet two weeks in a row, but they need to take care of some more routine business prior to the end of the month.
The Morgan County Health Department is looking to move into its new location this Spring.
Morgan County Health Department Administrator Dale Bainter says they have tentatively selected May 1st as their first day in their new location at the former Putnam-Springer Art building located at the corner of North Clay and East State.
Bainter says that the move and renovations of the site has undergone some delays: “Of course the supply chain issues being what they are, we are dealing with that ourselves…but the building itself is coming along nicely and we will be very excited to move into more than double the square footage and be able to serve our community in a more efficient manner than serving through the pandemic in our current location.”
Morgan County Commissioner Chair Brad Zeller says that federal American Rescue Plan funding has helped make the move a reality: “We’ve been able to put that new money into our new health facility, which is going to be a state-of-the-art facility in the city and will represent the whole county. We are really looking forward to getting that building open and up and running. They’ve run into some supply issues. We were hoping to having it open in January, but it will look like it will be March before that building is open.”
Bainter says they had hoped to be in the building by now, but the delays in materials had backed everything up. Bainter says he’s excited to more than double the health department’s square footage, by adding more storage space, waiting room space, and exam rooms.
Bainter says it will also eliminate the need to store things at multiple locations throughout the community: “We have a couple of storage sites that we use – small storage facilities. We hope to bring all of that in house, which once again, will make us more efficient in cost, more efficient in not having to go off-site to get our location. We have things poked away in multiple places around the community, and that’s always a little bit difficult as we are running our vaccine clinics. We always had to start a day or two in advance just to make sure we could round up all that equipment and put it in place and be up and running. While our teams was very efficient at it, it will be wonderful to have everything under one roof.”
The Health Department, which has had space at a premium for some time, has been at the former Bill’s Star Market location at 345 West State Street since the 1980s.
The first of a series of public hearings on an electricity transmission line slated to come through West Central Illinois will happen next week.
A public hearing on the Grain Belt Express Transmission project, which aims to connect residents of Illinois and other states with clean electricity sources, will be held from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15th at the Pike Senior Citizen Center in Pittsfield, located at 220 West Adams Street.
The project has gained siting approvals in Kansas, Missouri and Indiana and is working with the Illinois Commerce Commission to gain state regulatory approval in Illinois.
As a part of its regulatory approval, the transmission line must hold public hearings on the primary and alternate routes of the line running about 200 miles through central Illinois from Pike County to the Indiana State line.
The meeting will be an open house format where attendees can come and go as they please.
Additional public meetings will be held in March and April. Those who wish to attend a meeting virtually can do so online right now through February 21st at https://grainbeltexpress.com/illinois
Innvenergy estimates that the Grain Belt Express line will create 2,200 jobs, bring $1.2 billion in new economic activity and provide $33 million in new tax revenue to local communities over the next 20 years.
For more information on the project, visitGrainBeltExpress.com, leave a message on the project’s hotline at 866-452-4082 or email connect@grainbeltexpress.com.
State Senator Steve McClure was happy that Governor J.B. Pritzker mentioned giving more money for crime prevention in his annual State of the State address yesterday.
McClure says that the Governor’s proposal doesn’t go far enough: “I did like that crime was mentioned. However, the issue with crime has been not just throwing money at the problem, it’s been actually solving the issue and working with our side of aisle to get that done. One of the concerning things for me and members of our caucus has been the governor talked about witness intimidation. However, here’s the deal – while the governor says he’s going to give money for a program to help hide witnesses – that’s fantastic – but at the same time last year, in January at 4:30 in the morning, a bill was passed that takes away the ability of law enforcement to detain people in jail on pre-trial detention for the offense of witness intimidation. There is no greater message that is sent to scare witnesses than the moment after someone intimidates you that person is back on the streets in the neighborhood. That’s extremely troubling.”
McClure also hit on key points in the governor’s budget about federal relief dollars and new permanent spending for the state. McClure says he’s going to play the long game when it comes time to vote on the governor’s proposed budget: “It’s going to be very interesting to vote on the actual budget, and I’m going to have a long-term view when I vote on the budget. We have to address crime. It’s a crisis. Just speaking about it is not enough. The Democrats have to come to the table with Republicans to work on this issue. We’re ready to do it, but unfortunately, our side has been totally ignored. We are seeing the terrible results of that right now throughout our state.”
Pritzker’s budget includes increases for the Illinois State Police to graduate more state troopers, provide resources to the new forensic laboratory in Decatur, and for the purchases of more body cameras. Increases also are projected at the Department of Corrections for IT investments and staffing for medical needs, education, and re-entry programs. The budget also proposes $20 million to support a Gang Crime Witness Protection Program.
Another State Representative is blasting what she’s seeing as gimmicks in Governor J.B. Pritzker’s recent budget address.
93rd District Representative Norine Hammond says that the governor’s budget isn’t making any long-term structural changes to how the state spends its money: “I think it’s ironic that a year ago that the governor was calling for this Graduated Income Tax, and if it didn’t pass, there was going to be these draconian budgets going forward. Then, fast forward to [this week], the governor is saying that we now have a $1.7 billion surplus. If you actually pare down and look at the numbers, we can see that our spending is outpacing our revenue growth. That is something that we are going to have to deal with in the coming months and the coming years. You can say it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that we have federal ARPA funds, but that’s what’s getting us through right now.”
Pritzker says the state is in its best fiscal shape in years and is proposing some temporary tax relief for Illinoisans that include a temporary suspension on the state’s grocery tax, changing the state’s motor fuel tax, and temporary property tax relief.
Hammond says the $2.5 billion in new permanent spending that Pritzker is proposing will outpace the state’s revenues once federal American Rescue Plan money disappears. Hammond characterized the address as a “bailout budget” for the state.
Democrats have chided Republican reactions to the State of the State address, asking Republicans how the state did under former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner. They have tagged some of the pot-shots at Republican lawmakers with the Twitter Hashtag #spelunkingformisery.
The Illinois State Police Academy made history this week.
On Tuesday evening, the State Police Academy welcomed the Illinois chapter of the NAACP to their headquarters to become the first state police academy in the nation to adopt the 10 Shared Principles.
The 10 Shared Principles is a document created by the national NAACP that builds on equality, dignity, and respect by law enforcement with their policing, especially for communities of color.
NAACP President of the Illinois State Conference Teresa Haley and Deputy Director for the Division of the Academy and Training Colonel Marcus Gipson were on hand for the signing on Tuesday.
Gipson says that the State Police were already implementing several components of the 10 Shared Principles into their training prior to the signing: “About a year ago this past January, the ISP adopted the Shared Principles, so we have already taken the steps to live out those Principles within the agency. And to further commitment of these values, the ISP Academy is demonstrating our commitment at the entry level position because the Academy is the first step in becoming a trooper. This is a logical commitment along that path to instill the values of the agency. In addition to that, our Principles stand to build a mutual trust between law enforcement and the community. Our academy is the first academy in the nation to adopt these principles, which is a part of our curriculum through courses such as Ethics, Rules of Conduct, Cultural Diversity, Biased-Based Policing, Duty to Intervene, and other courses to build relationships and trust with the community.”
Gipson says that training on dignity and respect remains ongoing for the career of a trooper: “We instill from Day One to treat all people with dignity and respect. These principles are not only taught but are followed on a routine basis through the 29 weeks of training. We also train our current troopers [on these Principles] on an annual basis.”
Gipson says that ISP and the NAACP have had a strong relationship in recent years, and the signing of the 10 Shared Principles will further enhance that relationship and ISP’s relationship with the statewide community. He says this is yet another way the ISP Academy strives to be the top police academy in the nation.
The Winchester Civic Group is hosting a special shopping event in Downtown Winchester today.
The Galentine’s Day shopping event is today beginning at 9AM. Co-owner of Winchester’s Rural Cyclery Jackie Kuchy told the Scott County Times that the event will be similar to the Winchester Hometown Christmas event.
Shops in the Winchester Square will open and have specials for shoppers throughout the day. Kuchy told the Times that her business will feature food and drink specials and live music by local artist Gianna Hines from Noon to 2PM.
Organizers hope to make the event an annual outing.
A Sangamon County judge issued a temporary restraining order on Governor J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders for public school mitigations late this evening.
In a 30-page ruling tonight, Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow says students attending 170 school districts named in a lawsuit brought by Southern Illinois Attorney Thomas DeVore won’t have to wear a mask if they don’t want to, unless they’re given due process. The same goes for certain school staff who don’t want to take weekly COVID-19 tests for not being vaccinated. They must also have due process.
Pritzker’s mandates for masks and exclusion policies in schools and vaccines or testing for teachers have been in place since last fall.
Grischow wrote in her ruling: “The Illinois General Assembly had foresight when it created certain provisions limiting the authority of administrative agencies. When the Legislature created our laws, they did so knowing individuals have a fundamental right to due process when one’s liberty and freedom is taken away by forcing them to do something not otherwise required of all other citizens. Illinois law prohibits [the Illinois State Board of Education] from making policies affecting school districts which have the effect of rules without following the procedures of the [Illinois Administrative Procedures Act]. Absent this statutory provision, ISBE would be able to on impulse, and depending on who held the Executive Branch, mandate whatever it felt necessary in the most arbitrary and capricious manner without having to follow any due process under the IAPA. As for the matters at hand, it is clear [the Illinois Department of Public Health]/ISBE were attempting to force local school districts to comply with this guidance without any compliance with rulemaking. This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”
Grischow also went on to quote sections of IDPH’s definitions of quarantine that were modified in 2014 when the Ebola epidemic was circulating the globe. Grischow says that the Governor’s executive orders and IDPH broke their own rules: “Since 2014 and prior to the recent 2021 Emergency Rules, tests and vaccines were also considered a form of “modified quarantine” because they were a procedures “intended to limit disease transmission.” Under the IDPH Act, individuals had the right to object to these procedures. If they objected, they were afforded due process of law. Likewise, “exclusion from school” was also a form of “modified quarantine” because it was considered a partial limitation on freedom of movement for those who may have been exposed to a contagious disease. At no time did the 2014 emergency amendments take away a person’s due process rights.
“On September 17, 2021, under the guise of an emergency, the Emergency Rules deleted or modified these terms and definitions. Subsection (d) was added pertaining to schools and added a new provision which delegated authority to the local school districts to require vaccination, masking, and testing of school personnel, in addition to masking for all students regardless of vaccine status, exclusion from school, and testing for unvaccinated, healthy students who were deemed “close contacts” by the school. The question before this Court is whether the Governor, under his executive authority, can require his agencies to promulgate emergency rules that go beyond what the Legislature intended or without utilizing the legislative branch of government.”
Attorney Thomas DeVore
Grischow says that DeVore’s seeking of relief does not “seek any order of the Court dismantling masking, vaccintation or testing policies in their totality” but only due process be afforded to those who object to being quarantined. Grischow also noted in her ruling in the Illinois General Assembly’s failure to act upon any change to the law: “If the Legislature was of the opinion that the public health laws as written were not satisfactory to protect public health from COVID, it has had adequate opportunity to change the law since March 2020.”
Grischow, earlier in the day, had denied class status to the suit, thus limiting the ruling to just the districts mentioned in the suit. Grischow noted this in her ruling this evening: “Although this Court denied Plaintiffs’ request for Class Certification in [the case], this Court has declared IDPH’s Emergency Rules void. Any non-named Plaintiffs and School Districts throughout this State may govern themselves accordingly.” Grischow did give leave for DeVore to file certification of class at a later time. DeVore told the State Journal Register that a mass joinder of people from across the state may soon sign on to the suits to remedy the issue of class.
According to The Center Square, the Illinois Attorney General’s office didn’t immediately respond to the order when asked for comment. Governor Pritzker was asked about when he might lift the statewide mask mandate earlier today in a press conference held at a Jewel-Osco in Chicago promoting his suspension of the state’s 1% grocery tax. Pritzker said, “I believe that we should remove masks as soon as we possibly can. I’m constantly listening to the doctors and scientists and encouraging them, ‘when can we do this, what’s the right time, what’s the right way to do it.’ And so, very hopeful we can make an announcement about that.” Despite being pressed further, he would not give a timeline.
The TRO will remain in place until there is a definitive ruling on the lawsuits at a later time.
A message left with Jacksonville School District 117 Superintendent Steve Ptacek at this time has not been returned.
The lawsuit names Carrollton, Jersey, Pikeland, PORTA, Camp Point Central #3, Jacksonville, Ball Chatham, Quincy, Schuyler-Industry, Pleasant Hill, North Mac school districts among others.
UPDATE 9:15PM Feb. 4: Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Office is asking for an immediate appeal of Judge Grischow’s ruling. In a press release tonight, Pritzker has asked the Illinois Attorney General’s office for an immediate appeal of Judge Grischow’s decision to restrain the State from enforcing his executive order’s Covid mitigations in schools. The Attorney General is seeking an expedited appeal from the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court.
Pritzker says in the press release: “The grave consequence of this misguided decision is that schools in these districts no longer have sufficient tools to keep students and staff safe while COVID-19 continues to threaten our communities – and this may force schools to go remote. This shows yet again that the mask mandate and school exclusion protocols are essential tools to keep schools open and everyone safe. As we have from the beginning of the pandemic, the administration will keep working to ensure every Illinoisan has the tools needed to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul responded in kind: “This decision sends the message that all students do not have the same right to safely access schools and classrooms in Illinois, particularly if they have disabilities or other health concerns. The court’s misguided decision is wrong on the law, demonstrates a misunderstanding of Illinois emergency injunction proceedings and has no relation to the record that was before the court. It prioritizes a relatively small group of plaintiffs who refuse to follow widely-accepted science over the rights of other students, faculty and staff to enter schools without the fear of contracting a virus that has claimed the lives of more than 31,000 Illinois residents – or taking that virus home to their loved ones.”
UPDATE 2/4/2022 9:35PM: Jacksonville School District 117 Superintendent Steve Ptacek sent an email communication to parents tonight saying the district was in a “wait and see” mode this weekend in regards to the TRO being issued by Judge Raylene Grischow.
Ptacek says he will be meeting with the district’s legal counsel on Sunday to clearly understand what the TRO means for the district’s day-to-day operation. Ptacek says that he had been receiving updates throughout the evening that a stay of Grischow’s TRO could be heard as early as Saturday morning or sometime this weekend: “As the Board and I have stated since the beginning, we will ‘stay in our lane’. Our role is not to develop safety guidelines. We are educators, not medical experts. Our role is to develop local plans on how to implement guidelines. I will send out another communication Sunday following the meeting detailing if and how the rulings alter practices. Currently, we have no idea how this impacts Monday. This is not about personal opinions; this is about the application of the law.”
Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery issued this statement following the release of the TRO late Friday evening: “The Illinois Federation of Teachers is greatly distressed at the judge’s temporary restraining order (TRO) in this case. Hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, and staff across Illinois are doing their best to remain healthy and keep schools open. We believe what the judge ordered today is legally faulty and a threat to public health and, most importantly, a threat to keeping Illinois schools open for in-person learning. Our children and their families need certainty and some normalcy at school, not legal wrangling managed by a small minority of citizens.
“We urge the judge to stay her ruling and the state to appeal it as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will continue to advise our members on how to remain safe and healthy at work. We insist that school districts statewide abide by existing agreements on health and safety. In fact, the safety mitigations encompassed by the State’s guidance, as well as vaccinations for children and adults, are the best ways to keep schools open and everyone healthy. And we will stand with our local unions to protect our members and the students they serve.”
The Northwestern Fire Protection District in Palmyra fought the elements and a single story structure fire Tuesday evening.
According to reports, Northwestern Fire and Northwestern Ambulance received a page to a fire at a residence on West Oak Street at 6:30PM.
Upon arrival, first responders found the structure fully engulfed. Ameren-Illinois was called to the scene to assist in disconnecting both electricity and natural gas.
Assistant Fire Chief Zac Meisenheimer says that the home was unoccupied at the time of the fire and it is believed that the fire was electrical in nature, but the cause remains undetermined at this time.
The early vestiges of the most recent winter storm hit the scene, and firefighters battled sleet and freezing rain along with the fire for 6 hours without mutual aid. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze from igniting neighboring homes.
Meisenheimer says that by the time the blaze was knocked down, there was a quarter to an eighth inch of ice on the department’s equipment. No injuries were reported as a result of the fire fight.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the state’s Worker’s Compensation Act doesn’t preempt claims for statutory damages under Illinois’ biometic privacy law.
The ruling now obliterates a defense that’s been used by employers in biometric privacy lawsuits in the state. It will now provide clarity for rulings in paused lawsuits against employers.
Illinois’ Biometric Privacy Act, enacted in 2008, mandates that private entities inform an individual in writing that their biometric identifier or biometric information is being collected or stored; share the specific purpose of why they’re collecting or using the biometric identifier or biometric information; and share the length of term for which the biometric identifier or biometric information will be collected and stored.
Employers have argued that any biometric privacy “injury” occurs while in the course of an individual’s employment and must therefore be adjudicated before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission pursuant to rules under Worker’s Compensation.
The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling upholds previous rulings in lower courts.
This will now allow lawsuits like Rene Reyes v. The Maschhoffs, LLC, that challenges the pork producer’s handling of clocking in to work by using fingerprints to proceed. Reyes claims in the suit that the company violated her privacy by improperly storing and handling her biometric information, making it susceptible to hacking and manipulation.
The Maschhoff’s case was continued in US District Court for Central Illinois on January 12th for a possible settlement between the two parties. The next hearing on the case is April 5th.
