Category: Illinois

Repealing Home Rule is Hard

April 23rd, 2012 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon, Politics No comments - Tags: , , , , , ,

You know, for as simple as they make placing a referendum on general election ballots sound in civics class, it’s not always that easy. I spent the better part of an afternoon one Sunday searching and googling (yes, it’s a verb) every combination of ‘repeal home rule Illinois referendum’ that I could think of at the time. Most of the results returned were pro-Home Rule pamphlets that stated ‘No municipality has attempted to repeal Home Rule in xx years…’

I’m not surprised at this fact given how difficult the information is to find online. I’m generally quite talented when it comes to putting together a query that coaxes needed information from Google. Not this time. Thankfully I came across some information in the state constitution, general election code, and some failed attempts by other ticked citizens in other towns.

With the information gleaned from these resources I was able to cobble together my referendum question. Thankfully, I have a couple of lawyer types who gave it the once-over a couple of times and feel that it meets the requirements set forth to be placed on the ballot. Now I just have to go get the needed signatures and get it filed. Have to be sure to get plenty of signatures since this will surely be contested.

I’m still miffed about this new tax

April 3rd, 2012 · · Illinois, Legislation, Mount Vernon, Politics 3 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , ,

So, I previously ranted about the new tax on the citizens and shoppers of Mount Vernon. In it I made clear that the comparisons to other cities were worthless. Each of the cities mentioned has other influences which greatly affect their financial standing and tax base. This means we now have a higher tax rate than the only other comparable city in my opinion – Effingham. Also, this new tax will be used (I believe) to pay for our new community pool in addition to other QOL items. I oppose this model of the new pool, but that is not my gripe at this time.

I am quite perturbed that the city council would pass a tax increase at a special meeting rather than at a regular council meeting where the public expects such matters to be discussed. To be fair the meeting was supposedly announced and satisfied the Open Meetings Act requirements – I have not verified this and thus must say ‘supposedly’. What is unfair in my opinion is that a tax increase was passed at a special meeting held (as I understand it  clarified with the update below) during the day when most citizens are at work trying to support their families. According to an email reply from Councilman Wood:

First, there is nothing sneaky about this. The ordinance had to be in Springfield by about April 1.

Because of this, we started the discussion with extensive remarks at a workshop. We discussed the time schedule openly and completely. We could not do this at the first regular meeting for several reasons. We wanted the industrial and residential studies for our review before making a final decision on the tax. The City Manager was out of town and I was recovering from neck surgery on the previous Friday.”

So, there may have been legitimate reasons in their minds for conducting such an important discussion at a meeting that the public may have had difficulty attending – fine. If this tax was so important to get to Springfield by April 1 then why wasn’t discussion or first reading held until a few short weeks before that? In my opinion this was poorly planned, well planned, or perhaps just a series of unfortunate events leading to a rush that deprived the citizens of the ability to speak out against this new tax at a regular meeting.

Councilman Wood went on to state that I am poorly informed and I should attend the Council meetings and workshops. Attending daytime workshops and special meetings is well and grand when you make your own hours and/or are retired. Unfortunately most of the population is afforded neither of these luxuries. I believe a majority of the citizens depend upon our Council to inform us of important upcoming events or votes because we work so that we can make money to pay for new taxes.

No matter what, I feel slighted. The normal progression for acts as I have seen in the past is a first reading, second reading, and then voting. There are times that lesser matters have the rules waived and votes are taken after a first reading, but this is a new tax. This is not rezoning a property from B-1 to B-2. This tax will affect everyone in Mount Vernon and surrounding communities until the end of time as I don’t believe there was a sunset included.

Here is an excerpt from the minutes of the March 5, 2012 Council minutes (underlining by me for emphasis):

Stephen Casper stepped forward and stated that he feels the structure of the City Council meetings do not allow the audience to express their concerns adequately. He feels the audience should be given time at the beginning of the meeting to speak instead of at the end when Council has already voted on an issue. He asked that Council would consider having the audience heard prior to any votes. Mayor Chesley stated that on several occasions Council has workshops and invited people to come to express their concerns and they have. He stated that those who do not get the newspaper are unaware of the workshops. Mayor Chesley stated that there is a certain amount of responsibility as a citizen to be aware of what is going on within the community.“

I agree we have responsibility to be aware of what is going on in the community. Unfortunately we depend upon our civic leaders and elected officials to help us stay informed about what is going on in the community. People have families, jobs, social activities, and other matters to attend to in their daily lives. City Council members even miss meetings (as evidenced by Councilman Wood in his explanation above) from time to time and these are offices for which they were specifically elected.

Regarding the rumor that the city will be donating money or helping District 201 financially, Councilman Wood clarified that matter with this excerpt from his email to me:

As for the high school, please understand that we made a commitment very  early on to build the infrastructure to the school. We never made any decision to pay for any part of the school that exists on the school property. If such a decision were made it would be a public one that would be open to examination, comment, and criticism.”

So there you go. If the city decides to give any money to District 201 then it will be discussed at meetings which are subject to public input. Let’s just hope the discussion is at a regular meeting a majority of the public can attend. The infrastructure being built up to the school makes perfect sense as that is something that would be done for most any business in a similar manner.

About the pool – I did not attend those planning meetings nor did I comment on the now adopted plan. My bad. I still have the right to oppose it and bitch about it AND the tax that is going to fund it.

There you have it. My complaints, the reply/retort from Mr. Wood, and my opinions. This has been me complaining about our local government and some of their actions I don’t approve of lately. Maybe I’ll go to every meeting from now on and speak up during the public feedback portion. I’d hate to be accused of being ‘uninformed’ or of not taking ‘responsibility as a citizen to be aware of what is going on within the community.’

 

UPDATE:

Here is a link to the minutes of the Special Meeting (workshop) that was held during the day when most people are typically at work that you were supposed to attend. Perhaps I should say that I was expected to attend. I wonder if they’d let me Skype in from work.

Mount Vernon City Council Sneaks in a Tax Increase

March 27th, 2012 · · Illinois, Legislation, Mount Vernon, Politics 4 comments - Tags: , , , , , ,

Last night the Mount Vernon, IL city council passed a 0.50% tax increase. This increase puts our current tax rate on general merchandise at 8.0%. The only city within our region that compares reasonably to Mount Vernon is Effingham, and their tax rate is only 7.5% for general merchandise. There were other cities cited by proponents on the city council to compare Mount Vernon to that have higher tax rates. Sadly, each of those cities has other major economic considerations that support their tax rate!

  • Marion and Carbondale are both located along the Route 13 corridor.
  • Marion serves as a hub to the center of Route 13 and 57/24 interstates.
  • Marion grew by almost 10% from census to census.
  • Carbondale has a major university that helps support its income.
  • Carbondale has 50% more population than MtV – fair comparison?
  • Fairview Heights is in edge of the metropolitan area of Saint Louis.
  • Fairview Heights is home to many major shopping stores/centers.
  • Fairview Heights grew 11% census to census.

So, these three comparisons would be shot down by anyone who actually bothered to do some real comparison and fact-checking. Apparently our city council members are not fans of making realistic comparisons.

Here are a few other reasons I oppose this tax increase:

  • Mount Vernon has a 25.4 – 26.6% poverty rate as of latest census.
  • Is this going to pay for a pool that we will also have to pay to use?
  • Pool will only be open 3 months/year
  • Why is this tax not going to be sunset once planned items are completed?
  • An anonymous source says some of these funds being used to ‘help’ the new school.

Our poverty rate is a fact and cannot be disputed. At better than 25%, this means that our poorest citizens will now be paying closer to 10% of their income in taxes. Perhaps the goal of our city council is to alienate the poorest people in our community and force them to move elsewhere. There is strong belief that this new tax will fund a new pool that the city council is moving forward with building despite no funding in place to pay for it. This will be a nice pool with great fun to be had by everyone from the reports I have read – for 3 months of the year. The rest of the year this place will sit empty and unused by anyone except rats and mosquitoes.

The best part of possible uses for this new tax is a rumor that money will be given to the new high school to purchase property or otherwise assist with building. If that happens, I will come unglued. The last city council (Wood is still present) tried to screw city residents with a new tax to give the high school some money. This would have effectively made city residents (and shoppers) pay more toward the new, flashy high school than what their taxes were already going to be raised. District 201 is an independent taxing body. The city of Mount Vernon should not be financially supporting another taxing body. Granted, this is a rumor and should be taken as such, but they did try to screw us once before…

UPDATE:

I have received a reply from Councilman Wood that states they (council) passed the tax at the special meeting due to the unavailability of some to be at the last meeting and that they (council) wanted to pass the tax increase in a hurry because “The ordinance had to be in Springfield by about April 1.” I contend that it was rushed and should have been at a regular meeting considering it is a tax increase, but you may draw your own conclusions. Councilman Wood also states that the city has previously committed to provide infrastructure to the new school site and that other action beyond that would have to be discussed and approved at council meetings. This apparently quashes (I love that word) the rumor going about that the city will be donating or otherwise providing additional monies to District 201.

Also, the ‘they’ I refer to as trying to screw us before is a mostly replaced council. It was meant as a reference to the city council as a standing body and is not indicative of anyone in particular. It refers to action by the council with mostly different members – one of which almost admitted shady actions to me, but not quite.

In fairness, Councilman Wood was quite verbose in his reply and somewhat addressed my concerns. I still disagree with a tax being rushed and the new pool design. However, at least he (and Mayor Chesley in a separate email) replied to my concerns. Councilman Wood also took time to say I should come to council meetings and that I am misinformed regarding facts. He stated I should know better than to depend upon the newspaper for complete information. While this is true to a point, I contend that in my estimate 95% of residents never attend city council meetings and a we (the public) do depend on the newspaper, council releases, and the agendas/minutes on the city’s website to stay up to speed. If you are going to increase our taxes, then I would think that this information should be conducted at regular meetings – not special meetings that a majority are unaware of occurring.

He also said he can’t believe someone who ran for council blah blah blah… I ran against the shadiness that was going on at that time (and almost stated blatantly). Had I been elected I would have dove in headfirst and been equally as dedicated to the citizens of this city, if not more so. However I am on the outside and using all the information I can access to learn what is going on and draw conclusions. No, I didn’t call to ask if there was going to be a special meeting, but I shouldn’t have to call and ask. One would think that information would be on the city website or a distinct point made in a quote for the newspaper. Being an outsider I sent an email to communicate, aren’t we allowed to do that?

Oh yeah, the other city comparison facts stand.

Alltel can suck it

May 20th, 2011 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon, Technology No comments - Tags: , , , ,

So, when I was late with my cellular bill some time ago, it was because I was poor. The bill would come due and I would have to make payment arrangements because we often wasted money or consistently spent more than our income. There are no excuses for that. It’s simple economics (from which politicians could use a refresher course).

Today, however, our income is enough to pay the mobile bill, and the other bills on-time each month. No bubbles, no troubles. However I still pay my mobile bill ‘late’ every month. I mean, it’s not late in the sense that I’m not paying for the services I use in a timely manner, it’s late in the sense that I don’t pay ahead of time for services I may or may not use.

In case you have forgotten (or were never aware), the mobile industry in the United States bills you for services ahead of time. Look at your next statement. The time billed ends in the near future. This is similar to the cable company (and probably satellite). Normally this would not anger me much as I will use the service, and thus will pay the bill (like the cable). Alltel sees fit to start sending threatening texts and making harassing phone calls over 10 days before the service that you are pre-paying for is ended however. 10 days. WTF.

I could understand if it were the 24th (the day after my billing cycle) and they began bugging me, but that is not the case. They have informed me via text that they will be shutting my service off on the 21st if I do not pay my ‘past due’ balance. Again – WTF?

The 21st is still two days before the date my ‘late payment’ will cover. If I’m on a prepay service, fine, just tell me so and let me end my service with no termination fee. Oh hell no, you will prepay and like it Mr. Consumer!

Previously, I stayed with Alltel because of some stupid sense of loyalty – they bought First Cellular and treated us well while downsizing. Then it was because they were the ‘little guy’ after selling out most of their network to Verizon. At this point, they can suck it. As soon as the mood strikes I will be moving to AT&T or one of the lesser carriers. Verizon is out because they are 50% foreign-owned (didn’t know you were sending 1/2 of your money overseas? better check into it), and I figure my cellular dollars may as well make some American executives rich.

Oh, and work gets me discounts with AT&T, so they are the front-runner. Yes, there will be a rape-you-in-the-ass early term fee, but that will be less than continuing my service without the discount, so I still come out ahead.

PC work? Not for you.

April 30th, 2010 · · Family, Illinois, Mount Vernon, Technology, Work No comments - Tags: , , , , ,

The following story is true to my best recollection, and happened a couple of years ago.

I  shy away from working on personal computers for one major reason – people who are sue-happy. A PC is a machine, it breaks mechanically as well as by software. Had a woman who asked me to look at a PC, I did, and after I had her reboot, it would not come up. I left, after doing nothing to the PC other than plugging in a USB thumb drive (software tools I commonly use are on the thumb drive).

She told me I had broken it and needed to pay to have it replaced after her ‘friend’ she gets weed from said it was non-repairable. We had a few missed phone calls back and forth, but I offered to pay 1/2 of the repair cost at a neutral shop to be nice. I should point out that she suggested I buy her a ~$1,500 laptop to replace the 5+ year old desktop her weed-buddy said I broke.

Then she contacted the MVPD who told her(according to her message) that I had likely downloaded personal information from her PC using my thumb drive (thanks for that, MVPD), and was a criminal planning to exploit that information. Finally she left me a message that said she had ‘better not find me out anywhere’ and that I should ‘come back by her house because her dogs have something for me’.

Long story short, I’m shying away from doing PC work for anyone other than immediate family. Until I am incorporated and have a much better liability policy, my family cannot afford the risk even though I love helping people.

I won’t mention her company for fear of being sued, but her family runs a local pest control company named ACME, beware.