State’s message to Boone County Fair Association: The check is in the mail.
BELVIDERE — That sigh of relief you’re hearing is coming from Belvidere.
State funding is on its way to help cover the Boone County Fair’s 2018 operating expenses. That’s good news, considering Illinois’ bill backlog is projected to be $7.7 billion when the 2018 fiscal year ends June 30. The funds are coming from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, which provides financial support to county fair associations across the state for their operating expenses.
Jamey Dunn, a spokesman for the Illinois Comptroller’s Office, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday sent the Comptroller’s Office a priority list of payments to be distributed, including $64,715.12 for the Boone County Fair Association. Dunn said the total amount paid to county fairs on Thursday was just under $2.9 million.
Boone County Fair Vice President Jack Ratcliffe says it’s been a long wait. “We were told we were going to get the money in December,” Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe said he expects an additional $20,000 from the Agriculture Department this summer.
The Boone County Fair is a not-for-profit organization and it will be held Aug. 7-12 this year as planned.
Last year’s fair drew a record 211,000 people, Ratcliffe said.
The Comptroller’s Office says a $43,974.12 payment was made Thursday to the Stephenson County Fair Association.
Stephenson County Fair Executive Director Amy Maggio said she and her board had not received the payment as of Friday afternoon.
“We’ve been calling every other week,” she said. “That money helps us put on the fair. We’re a premium fair. We also won’t be able to do any building improvement or upkeep of the grounds.”
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said that he voted against passage of a budget last year that was “over $1 billion unbalanced.”
“At the time we warned that painful cuts would have to be made in non-mandated areas to balance the budget,” he said. “When you can’t cut education, Medicaid, pensions, and court-ordered programs, it leaves very few areas that can be cut.”
State Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, said money for county fairs was appropriated by the General Assembly, and he criticized Gov. Bruce Rauner for making cuts at the expense of rural communities.
“It sends the wrong signal to agriculture,” he said. “We are an agricultural state.”
Stadelman and county fair officials also pointed out a University of Illinois 2014 study that showed the state’s county fairs annually inject about $170 million into the state’s economy.
While most of the state’s county fairs are funded from the Agricultural Department’s Premium and Rehabilitation Fund, some are funded out of the Agricultural Department’s Exposition Fund.
The Winnebago County Fair is one of Illinois’ 11 exposition-funded fairs, all of which have received funding, said James Walsh, Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs president.
Winnebago County Fair President Richard Bean could not be reached for comment. According to the Department of Agriculture’s Recapitulation Report of 2017, Illinois County Fairs, the Winnebago County Fair was eligible to receive nearly $72,000.
Ken DeCoster: 815-987-1391; kdecoster@rrstar.com @DeCosterKen
Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen
Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/news/20180420/states-message-to-boone-county-fair-association-check-is-in-mail
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