Rates increased 19 percent two years ago. Now they will increase another 7 percent starting May 1, as a result of action taken during a special village board meeting Feb. 29.
A public hearing on the refinancing plan and the proposed rate increase will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday (March 8) at village hall, 200 Hill St.
Click on the following for more details: Poplar Grove required to increase water and sewer rates
Madigan's office filed a motion to stay the judgment while the state prepares an appeal it plans to file by Feb. 14.
An appellate court ruled this week that the law raising taxes on liquor and candy and allowing video gambling is unconstitutional. Justices decreed it violates a rule against bills covering more than a single subject.
Click on the following for more details: Attorney General Madigan wants high court to stay ruling on state's $31B construction plan | Government | Crain's Chicago Business
Take a look at this report on the Illinois’s capital spending plan. Click on the following:http://illinoispolicy.org/uploads/files/2010CapitalPigletBook.pdf
On July 13, 2009, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law legislation nicknamed “Illinois Jobs Now!”, which gave lawmakers $31 billion to dole out to pet projects, delaying much-needed spending restraint reforms while enabling the government’s profligate spending habits
Illinois is in dire financial shape, but that hasn’t stopped politicians from spending with vigor. In February 2010, the Illinois Policy Institute released the 2010 Illinois Piglet Book in conjunction with Citizens Against Government Waste, highlighting over $350 million in wasteful operational spending. This report provides a follow up to the 2010 Illinois Piglet Book by offering a closer look at Illinois’s capital spending plan
The following local projects are mentioned in the Illinois Piglet Book as questionable expenditures:
Page 7--land purchase/building renovation
$310,000 to the city of Belvidere
$150,000 to the Hampshire Park District;
$100,000 to the Rockford Park District for land acquisition
Page 9 Another investment that the state considers an integral part of getting Illinois’s economy back on its feet is…parks
• $100,000 for the Anderson Japanese Gardens for all costs associated with construction of a new pavilion
Governor Quinn’s capital bill digs Illinois into a $31 billion fiscal hole at a time the state can ill afford to take on additional debt. Far from being an investment in the state’s future, the bill’s expenditures are little more than a series of projects that at best should be postponed; at worst, they are simply handouts and earmarks. The state cannot afford to keep spending money it does not have—whether on regular appropriations or capital bills. Eventually, the bills will come due, and taxpayers will have to send more of their hard-earned money to government coffers.
two-decade tradition of shunning open bidding for Chicago’s long-term debt, selling $2 billion in bonds through private negotiations with banks. Arranging competitive auctions instead would save taxpayers millions of dollars, according to internal documents and a review of bond sales by the country’s third-largest municipality.
Efforts to introduce competition fail because the city and its aldermen want to reward those who support public officials and politically connected charities, said a former investment banker in Chicago.
Click on the following for more details: Chicago CFO Taking Orders From Daley Increases Taxpayers’ Costs - Bloomberg.com
Ahead of the $530 million sale of Build Illinois bonds, S&P affirmed an AAA rating, while Fitch affirmed an AA rating based on strong debt service coverage provided by the sales tax.
County will not increase its tax levy or make cuts to programs and services. County employees don't have to worry about layoffs or benefit reductions, but most also won't be receiving an annual pay raise. Some workers, such as sheriff deputies, may get a small bump under current employment contracts.
plan marks a 6.1 percent decrease in spending from last year, with most of the savings coming from commodities and contracts. The county's cash reserves will continue to grow to about $45.6 million - a financial safety net at its highest level in more than a decade.
Leaders also dedicated $1 million in spending for nonprofit agencies, such as to area food pantries. The commitment is similar to one made this year, which marked a 50 percent increase.
Lisle is a village of approximately 25,000 in DuPage County.
village board didn't feel the tax revenue potential from video gaming machines in any way outweighed our concerns about the social consequences and adverse effects on quality of life gambling can have on a community," Mayor Joseph Broda said in a written statement.
Other DuPage County communities that have banned gambling include Addison, Bloomingdale, Glen Ellyn, Naperville, West Chicago, Wheaton, Winfield and Villa Park.
those that allow video gambling will receive 5 percent of each machine's profit
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Lisle latest town to ban video gambling
proposals introduced by state Rep. Jack Franks to either repeal the law or allow voters to have a say about it on February's primary ballot.
Lake County Board members Tuesday joined those from Cook and DuPage counties in outlawing the machines in unincorporated regions.
Supporters, including bar owners and machine makers, say the gambling devices are already in a number of places illegally and it is better than hiking taxes.
Illinois Gaming Board members say that without more money and manpower they can't come up with rules to vet bar owners and vendors or devise a way to keep organized crime out of the business. The board will need several million dollars upfront alone to buy a computer system to monitor the 45,000 or more machines 24/7.
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Will video gambling falter? Don't bet on it
In Warrenville, there are 22 establishments that would be eligible to host video gambling, officials said. If all those locations had the maximum of five machines, it could generate up to $220,000 a year for the city.
The state will receive 25 percent, while establishment owners and the terminal operators evenly split the rest
The city council's public safety and legislative committee needed only five minutes Monday night to recommend the full council adopt a local law prohibiting the machines.
The list of local governments opting out of video gambling has lengthened to 221 municipalities
The gaming industry's many influential registered lobbyists know that video gambling is so unpopular in Illinois that it generally can't survive public hearings and open debate.
Chicago presents the industry with a different challenge. In order to permit video gambling, it looks to us as if the City Council would have to cast an affirmative vote to override the current ban.
State lawmakers sneakily fast-tracked it as a way to cover one-third of the cost of retiring state bonds for a $31 billion capital spending plan
Legislators could scale back the size of their capital plan, or they could find a better way to pay for it. The worst option: leaving the current law untouched.
Each time a local government opts out of video gambling, as the Cook County Board ought to do Tuesday, the folly of exploiting poor people who'll patronize this industry to pay for new roads becomes all the more obvious.
Click on the following for the full editorial: Choking video poker -- chicagotribune.com
committee is recommending that the County Board put the question to voters in the February primary, and the board could vote as soon as its Oct. 20 meeting
a full house, at a Wednesday evening hearing.
The 90 people who attended the McHenry County Board Liquor and License Committee hearing, a mix of organized labor, restaurant and tavern owners and economic development agencies, implored the county board not to ban video gambling,
State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, asked the County Board to pursue a referendum. He opposes video gambling as a way to raise state revenue and said the social costs of gambling would outweigh the benefits
Click on the following for the rest of the story: Northwest Herald | Backers fill video gaming hearing
the ban affects only 53 places with liquor licenses in unincorporated Cook. Yet it adds political momentum to the public outcry against expanding video gambling.
The Cook County Board stood up to 11th-hour lobbying by the video-gambling industry today and passed a ban on video poker in unincorporated areas.
In some ways, it was a redundant act, in that the county already bans video gambling, but the new ordinance, sponsored by Democratic Chicago Commissioner Bridget Gainer, specifically addressed language and machines cited in the new $31 billion state public-works bill passed earlier
Members of Video Gaming Task Force voted Wednesday to table action and meet within 30 days
Some local municipalities already have instituted bans, including Elburn and DuPage County.
Kane delays decision on video gaming :: Beacon News :: Local News
Will it ever be Belvidere/Boone County’s turn?
Now it's the Lake County Board's turn….This Wednesday, the board's finance committee will take up the issue.
Kildeer, Buffalo Grove and Mettawa are among the towns that have enacted bans. So has the DuPage County Board.
program has supporters, too. Chief among them is Corky Anderson, a Beach Park bar owner and president of the Lake County Tavern Owners Association who believes local bars could lose customers to other communities if a ban is enacted.
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Should Lake County ban video gambling? Opinions differ
Geneva, Il -- Opponents of video gambling say it would enrich few people, ruin lives, destroy families, create false hopes for independent wealth and harm youth.
"This would make few people rich," said Dr. C. Alfred Patten of St. Charles, a retired senior pastor of Baker United Methodist Church in St. Charles.
Click on the following for more details: Critics voice concern over video gambling :: Beacon News :: Local News
Here is the first time in long time that the Rockford Register Star has mentioned video poker.
Revenue from the next-generation terminals could funnel more than $300 million a year to the Illinois Department of Revenue, according to state estimates. But some locales, including Rosemont, DuPage County, Rochester and Country Club Hills, have banned the machines within their borders, leaving state officials wondering precisely how much cash will flow to state coffers
Thirty percent of the revenue from the machines will go to the state, with the rest divided between the establishments with the machines and a third party who may own and maintain the machines
Click on the following for the rest of the story: Video gambling fees likely to keep some from going all in - - BusinessRockford.com
And where is Boone County and Belvidere on this issue? Will either board discuss or vote on the issue?
It conceivable that the McHenry County Board may allow citizens to vote whether they want slot machines and video poker in McHenry County. It would be an advisory referendum, because the legislature only allowed binding referendums that are initiated by 25% of the voters in a county or municipality
The minimum that will happen is that the county board's License and Liquor Committee will hold a hearing on the evening of October 7 at the Administrative Center in Woodstock at 6:00PM.
Then, on October 20th, the county board could vote whether to ban slot machines in the unincorporated part of McHenry County having an effect on 44 bars, taverns and restaurants, plus 7 golf clubs
Read the further details at Cal Skinner’s Blog: McHenry County Blog: McHenry County Board May Let Voters Have Say in Bar Slot Machines
The schools named in the article are in the Pantagraph’s immediate area—Bloomington-Normal.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Anti-Defamation League told state officials that they've identified at least 97 religious organizations that would get the money from the capital construction bill signed into law last month.
75,000 for capital improvements to the library at the Chicago Baptist Institute; $100,000 each for renovations at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, St. Ann Catholic School and St. Paul Parish; and $50,000 for a housing project by the Lawndale Christian Development Project.
I received this email regarding my posting of the various newspaper articles on video poker in Illinois. I am posting that email in its entirety and hope it may supply more information on this issue.
Under the state’s new capital bill local government can opt out of having video poker gambling in their local communities. Unincorporated DuPage County has already opted out by a vote of their county board. The issue can also go to referendum if the local government wishes.
Hi Bill,
Since you've covered this issue recently for the Boone County Watch Dog, I thought you might be interested in this perspective on the video gaming issue that's currently being discussed within Illinois communities. Please call if you have additional questions.
Regards,
Chris Scott
Senior Vice President
Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications
900 N. Franklin Street
Chicago, IL 60610
312.666.6662 (voice)
312.666.1670 (fax)
ICMOA Chief Urges Weighing of Facts Before Banning Video Gaming
MORRIS, Ill. (August 19, 2009) – The leader of the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association (ICMOA) expressed disappointment at the precipitous handful of local bans prohibiting video gaming under the state’s recently approved legislation permitting it in bars and certain other adult-oriented venues.
“DuPage County’s ban in unincorporated areas, and similar actions by communities like Rosemont and Country Club Hills, seem to be based more on myths about gaming than on rational consideration of the facts,” said Tom Fiedler, president of the ICMOA and owner of Melody Music in Champaign.
He congratulated the Will County Board for its more measured response; it delayed until late fall its consideration of the issue while it weighs the facts.
Video gaming was approved by legislators in July as a means of partially funding a $31 billion public works program. It permits up to five video gambling machines offering games like poker or blackjack at bars and certain restaurants, fraternal and veterans groups and truck stops. The maximum bet is $2; the most a gambler could win on any one hand is $500.
Fiedler said video gaming will alleviate some of the financial pressures facing the state and many of its municipalities, and could generate as much as $300 million a year. “That should be weighed into considerations, especially since other sources of revenue – say, an increase in income taxes – are even more controversial than video gaming,” he said.
Video gaming has been successful as a reliable revenue source in the majority of states where it has been legalized, including New York, Montana and Louisiana, Fiedler noted. It has been repealed in Iowa and South Carolina because of failings in their statutes on age controls. The experiences of all were thoroughly researched by policymakers to ensure best practices were applied to Illinois’ legislation, he added.
“The reality is that video gaming will not be coming to a bar near you for probably another year,” said Fiedler. “During that time, the Illinois Gaming Commission will be developing its plans to oversee video gaming operations and the licensees who install the machines. This group has earned high marks for its ability to regulate other legalized gaming industries in Illinois.
“Local officials have nothing to lose by waiting to see how these plans shape up and researching the pros and cons in the interim. Knee-jerk decisions are not in the best interests of all their constituents,” he said.
Headquartered in Morris, the ICMOA is a 120-member, non-profit organization formed by businesses involved in the coin-operated amusement machine industry in Illinois. For more information, visit www.icmoa.org.
Editors: Please visit http://www.hodgeschindler.com/icmoa.html to view the ICMOA’s “Video Gaming: Myths vs. Realities.”
The State’s Capital Plan may still be in trouble—the major source of funding may not be allowed by local governments.
revolt against Illinois' new video-poker law is beginning to pick up a remarkable amount of support -- so much support that one key source says it could endanger the revenue stream needed to pay off billions in state infrastructure bonds.
The revolt, which so far has received remarkably little press attention, is led by big counties, which can ban gaming only in [un]incorporated areas. But the pitchforks are starting to come out in municipalities, too. …
First up is the DuPage County Board….in Will County…The board is to hold a committee-of-the-whole hearing on Thursday to begin deliberations. A similar ban in unincorporated Cook County will be submitted next month….Other sources expect action soon in Lake County….Rosemont, of Emerald Casino fame, last week became the first suburban Chicago municipality to outlaw video gambling….
Revenue from video poker will comprise about 40% of the funds needed to retire billions in state bonds for infrastructure that were authorized by the General Assembly earlier this year
Read the rest of the story by clicking on the following: Greg Hinz Blog | Crain's Chicago Business
