Village president: Our financial house is in order - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

By John Neitzel

Posted Aug. 22, 2015 at 3:51 PM

The recent article in the Register Star “Village finances a mess” Wednesday is misleading and not representative of the current state of the business in Poplar Grove as it relates to our financial picture.

The current village of Poplar Grove board approved the recent internal controls audit of our financial processes and procedures. While there were many process deficiencies listed in the audit, we requested the audit as the next evolutionary step in improving our processes and procedures and our quality of service to our residents.

As a newly elected official in 2009, the existing board at that time was faced with a $450K deficit. Through some very difficult budget decisions the presiding board was able to erase the budget deficit within two years and even began building a small reserve. Those early years, 2009 moving forward, came with great sacrifice by the board and our residents.

We were unable to make substantive improvements to infrastructure because funds were not available and the board chose not to take on additional debt. In essence we only spent monies on breakdowns and necessary repairs to keep our public works operations functioning. In addition to eliminating the budget deficit, the board was able to refinance the village’s bond debt at a lower interest rate and an improved bond rating that to date has saved our residents nearly $1 million.

For the first time ever since I have served on this board, this year we have established a capital improvement budget and are funding nearly $950K in capital improvements. We are currently operating with a reserve fund equal to eight months operational spend. It took the efforts of our staff and our elected officials to make the progress we have made.

As you can see, the actions described above prevent the village's finances from being warranted "a mess."

Poplar Grove’s evolution from a small rural community of a few hundred to our current population of more than 5,000 residents is representative of growth in our region over the past 20 years. With this growth, the expected services provided by the village grew exponentially. Were processes, policies, and procedures during this period keeping pace with the growth? I would say no. Were there more pressing budgetary and operational issues that prevented the attention needed in this area? Arguably I would say yes.

So let’s fast forward to the present. I would say our financial house is in order. We are operating with a surplus. This internal audit is the next logical evolutionary step that reviews our current processes and makes candid observations of our operation but, more importantly, identifies operational deficiencies and recommends the required actions to make corrections. The bottom line is, of course, to improve our performance to our residents and community. The board, and equally our staff, should be commended for taking this initiative and for their steadfast dedication to the village and maintaining our functional operation in spite of having little to no documented processes.

To cast the results of this audit as a negative for the village is misrepresenting the purpose. We asked for this independent review. Tell us our deficiencies, and provide us the recommendations needed to put in place the necessary controls. This was a bold initiative that very few municipalities have the courage to do.

The intent was not to air our “dirty laundry” and to be criticized for it. The intent was, and still is, to identify our deficiencies and fix them. Together, board and staff, we will.

John Neitzel is village president of Poplar Grove.

Village president: Our financial house is in order - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Village administrator: Turnaround was an amazing accomplishment - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

By Diana Dykstra

Posted Aug. 22, 2015 at 4:08 PM

Internal controls is the new buzz word in an era of government transparency. It is a framework of best practices that are standardized by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. It plays an important role in any organization as a practice to prevent fraud and promote transparency.

Potential weaknesses exist in every organization. Weaknesses are inevitable with government boards that consist of elected officials whose terms could run for four years, requiring no official education.

In 2009, the village of Poplar Grove was in a $450,000 deficit. By 2013, elected officials had accomplished the unbelievable: the achievement of an AA- bond rating and an increase in the unreserved fund balance (bank account) of more than eight months’ worth of operations. It was quite the amazing accomplishment.

Not many municipalities can say they have wanted to hire a company to come in and tell them what they might be doing wrong. With the village in such a great financial position, they certainly didn’t need to ask for this type of audit.

The village of Poplar Grove broke the mold.

They hired a firm to conduct an Internal Controls Audit of their policies and procedures. A full review of those practices led to roughly 26 recommendations.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is an independent organization not funded by any government organization. They basically set the bar for all accountants to use for best practices and standards. The audit reviews what practices are currently being used, and made recommendations on what the best practice is according to government standards and principles.

Even with the news of this report, this special audit creates a road map for officials to use in order to adopt new policies and procedures.

In an era when “trust” and “government” are not allowed to be used in the same sentence, I applaud the officials and employees in the village of Poplar Grove for recognizing the need, taking the lead in transparency and holding themselves accountable to taxpayers. This is how to replace trust in government.

Diana Dykstra is village administrator of Poplar Grove.

Village administrator: Turnaround was an amazing accomplishment - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

For Koch group, winning is rising as priority over purity - Yahoo News

 

 

By THOMAS BEAUMONT 1 hour ago

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The head of the Koch brothers' flagship political organization says a Republican winning the presidency is becoming a higher priority for more of its members, suggesting a rift between pragmatists and ideologues.

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said conservative fatigue after George W. Bush's presidency in 2008 and overconfidence in efforts to beat President Barack Obama in 2012 have focused more members on winning back the White House than he's seen since the group formed a decade ago.

"I do think there is a sense of urgency about the future," he said, "that you owe it to your principles to win for those principles."

It's hard to tell how deep the divide between pragmatists and more ideologues runs, although reactions were mixed at the group's annual conference in Ohio Friday and Saturday. Five presidential candidates addressed the roughly 3,600 conservative activists from around the country, from tea party star Ted Cruz to Jeb Bush, a relative newcomer to the group's events.

"I think people are coming to the conclusion that there is no perfect candidate," Americans for Prosperity Iowa Director Drew Klein said.

Americans for Prosperity spent more than $30 million on television advertising in 2012 attempting to defeat Obama. The group does not plan to endorse a candidate in the Republican primary, but its leaders haven't decided whether they will advertise on behalf of the 2016 GOP nominee, Phillips said.

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Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Defending the American Dream …

Based on the variety of reactions to the candidates by members who attended the conference in Columbus, they would have a long way to go to reach consensus.

"I'm listening to everyone," said Leona Poston of Kentucky. "We need to win this time."

Cruz, the tea party favorite since his 2012 election, sparked deafening cheers in the Columbus Convention Center auditorium even before he took the stage, entering to the 1980s power anthem "Eye of the Tiger." During his speech Saturday, he punched at the lines promising to "repeal every word of Obamacare" and "rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal."

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio stooped to shake the outstretched hands of fans as he took the stage to speak Saturday.

By contrast Bush, who spoke the day before, earned far fewer cheers than either Cruz or Rubio and received mostly polite applause from the anti-tax, economic conservative audience.

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Republican presidential candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at the Defending the American Dream …

Conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch have cracked the door open for Bush, who served two terms as Florida governor before the rise of the group that helped launch the political rise of some of Bush's 2016 rivals.

Members voiced reservations about the former governor's support for Common Core education standards, which some in the group misunderstand to be a federal government mandate. And a handful chanted their opposition as he left the stage.

David White of Ohio was not impressed. "He used his time to try and rearrange perception of his record in Florida," White said.

But some said they were open to supporting Bush, who has only recently begun attending the group's gatherings and was making his first appearance at its annual conference.

"Bush can raise the money to win," said Kelly Gunderson of Minnesota, who opposes Common Core, but was "pleasantly surprised" by Bush. "And I would say I can be with someone who I support 80 percent of the time."

For Koch group, winning is rising as priority over purity - Yahoo News

Bernie Sanders takes aim at 'greedy' Koch brothers - Yahoo News

 

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is making the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch the face of a "corrupted" political and economic system that the Vermont senator wants to upend.

Sanders delighted a South Carolina rally of more than 3,000 people Saturday with his assertions that the Kochs and other "greedy" billionaires are destroying American democracy by infusing huge sums of cash into campaigns and election.

The Vermont senator, who is pushing former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton from the left, called for publicly financed elections that would allow "anyone" to seek public office without "begging from billionaires."

And he pledged that his nominees to the Supreme Court would have to promise themselves that they would try to overturn the Citizens United decision that allows corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to spend unlimited sums in campaigns.

"We live in a nation in which a handful of very, very wealthy people have extraordinary power over our economy and our political life and the media," Sanders told the boisterous crowd at a convention center near Charleston.

"They are very, very powerful and many of them are extremely greedy," he continued. "For the life of me, I will never understand how a family like the Koch brothers, worth $85 billion, apparently think that's not enough money."

Sanders' remarks came on the same day that Americans for Prosperity, a conservative activists organization backed heavily by the Kochs, heard from several Republican White House hopefuls.

Sanders typically does not mention Clinton or any Republican candidates by name, but relishes telling his audiences that he stands out for refusing any support from Super PACs, the political committees that can accept the unlimited sums as long as they don't coordinate directly with candidates' principal campaign committees.

He says he has more than 400,000 individual contributors who have chipped in an average of $31.20. "This is a people's campaign," he said in North Charleston.

The rally Saturday night concluded a two-day swing in South Carolina, which hosts the South's first primary, weeks after Iowa and New Hampshire start the nominating contest.

South Carolina is the first of the early voting states to feature a large number of African-American voters. Sanders and his aides have acknowledged that he must increase his support among African-Americans, here and nationally, if he hopes to turn his surprising momentum into a serious challenge against Clinton.

In each of his South Carolina stops, Sanders attempted to link his progressive agenda to concerns and challenges prevalent in the black community. He called for restoring sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court overturned and pledged to fight "institutional racism," with a particular focus on the criminal justice system.

He called special attention to the June massacre during which a white gunman killed nine members of a historic black church in Charleston, and he mentioned the killing of Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man who was shot and killed this spring by a white police officer in North Charleston. That officer has since been fired and charged with murder.

Bernie Sanders takes aim at 'greedy' Koch brothers - Yahoo News

Rep. Jack Franks still on the fence about override of AFSCME bill veto | Northwest Herald

 

Without Senate Bill 1229 becoming law, Rauner could try to impose his own terms should no further extensions be agreed upon, which could mean a strike if AFSCME opposes the final offer. Rauner wants a pay freeze and workers to pay more of their health insurance costs, and AFSCME wants wages to be increased 11.5 percent over four years, plus increased benefits.

While supporters say the legislation is needed to prevent an anti-union governor from forcing a strike and locking out employees – Rauner has promised he would not do so – opponents say it will eliminate the governor’s ability to get a grip on salaries and benefits for a cash-strapped state government in deep financial trouble.

The Senate on Wednesday voted to override the veto with two votes to spare, one which came from Republican state Sen. Sam McCann, of downstate Plainview, who said many of his constituents are state employees who support the measure. The House re-convenes Wednesday, but it is doubtful it will immediately take up the override.

Rauner blasted the Senate vote in a statement and implored the House not to finalize the override.

“Every senator who voted to overturn our veto chose special interests over the taxpayers. They made it abundantly clear that they’d rather raise taxes than stand up to the politically powerful. It is now up to House members to take the responsible, pro-taxpayer position and uphold our veto,” Rauner stated.

The bill passed the House with 67 votes, or four short of the three-fifths needed to override Rauner’s veto. Franks has split from Madigan on multiple occasions, most recently denying the speaker the three-fifths majority he needed to put a “millionaire tax” constitutional amendment to voters.

Regardless of Senate Bill 1229’s high profile, Franks called it a distraction from the ongoing budget battle between Rauner and the Democratic-dominated General Assembly – the state is now in its eighth week without a budget in place.

“I think that’s much more important than this sideshow. We’ve lost track of where we need to be,” Franks said.

Without Senate Bill 1229 becoming law, Rauner could try to impose his own terms should no further extensions be agreed upon, which could mean a strike if AFSCME opposes the final offer. Rauner wants a pay freeze and workers to pay more of their health insurance costs, and AFSCME wants wages to be increased 11.5 percent over four years, plus increased benefits.

While supporters say the legislation is needed to prevent an anti-union governor from forcing a strike and locking out employees – Rauner has promised he would not do so – opponents say it will eliminate the governor’s ability to get a grip on salaries and benefits for a cash-strapped state government in deep financial trouble.

The Senate on Wednesday voted to override the veto with two votes to spare, one which came from Republican state Sen. Sam McCann, of downstate Plainview, who said many of his constituents are state employees who support the measure. The House re-convenes Wednesday, but it is doubtful it will immediately take up the override.

Rauner blasted the Senate vote in a statement and implored the House not to finalize the override.

“Every senator who voted to overturn our veto chose special interests over the taxpayers. They made it abundantly clear that they’d rather raise taxes than stand up to the politically powerful. It is now up to House members to take the responsible, pro-taxpayer position and uphold our veto,” Rauner stated.

The bill passed the House with 67 votes, or four short of the three-fifths needed to override Rauner’s veto. Franks has split from Madigan on multiple occasions, most recently denying the speaker the three-fifths majority he needed to put a “millionaire tax” constitutional amendment to voters.

Regardless of Senate Bill 1229’s high profile, Franks called it a distraction from the ongoing budget battle between Rauner and the Democratic-dominated General Assembly – the state is now in its eighth week without a budget in place.

“I think that’s much more important than this sideshow. We’ve lost track of where we need to be,” Franks said.

Rep. Jack Franks still on the fence about override of AFSCME bill veto | Northwest Herald

Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » MJM’s sour grapes and some legit questions about McPier’s “technical default”

Rauner cost the taxpayers money.

Friday, Aug 21, 2015

* Wednesday’s statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office…

“Tonight the state legislature has taken an important step forward for Chicago and for Illinois. I want to thank Senate President Cullerton and the members of the State Senate for joining the State House in passing Senate Bill 2042. This bill ensures that the operations at Navy Pier and McCormick Place, which are two engines of our economy, are funded. It also ensures that we leave no federal dollars on the table which can support our residents.”

* On Thursday, the governor signed the federal funds bill into law…

Governor Bruce Rauner signed SB 2042 today, which appropriates money for the pass through of federal dollars without adding to the state’s budget deficit. The clean bill allows the state to provide some services to the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

“Governor Rauner supported and signed this clean pass through bill because it will help those in need without adding to the state’s budget deficit,” Director of Communications Lance Trover said. “While the Governor continues to work on passing a balanced budget with structural reforms to maximize how much we can invest in our schools and important social services, some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens will be able receive additional support.”

* Speaker Madigan’s response…

Madigan: Governor Failed Women, Children and Elderly While Helping Chicago’s McCormick Place

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Thursday after the governor signed legislation authorizing the use of state funds for McCormick Place while opposing funding for women, children and the elderly:

“Governor Rauner’s piecemeal approach to federally funded programs creates more hardship and confusing disruptions. A few weeks ago, he vetoed all federally funded program spending. Now he cherry picks and says ‘no’ to state funding for critically needed services like breast and cervical cancer screenings, assistance for children with development disabilities and meals for the elderly. He also reversed course with the decision to support spending state money to pay Chicago’s McCormick Place bankers.

“The governor’s office called the inclusion of funding for these programs a ‘poison pill,’ and more than one House Republican made similar comments on the House floor, even going so far as to say these programs were ‘extra nonsense’ that ‘got in the way’ while they insisted on spending additional state money to ensure McCormick Place’s bankers get paid. I take great exception to those disparaging comments, as do the women, children and elderly who would have benefitted from the state dollars House Democrats supported.”

He has a point, but that federal funding/McPier bill really needed to pass.

* OK, now let’s move on to some context from Yvette Shields…

The legislation permits MPEA to draw from the account that holds pledged tax revenues to cover monthly payments to the bond trustee and also to make its December debt service payment. The agency requires an appropriation to do both and without a state budget in place it could not make the $20.8 monthly payment due to the trustee July 20.

The failed transfer triggered a technical default and prompted Standard & Poor’s to strip the agency’s $3 billion of debt of its AAA rating and Fitch Ratings to lower its AA-minus rating. […]

“Met Pier has been held hostage by the Illinois legislature, which should have unconditionally appropriated money to cover debt service,” [Cumberland Advisors] wrote in a recent commentary authored by Michael Coomes and John Mousseau.

“The political paralysis in Illinois does not make Met Pier a bad credit,” they wrote. “It is a good credit held hostage by the vagaries of the municipal market’s retail buyer base and headline risk. At Cumberland, we have sold our uninsured Met Pier debt because of these heightened political risks. We believe that Met Pier bonds will not be prudent investments until Illinois’ political issues are resolved.”

* But my beef is, what exactly happened here?

It’ll now cost more money to finance McPier bonds because somebody in the Rauner administration didn’t anticipate a very real debt service issue, or didn’t communicate that upcoming problem to the governor’s office or the General Assembly leadership, or they did and the warnings were ignored.

And are there any other preventable time bombs out there that we should know about?

The House’s State Government Administration Committee and/or the Senate’s State Government & Veterans Affairs Committee ought to get to the bottom of these questions. Pronto.

- Posted by Rich Miller

Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » MJM’s sour grapes and some legit questions about McPier’s “technical default”

House Speaker Madigan: Governor Failed Women, Children and Elderly While Helping Chicago's McCormick Place

 

Springfield, IL—(ENEWSPF)—August 20, 2015. House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Thursday, after the governor signed legislation authorizing the use of state funds for McCormick Place while opposing funding for women, children and the elderly:

“Governor Rauner’s piecemeal approach to federally funded programs creates more hardship and confusing disruptions. A few weeks ago, he vetoed all federally funded program spending. Now he cherry picks and says ‘no’ to state funding for critically needed services like breast and cervical cancer screenings, assistance for children with development disabilities and meals for the elderly. He also reversed course with the decision to support spending state money to pay Chicago’s McCormick Place bankers.

“The governor’s office called the inclusion of funding for these programs a ‘poison pill,’ and more than one House Republican made similar comments on the House floor, even going so far as to say these programs were ‘extra nonsense’ that ‘got in the way’ while they insisted on spending additional state money to ensure McCormick Place’s bankers get paid. I take great exception to those disparaging comments, as do the women, children and elderly who would have benefitted from the state dollars House Democrats supported.”

Source: Speaker Madigan’s Office

House Speaker Madigan: Governor Failed Women, Children and Elderly While Helping Chicago's McCormick Place