Boone County Watchdog

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Cory Lind recommended to county board after Paul Larson resigns

Posted Jan. 15, 2016 at 10:24 PM

BELVIDERE — The Boone County Republican Central Committee has unanimously recommended lifelong-resident Cory Lind to fill the vacant District 2 seat on the county board.

Paul Larson resigned at the start of the year. An official announcement by Chairman Bob Walberg is expected at the Jan. 20 board meeting.

Lind works as a safety manager in Boone County and is a graduate of Belvidere High School and Northern Illinois University. He served in the Army National Guard and was deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq, according to a news release.

He will appear on the ballot in the March 15 primary and, if elected, will serve a four-year term.

Larson's resignation comes on the heels of an announcement by Walberg in November that he will not seek re-election.
Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344; apoulisse@rrstar.com; @adampoulisse
ABOVE IS FROM: http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160115/NEWS/160119583/0/SEARCH

North Boone’s old superintendent now at Muncie, Indiana

MCS hires new superintendent

Emma Kate Fittes, efittes@muncie.gannett.com 2:24 p.m. EDT April 29, 2015

MUNCIE – Steven Baule was welcomed to Muncie Community Schools with a standing ovation and a stack of documents Tuesday night.

"They gave me homework," he said.

The folder of documents included a packed schedule for his remaining 24 hours in Muncie and information on the nearly $15 million deficit the board needs to address in the next five years. His homework is to help the board figure out the future of the schools.

The school board unanimously voted for Baule during the meeting Tuesday evening, officially hiring him as the 19th superintendent of MCS. He had been introduced as the leading candidate 10 days prior out of 14 applicants.

The next step is to meet with the public Wednesday at 3 p.m. and, hopefully, find a house in Muncie. Then, Baule said he is going to start meeting with every administrator and community leaders and tour the facilities.

To Baule, his vision isn't important. It's about looking at the data and seeing what programs are successful and trying to find a way to help each child.

He is planning to make two long-range plans, something he feels the district is currently missing. One for finances and one for facilities.

The nice thing about facilities, he said, is that you know what is going to need to be replaced down the road. And he wants to have money ready in the rainy day fund, which is currently being used to help pay for busing.

Previously, Baule was the superintendent of North Boone CUSD 200 school district in Northern Illinois, which has about 1,800 students. There, he was able to put the district "back on the right path." During his time as superintendent, North Boone had almost a $12 million turn, going from about $1 million deficit to having $9.7 million in the operating funds.

Baule's wife, Kathy, and two kids, Sydney and Sam, will be moving with him. Sydney and Sam will go to Central High School in the fall. He said he isn't worried about them having a difficult time because for one they are the superintendent's kids, and Sam has a black belt in taekwondo. For Sydney, her main concern is that soccer and cross country run during the same semester in Indiana

Kathy will begin looking for a job. She is a nurse and has worked in many areas including trauma surgery. Baule mentioned having IU Health Ball Memorial nearby helped make the move more enticing. And Baule had his heart set on Muncie.

"You want to work somewhere where first you're needed and second you can have an impact on a large amount of kids," he said.

Contact inside families & education reporter Emma Kate Fittes at 765-213-5845 and follow @EmmaKate_TSP

If you want to go...

What

Meet and greet with Steven Baule, the new superintendent of Muncie schools

When

3-5 p.m. Wednesday

Where

Anthony Administration, 2501 N Oakwood Ave

Above is from: http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/education/2015/04/28/mcs-hires-new-superintendent/26550703/

Chicago Schools' Wrecked Finances on Display Before Deal

Elizabeth Campbell

January 15, 2016 — 10:27 AM CST Updated on January 15, 2016 — 3:55 PM CST

Chicago schools are borrowing to pay mounting debt bills and fund capital projects as the district’s liquidity deteriorates and its credit rating tumbles.

The Chicago Board of Education will sell $875 million of bonds on Jan. 27, according to Bloomberg data from J.P. Morgan, an underwriter on the deal. The deal is made up of $796 million of tax-exempt securities and $79 million of taxable debt, according to bond documents. The proceeds will cover capital projects, convert variable rate debt to fixed, fund swap termination payments and pay debt-service bills, bond documents show.

The most-actively traded school bonds, which mature in 2039, traded for an average of 88 cents the dollar on Friday to yield 6.5 percent. That’s down from 110 cents to yield 3.9 percent a year earlier, according to data complied by Bloomberg.

“Based in part on its limited ability to increase revenues and its increased expenses for pension and debt service, recurring operating budget deficits are projected to occur and could result in the reduction or elimination of essential educational services,” according to the bond documents.

The school district, the nation’s third-largest, has said it needs $480 million from the state of Illinois to close this year’s budget gap. Without the aid, the system faces deep spending cuts and more borrowing. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has said he won’t bail out the schools and will only help if officials like Mayor Rahm Emanuel support the structural changes that Rauner wants in the state. Rauner, the first Republican to lead Illinois in 12 years, is deadlocked with Democrats in the legislature over the state budget.

Rating Downgrade

“Chicago Public Schools is focused on resolving the district’s significant financial challenges, especially with upcoming streamlining to the bureaucracy and a teachers’ contract proposal that would prevent midyear layoffs,” Ron DeNard, the board’s senior vice president of finance, said in an e-mailed statement. “Long-term success is contingent on fair funding from the state of Illinois.”

Without action from the board or the state, the district’s operating deficit may reach $1 billion annually through fiscal year 2020, bond documents show. The board is considered junk by all three major rating companies. On Friday, Standard & Poor’s slashed its rating by two steps to B+, four levels below investment grade, and kept the district on CreditWatch with negative implications. That signals S&P may lower the rating in the next six months. The schools’ pension system is only 51.9 percent funded.

This “reflects our view of the board’s low liquidity and significant reliance on market access to continue supporting operating and debt-service expenses,” Jennifer Boyd, an S&P analyst, said a statement. “Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the board’s capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitments.”

Above is from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/chicago-schools-wrecked-finances-on-display-before-borrowing

Friday, January 15, 2016

Illinois sells $480 million in bonds after 20 month hiatus

CHICAGO | By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO Illinois sold $480 million of bonds on Thursday, its first debt issue in nearly two years, with the U.S. municipal market's hunger for higher-yielding assets easing the interest penalty the state is paying for its fiscal woes.

The deal marks the first debt issuance under Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, who took office a year ago and is embroiled in a battle with Democrats in control of the legislature. The impasse has left the fifth-largest state without a budget six months into fiscal 2016.

Illinois' enormous $111 billion unfunded pension liability and chronic structural budget deficit have driven up yields for its debt, making it more expensive for the state to borrow.

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However, the state benefited with the newest issuance because the overall prevailing yields in the market have been relatively low.

"Market yields are lower, driving investors out for additional yield and Illinois offers them the opportunity to do that," said Domenic Vonella, head of U.S. municipal bonds at Municipal Market Data (MMD).

Dan Heckman, senior fixed-income strategist at US Bank, said Illinois also benefited from low supplies of new bonds.

"Illinois picked a very good time to come to market," he said.

The sale attracted nine bids. Its proceeds will be used mainly to finance transportation projects.

"The sale shows that there continues to be a lot of investor interest in our bonds despite the Democratic legislature’s failure to pass a balanced budget," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the general obligation bonds with a competitive bid that resulted in an overall interest cost of 3.9989 percent for the state. The deal is structured with maturities between 2017 and 2041, with bonds in four maturities insured.

Yields in the issue topped out at 4.27 percent in 2041 with a 5 percent coupon, which is 161 basis points more than the 2.66 percent yield an AAA-rated issuer's bonds would fetch in the U.S. municipal market, according to MMD's benchmark scale.

Illinois has the lowest credit ratings and the widest so-called credit spread among the 50 states. The 161-basis-point spread over MMD's scale is down from Illinois' 170-basis-point spread in the secondary muni market heading into the bond sale. But the spread is wider than the 111 basis point spread for 25-year bonds in Illinois last sale in 2014.

Credit rating agencies warned last month that Illinois' ratings, which are just three to four steps above the "junk" level, could be downgraded if the state fails to enact measures to address its fiscal problems.

ABOVE IS FROM: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-bonds-idUSKCN0US2AV20160114

Fraternite of Notre Dame sues McHenry County Board over Marengo permit rejection

Published: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 11:08 p.m. CST • Updated: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 11:09 p.m. CST

Matthew Apgar - mapgar@shawmedia.com Nuns with the Fraternite of Notre Dame sit silently inside a McHenry County Board meeting on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at the McHenry County Administration Building. The congregation was hoping to pass a conditional use only or a variation only zoning petition for the building of a gift shop, a winery, and a nursing home, but was met with 20 votes for no with only three votes in favor. Neither motion passed, which resulted in a large eruption of applause from residents opposed to the petitions.

By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@shawmedia.com

MARENGO – A French Christian order denied a permit to expand operations on its rural McHenry County property has filed a federal lawsuit to get the County Board’s rejection overturned.

The Fraternite of Notre Dame earlier this month filed a six-count lawsuit alleging that the County Board discriminated against it as a religious institution when it voted in September against granting it a permit to add a boarding school, nursing home, winery, brewery and gift shop to its 95 acres at 10002 Harmony Hill Road, south of Marengo and Union.

The lawsuit alleges that the board’s decision, based in large part on the conclusion that the proposed use is an inappropriate fit for a rural agricultural area, is discriminatory because the board has granted permission to build for other uses. It singles out the nearby Marengo Ridge Golf Course, the county-owned Valley Hi Nursing Home west of Woodstock, as well as two public schools, a private Lutheran school, and several churches with gift shops.

“You can’t say no to [the Fraternite] when you’ve said yes to everyone else,” Fraternite attorney Jim Geoly said.

The County Board first granted the Fraternite a permit in 2005 to build a chapel, convent, monastery and bakery on the property. Neighbors have alleged the Fraternite has not been a good neighbor when it comes to work hours and construction, and have argued that adding a school, hospice and brewery would make the property a worse fit for the rural area.

More than 800 people signed a petition opposing the expansion, and the Coral Township Board opposed it as well.

The Fraternite’s request after months of testimony passed the Zoning Board of Appeals on a 4-3 vote, which was one vote shy of the five needed for a recommendation to approve. It then went on to the County Board, which soundly rejected the request on a 20-3 vote. While board members praised the Fraternite and its work helping the poor and downtrodden, they concluded the expansion request was inconsistent with the county’s land-use plan and development ordinances.

However, the lawsuit states the County Board had granted such permits for similar uses in similar areas, and alleges that the rejection of the Fraternite’s permit violates the equal protection clauses of the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions, as well as the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the state Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The lawsuit asks the federal court to rule that the Fraternite can build its requested expansion with the variances to size and height it had requested, and compensate it for attorney’s fees.

Bad blood between the Fraternite and the neighbors have simmered in the decade since the retreat was first built. Neighbors have chafed at allegations of religious and racial bigotry by the Fraternite and its supporters – most of the order’s works are done in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. And the Fraternite has been the victim of vandalism in past years, most notably in 2005 when its statues of Jesus and Mary were defaced with spray paint.

Fraternite of Notre Dame was founded in 1977 by French Bishop Jean Marie, who claims he received divine inspiration from the Virgin Mary to help the disadvantaged. The order identifies as Catholic, but is not recognized by the Vatican.

ABOVE IS FROM: http://www.nwherald.com/2015/12/22/fraternite-of-notre-dame-sues-mchenry-county-board-over-marengo-permit-rejection/a3ageqp/