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Archive for the ‘OP/Ed’ Category

Jewel Park residents share their concerns regarding the U.S. Route 14/CN Underpass project

Posted in 220, BACOG, Barrington Area Library, Bicyclists, EJ&E/Canadian National, Going green, Guest Essay, IDOT, Land Use, OP/Ed, Organizations, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Road construction, School Districts, Topics Of Interest, TRAC, Traffic, Transparency, Unions on March 1, 2024| 2 Comments »

As you may have seen in the recent News You Can Use communication from the Village of Barrington (seen here) the U.S. Route 14/CN Underpass project is expected to begin this spring.

The Village plans to begin clear-cutting approximately 10 acres of old-growth trees on 8 empty lots in the Jewel Park subdivision as well as along Route 14, Lake Zurich Rd., and next to the Barrington Area Library. The Village has marked the areas where the old-growth trees will be removed with orange stakes and orange tree bands.

A group of concerned Jewel Park residents has been actively discussing the project with the Village of Barrington, IDOT, and Civil Tech over the last several years.

We met with the Village again on Friday, February 9th to discuss the start of the project. We raised additional questions/concerns about the status on funding, realistic start and completion dates, safety issues, and early removal of old-growth trees.

Our focus has been to confirm that all funding sources listed in the following website are in place and available. In addition, the Contractors have been selected and have agreed to the cost and timeline estimates, and the project is completed in the quickest, safest, and most efficient manner with the least amount of disruption to Jewel Park and the surrounding areas.

Please note the excerpt from the February 2020 Village of Barrington newsletter below which projected the project would be completed in 2024.

“4. And Finally – The Route 14 Underpass Of course the biggest traffic-reduction project of all is now moving forward with the recent award of $48 million for the Route 14 underpass near Lake Zurich Road. The underpass will have the largest impact on traffic and safety in our community by providing a free-flowing, train-free passage around town once it is complete in approximately 2024. Phase II engineering work is being coordinated, with the construction phase expected to begin as early as fall 2022. You’ll undoubtedly be hearing more about this important project in the months to come.”

In our meeting we raised several questions/concerns and learned additional information which we have highlighted below:

  • What is the status on all the funding sources? (See the funding sources listed on Barrington’s website: https://www.barrington-il.gov/underpass). The Village informed us during the meeting that the Surface Transportation Program (STP) for $48,000,000 is set to expire in April 2024. An extension will need to be granted before April 2024 and is currently an open item and is yet to be confirmed. The STP has allocated $2,000,000 to the project in 2024.
  • The Shared Surface Transportation Grant Program is funded by the Highway Trust Fund which has been running at a deficit since 2008 and is currently funded through the Treasury’s general fund due to funding shortfalls. A Congressional subcommittee is studying how the Highway Trust Fund will be funded after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expires in 2026.
  • The “Letting” process to select a General Contractor has been delayed for the 4th time in the last year and is projected to start June 14, 2024. The “Letting” process typically takes 90 days to complete and could be impacted by the competitive environment for Contractors due to the large number of Illinois construction projects.
  • A new Culvert must be built under Route 59 before Flint Creek can be moved and a temporary Route 14 detour can be built in Jewel Park and around the curve to the Library.
  • In addition, a temporary Shoo Fly Rail Track must also be built with crossings before the temporary Route 14 can be built. The Village informed us that the CN has not provided any information on when they will begin construction of the temporary Shoo Fly Rail Track.
  • The Village informed us that Commonwealth Edison will temporarily relocate utilities to run along Elm Rd and will move them back along Route 14 once the project is complete. They also stated that the utilities will need to be moved in 2024 to prepare for the project.
  • The Village has stated the current estimated completion time for the project is 18-24 months. There is a very similar underpass project in Washougal, Washington which is also building an underpass under the CN railroad track crossing which averages 45 trains per day. The project is significantly less complex than the Route 14 Underpass, estimated to cost $50,000,000 and the construction timeline estimate is 36-54 months.
  • The residents of Jewel Park have raised several questions regarding the project which we have listed below:
    • When will the Surface Transportation Grant be extended and will there be enough funding for the project long-term based on funding for the US Highway Trust Fund is set to expire in 2026?
    • Will the “Letting “ process be delayed again and will a General Contractor agree to the estimated project cost and timeline?
    • When will actual construction work begin -10/2024 or later?
    • If a significant amount of work needs to be completed on a Route 59 culvert to move Flint Creek and CN Shoo Fly Rail Track before Route 14 can be moved why start tree removal in 3/2024?
    • Why do utilities need to be moved in 2024 if the earliest that construction will start on a temporary Route 14 will be in 2025?
    • Why would the Washougal, Washington project take 18-30 months longer than the Route 14 Underpass?

In summary, we wanted to be sure that you were aware of the Village of Barrington’s current plans, the status of the funding and “Letting“ process, etc., and the fact that the tree removal process has been moved to before a General Contractor is selected. As a result, the residents of Jewel Park and others in Barrington have requested that the Village delay the removal of the old-growth trees until a Contractor is confirmed and ready to move forward, funding is 100% certain and the pre-construction work is ready to begin on the project.

Concerned Residents of Jewel Park

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Editorial: Populist Pritzker and the fine print of his budget proposal

Posted in Illinois Policy Institute, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield, Taxes on February 29, 2024| 1 Comment »

Tax hikes on businesses and individuals didn’t make the cut in Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget address, but they’re a big part of his budget proposal.

Illinois Policy Institute 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is doing and saying things lots of Illinoisans like. The governor just pushed back on the notion of public funding for a new White Sox stadium, saying, “The idea of taking taxpayers dollars and subsidizing the building of a stadium… does not seem like [it] should have higher priority. These are private businesses.”

He’s right on that front. The governor also called for the elimination of the state’s grocery tax in his budget address last week. Many people cheered. After all, Illinois is the only big state in the country to tack on a grocery tax at checkout.

Not everyone was cheering, though. Especially local government leaders, who realized they were losing a hefty source of tax revenue. That’s because 100% of the grocery taxes we’ve all been paying flowed to local leaders, to the tune of “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to the Illinois Municipal League’s Brad Cole.

Local governments aren’t the only ones taking a hit. Businesses and the people who own them are in for discomfort, too, in the form of major tax changes.

Here’s the breakdown of Pritzker’s $898 million in tax hikes on businesses and individuals:

  • Extending the cap on net operating losses. This would result in a $526 million tax hike for companies. Only two other states – Pennsylvania and New Hampshire – place caps on the amount of net operating losses a business can claim. Illinois’ corporate income tax rate is also the second-highest in the nation.
  • Increasing the sports gambling tax rate from 15% to 35%. Estimated to bring in an additional $200 million.
  • Capping the retailer’s discount on sales and use taxes to generate an extra $186 million. This is essentially a corporate tax hike on any business that sells a product that’s subjected to the sales tax, whether it’s Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.
  • $93 million hidden individual income tax hike. This move will reduce the value of Illinois’ standard income tax exemption, subjecting an additional $225 of income to taxation per taxpayer and dependent. After years of rampant inflation, Pritzker is shortchanging the inflation adjustment on the state’s standard exemption for individual income taxes. By limiting the growth in the value of this exemption, Illinois taxpayers are facing a $93 million income tax hike. This tax increase would disproportionately fall on lower-income earners who receive a larger tax break from the exemption than higher-income earners.

Read more here.

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Why are Americans becoming more stupid? Our entire education system needs a revolution

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Clown Car, Deception, Education, FUBAR, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on February 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Joel Kotkin | UnHeard

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind,” said Winston Churchill. And judging by the state of education in America, it seems both of those empires could soon crumble. The dysfunction is evident from top to bottom: from Ivy League outposts down to the secondary schools. Both are producing a generation that is ill-informed, illiterate and innumerate. In other words, a generation increasingly ill-suited to function as productive citizens in a democracy.

One might expect, then, that the creation of a raft of new universities and schools focused on doing something different would seem like a fundamental necessity. After all, young people are deserting college in droves, with enrolments down by 15% over the past decade; in the lower grades, it’s common to hear talk of “zombie schools”, the product of more than 20% of pupils being “chronically absent”.

And yet, the emergence of these still-small shoots have terrified the educratic establishment. Some claim the shift in emphasis towards classics and civics, now occurring in places such as Florida’s New College, is “sinister development” by nefarious Right-wingers. Similarly, the teachers’ unions have resisted a number of moves to create charter schools — which increase choice in the public system — because they are part of a “war on schools”.

In some cases, the defence of failure is breathtaking. Blue states such as Illinois have worked to all but eliminate charters, even as the Land of Lincoln boasts 53 schools where not one student can do grade-level math and 30 where none can do so in English. These schools are overwhelmingly in Chicago, where a significant increase in spending per student since 2019 seems to have made no impact.

Yet Chicago’s failures are wholly representative. The most recent National Assessments of Educational Progress found that only 27% of eighth graders are proficient in reading, 20% in math, 22% in geography, and a mere 13% in US History. The Covid lockdowns may have accelerated the deterioration, but scores have continued to decline since the pandemic ended. IQ scores, which had been rising for decades, are now falling even among college students.

Read more here.

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Boss Preckwinkle and the New Ruling Junta

Posted in Cook, County, John Kass, OP/Ed, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order on February 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Paul Vallas| John Kass News

Mayor Johnson’s road to elective office was paved by the County Board President and Democratic Party Boss, Toni Preckwinkle, and greased with the financial support of Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates, who literally raised the dues of her members to help finance Johnson’s campaign without approval of her rank and file.

This is their gift: Johnson, a failed teacher turned union organizer, who seems captive of the CTU’s agenda and that of the progressive left. Chicago sees him as its mayor floundering on a number of issues, from the chaos of immigration to street crime.

Stacey Davis-Gates draws much of the attention as it is her style to attack any critics of her or policies as being racist and labels proponents of school choice as fascists, while her union leverages its war chest to successfully lobby against the state’s small scholarship program for underprivileged kids to go to private schools, the “Invest in Kids Act.” This, while she sends her son to a private school, as do almost 40% of her CTU teacher members with school-aged children.

Meanwhile, Boss Preckwinkle maintains an extremely low profile. The goal of the Preckwinkle machine, like that of her predecessor, is absolute power and control in which their agendas go unchallenged, dissenting voices are cancelled, and challenges to her decisions are demonized by accusations of racism. In short, Johnson and Preckwinkle’s supporters led by CTU and its network of community-based organizations work to intimidate and silence critics.

In true totalitarian fashion Preckwinkle and her fearful Party apparatchiks squashed a bid for an open party primary and by unanimous consent endorsed Board Preckwinkle’s hand-picked candidate for State’s Attorney, the woefully underqualified Clayton Harris III.

What are Harris‘ achievements in a career of bureaucratic hopscotching?  Leading one of the single most useless governmental bodies in the state, the Illinois Port Authority, and serving as the last Chief of Staff to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich before his was impeached and removed from office.

Why Harris?  Probably the best Preckwinkle could summon in the race to succeed her current protege in that office.  Fealty to the boss is the most important qualification, especially in that office, given Preckwinkle’s determination to continue emptying out the jail. And when the Boss wants to assure there will be no criticism of her hand-picked outgoing failed States Attorney Foxx, who embarrassed the office countless times.

Read more here.

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Our perspective: Illinois’ state budget is nearly $13B higher today than it was 6 years ago

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Ethics, Illinois Policy Institute, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on February 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Back to School Inflation

Pritzker proposes to permanently repeal the 1% state grocery tax. That’s good. The ballooning size of the state budget, not so good.

By Hilary Gowins | Illinois Policy Institute

During his Feb. 21 budget address, Gov. J.B. Pritzker introduced a $52.7 billion state budget – up from his first $40 billion budget in 2019. From his address:

“One of my missions as governor is to make life easier for working families. … And even though inflation continues to cool off, folks are still feeling the squeeze every week at the grocery store. So, there’s one more thing we ought to do. For the good of our state’s working families, let’s permanently eliminate the grocery tax! It’s one more regressive tax we just don’t need. If it reduces inflation for families from 4% to 3%, even if it only puts a few hundred bucks back in families’ pockets, it’s the right thing to do.”

We like eliminating the 1% grocery tax, which is a huge burden up and down the income ladder and why few states do it. Proposing $800 million in new taxes on businesses seems … not great.

The state is spending more money than ever, and that makes us very nervous. Lawmakers need to show more restraint. With one-party control across the board, it’s unlikely that will happen this year. Here’s what else you should know about the budget address and Illinois’ economy:

  • The governor offered a pointed critique of the migrant crisis. Pritzker criticized the federal government’s handling of asylum seekers and announced a state response plan, including a request for $181.7 million to cover the costs of supporting asylum seekers arriving in Illinois.
  • The state is investing $350 million for K-12 education … after cutting school scholarship tax credits for poor kids. Pritzker’s budget includes increased investments in K-12 education, following the evidence-based funding model with a $350 million increase, and a more than $30 million increase in support for higher education institutions.
  • Pritzker’s budget includes millions for homelessness. The governor has proposed spending an additional $50 million to address the root causes of housing insecurity, particularly among Black Illinoisans, and continuing efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
  • Our economy is lagging and it’s forcing people out. We’re losing people, yes, and that’s bad. About 364,000 people chose to leave the state since 2020. A main driver of the exodus is the state’s economic climate. Illinois ranked 42nd for job growth in 2023. Virtually every sector of the economy trailed the national average when it came to adding jobs in 2023. Wage growth in Illinois is 43rd in the nation and average hourly wages, which total $33.61 in Illinois, were below the U.S. average of $34.36 in December 2023.
  • Taxes are too high. Doing away with the grocery tax is a great start. Still, taxes are way too high here. Illinois Policy Institute polling showed 45% of Illinoisans identified high taxes as one of the biggest issues facing the state. Illinoisans pay the seventh-highest state and local tax burden in the country and the highest in the Midwest. Illinoisans pay the second-highest property tax rates in the nation, at a rate of 1.95% of their home’s value each year – about double the national median.
  • Debt and overspending are driving costs higher. Illinois’ state pension debt is an estimated $142.2 billion, and current pension payments take up 22% – more than $11 billion – of the state’s budget. Illinois is currently underfunding pensions by $4.9 billion annually. Last year, the state shorted pensions by $4.1 billion despite Pritzker’s “extra” pension payments. This year, the state is spending another record amount by adding $800 million in taxes, mainly on businesses. This is not sustainable – or good for the state and its people.

Read more here.

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District 220 Referendum Propaganda Campaign Begins

Posted in 220, Animal Welfare, Barrington Education Association, Barrington High School, Board of Education, BOHICA, DARCHED, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Elections, Entertainment, Ethics, FUBAR, Goat Rodeo, Mad Cows, OP/Ed, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Real Estate, School Districts, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on February 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Ref-2024-newsletter copy

From the 220 Pep Squad:

“You’re Invited! Community Engagement Meetings

Beginning this month, the Barrington 220 Board of Education is embarking on a six month (God help us!) community engagement process in order to gain stakeholder feedback about projects that should be included in a potential school district referendum question on the November 2024 election ballot. The Board will collect feedback through three primary methods:

Referendum Advisory Committee

A Referendum Advisory Committee will meet four times from February – July to assist the Board in identifying key components to be included in a potential referendum question. The committee will make a final recommendation to the Board by the June 4, 2024 Board meeting. The final decision of what will be asked on a referendum question rests with the Board. Click here to learn more.

Community Phone Surveys

Phone surveys will be conducted in March and April to gather community input on funding levels and support for projects to be included in a potential referendum question.

Community Meetings

During the month of March the district will hold four community meetings to collect additional feedback. These meetings will feature a presentation, survey, and an opportunity to ask questions. They are open to the public. Please note that each meeting will have the same agenda.

  • Wednesday, March 6: 6pm @ BMS-Prairie Campus
  • Saturday, March 9: 10am @ BHS Front Atrium (Lower Level)
  • Monday, March 11: 6pm @ Arnett C. Lines Elementary
  • Thursday, March 14: 6pm via Zoom (Click here to register for the Zoom)

Ref Comm Eng Timeline Graphic noLogo _2_

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!”

Editorial note: Watch out for flying pom poms in the next six (6) months…

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Mailee Smith: Illinois students aren’t taught life skills, but lawmakers might force lessons on unionization

Posted in 220, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Chicago Tribune, Education, His Master's Voice, Illinois Policy Institute, Letters to the Editor, Look For The Union Label, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Topics Of Interest, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on January 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

BHS

By Mailee Smith | Opinion posted to The Chicago Tribune

As an Illinois parent, I have developed concerns about the public education system’s ability to prepare graduates for the workforce. I worry for my children’s futures.

While recently helping my son fill out college applications, I realized he wasn’t taught some basic life skills. Sure, he can find a derivative in calculus class and draft an essay for Advanced Placement world history. But other important life skills, such as how to email a college admissions counselor or job interviewer, appear missing from high school curriculum.

I thought maybe state lawmakers were having the same concerns when I saw Illinois Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline, introduce a bill requiring all public high schools to have a “Workplace Readiness Week” each year.

I almost cheered. But what will be covered in a week supposedly to prepare students for the workplace? How to prepare for an interview? How to email with a job supervisor? How to fill out tax forms?

Nope. The first subject listed: prohibitions against misclassification of employees as independent contractors.

Oh, yes. Learning about that every year would definitely help my son prepare for work.

Among other mandatory subjects are child labor laws, family leave and — of course — the right to organize a union in the workplace. And it all must be taught through the lens of “the labor movement’s role” in obtaining those “protections and benefits.” Every school year, every high school would be required to teach this propaganda. Precious time that could be spent getting students ready for life would be spent recruiting kids for union organizing and teaching them just one side of some very contentious labor issues.

In the meantime, most kids in our public schools can’t read or do math at grade level. Data released by the Illinois State Board of Education in October showed just 35% of third through eighth grade students could read at grade level.

Lawmakers should be ensuring teachers are provided enough time during the school day to teach the basics. They should not be appeasing their generous union friends by throwing unnecessary additional requirements in the mix.

To be fair, near the end of House Bill 4417, but almost as an afterthought, is mandated information on apprenticeship programs. That’s great. Apprenticeships are a proven, work-based educational program for empowering people to prosper. My dad did an apprenticeship program that led to a 40-year career.

But you can’t get an apprenticeship if you can’t read or fill out an application.

HB 4417 is the latest in a line of power grabs by union officials in Illinois. Last year, lawmakers failed to extend Illinois’ tax credit scholarship program, which allowed residents to take tax deductions for funding scholarships for low-income students. While the majority of Illinoisans supported the program, the Illinois Policy Institute found that teachers unions funneled nearly $1.5 million into lawmakers’ coffers in the five months leading up to the decision and succeeded in having it killed.

In 2022, Illinois passed Amendment 1, which grants the state’s government unions the constitutional power to demand anything in negotiations and even override state and local laws through collective bargaining. Unions in other states are copying it, with California and Pennsylvania considering similar amendments.

Now unions want our kids indoctrinated in the classroom.

It’s a platform the unions bought. Nine out of 10 current Illinois lawmakers have received money from unions. Between January 2010 and July 2023, unions poured $60.2 million into lawmakers’ political committees, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis of records from the Illinois State Board of Elections. The bulk of the funds — 95% — went to Democrats. More specifically, we found that 4 out of 5 current lawmakers have received money from teachers unions, to the tune of nearly $20 million.

History has shown Illinois lawmakers are more concerned about pleasing their union cronies than they are about making sure our kids can read, let alone get and keep a job. I understand unions are against “right to work,” but could they at least get out of the way so the next generation can be ready to work?

As a parent with multiple children coming through Illinois public schools, I implore lawmakers to get their education priorities right. Our students don’t need a union recruitment curriculum. They need to know how to do math.

Mailee Smith is the senior director of labor policy and staff attorney at the Illinois Policy Institute.

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What Is a Conservative, Anyway?

Posted in John Kass, OP/Ed, Politics on January 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

WFBJ

WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR.

By Greg Ganske | JohnKassNews.com

“A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop!”  William F. Buckley

Many conservative baby boomers like myself picked up our political leanings from two influences.  In 1995, a high school friend loaned me a 115-page book written by L. Brent Bozell, a speech writer for Arizona U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater. When Bozell showed the “Conscience of a Conservative” manuscript to Goldwater it is said the Senator thumbed it for a few minutes and told Bozell to go with it. Regardless of authorship, I and others of my generation were blown away by it. (By the way, “Profiles in Courage” was ghostwritten, too.)

The book spelled out the conservative position on limited government, civil rights, the welfare state, and the Soviet menace. It fused capitalism, anti-communism and Constitutionally–limited government. Though a bit outdated, in the 1960s it was topical and practical. Its fundamental point: is that to flourish, both economic and political freedom are necessary. Without economic freedom we are dependent on the state and without political freedom we are slaves to it.

For many of our generation, the second conservative influence was William F. Buckley and his TV show, Firing Line. In the days before 24/7 news channels and their political panels there wasn’t anything like it. Buckley would debate guests on various political topics. His wit, command of English and gladiatorial style were mesmerizing. Leaning back with his eyes half closed he would skewer his debate opponent in his Mid-Atlantic accent with High Church overtones and Southern drawl. His style was honed at Yale where he and Boz

ell were national debate champions. Many conservatives today remember him better for his lancinating repartee than for his often libertarian, progressive positions.

In some ways he predated Trump, Buckley, “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard university.” Through his speeches Buckley brought together the three-post war conservative intellectual currents of traditionalism, libertarianism and anti-communism. He sought to exclude from the Republican Party the John Birch Society, George Wallace, racists, white supremacist and anti-Semites.

Read more here.

Note: Greg Ganske, MD is a retired plastic surgeon who cared for women with breast cancer, children with birth defects, trauma patients and farmers with hand injuries. He represented Iowa in the U. S. Congress from 1995-2003.  He is a retired Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corp.

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Village Board of Trustees meet tonight

Posted in Agendas, Barbarian Migrants in Busses at the Gate, BCFPD, Board of Health, Building Department, Clown Car, Conflict of interest, Cuba Township Road District, Deception, Dumb and Dumber, ePacket Agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Financial Reports, Insurance Committee, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Legal Expenses, Mac's Property Management, Minutes, OMA, OP/Ed, Pension Funding, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club Commission, Roads & Bridges Committee, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Unions, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on January 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

VBH Nov23Jan Zoom

Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting this evening beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:

  • PUBLIC HEARING: Village of Barrington Hills Annual Appropriation Ordinance for the Fiscal Year Beginning January 1, 2024, and Ending December 31, 2024 Appropriation Ord FY 2024 – Draft.pdf
  • [Vote] Annual Appropriation Ordinance for the Fiscal Year Beginning January 1, 2024 and Ending December 31, 2024 Ordinance 24 –
  • [Vote] Resolution for Use of Motor Fuel Tax Funds on Snow Removal 2024 Resolution 24 –
  • [Vote] Ordinance Amending the General Penalty of the Village Code Adjusting the Maximum Fine Ordinance 24 –
  • Annexation of Contiguous Properties Discussion

The fourth item on the list amending the amount(s) of, “General Penalty of the Village Code,” reads:

“Any person convicted of or found liable for a violation of any section of this code shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) and not to exceed seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) for any one offense, excepting any specific section of this code wherein the maximum fine is limited to a lesser amount.”

Both amounts are too low, especially the $100.00 amount. By the time all the costs, from start to finish, are aggregated to collect $100.00, the Village will likely lose money (and no doubt has been for many years).

A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

Related: “A matter of trust,” “December Board of Trustees meeting recordings released,” “Change.org petition posted: ‘Why Barrington Hills should not annex Sutton and the Penny Road Properties.’”

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A matter of trust

Posted in Building Department, Conflict of interest, Cuba Township Road District, Deception, Dumb and Dumber, Ethics, Financial Reports, FUBAR, Legal Expenses, Mac's Property Management, New Normal?, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Roads & Bridges Committee, Taxes, Transparency, Village Board, Village Director of Administration, Village Government, Village President on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

BC 2

Monday evening’s Board of Trustees meeting includes a Public Hearing regarding the proposed 2024 Village Appropriation Ordinance. We have concerns and questions, not the least of which is our first one.

You see, for the fifth (5th) year in a row, the amount appropriated for “Snowplowing” is not disclosed. In 2019, the amount of $279,500 was appropriated, but since then that line has remained blank:

Blank Snowplowing

If President Cecola’s (alleged) business in Winter months includes snowplowing, are there implications of concern with our Village currently contracting with (alleged) friend(s) of his after he spearheaded the firing of Cuba Township Road District (Cecola abstained from that vote, by the way)?

Why has he chosen not to have the amounts published again in 2024 or previous years during his Administration? Further, why is the obsessively detail oriented Roads and Bridges Chair allowing this to proceed this far before a vote?

Following are some of the amounts appropriated to “Municipal Buildings & Grounds” as seen in the draft report:

Snow Removal

Question: Is “Snow Removal” separate from “Snowplowing”? In the copy of the draft linked below, an amount is listed for “Salt” ($1,100) under Roads and Bridges, by the way, but nothing for snow plowing.

There are other items of concern in the 2024 Appropriations Ordinance draft, which we’ve highlighted in a copy that can be found here.

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