The rush to fix pension reform in high in Illinois. Illinois is broke and pensions are the top problem. It is costing the residents high taxes and future downfalls. What cost pennies years ago cost millions today in pensions. There is no way this problem could have been for seen so many years ago and contributions to the pension funds were too low to support the current needs and demands. If no pension reform is done, there will be higher taxes and higher costs to each resident.
Thirty local Mayors in the Chicago suburbs have joined together to tackle pension reform in IL. Not surprisingly, Bolingbrook is NOT one that wants reform. Could it be because many of these elected officials in Bolingbrook are retiring within the next four years? What will this cost you in the next few years?
With elections coming, this will be a hot topic. We will be interviewing candidates to get perspective on how each of them feels about pension reform.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Tressler Law firm to charge more that a Million ths year!
With the Devon Hodges lawsuit and the church lawsuit in full swing, Tressler Law Firm will be making a killing ff of taxpayers for the bad decisions made by both the Village Trustees, Mayor, and District 365-U school board.
These boards are costing us a fortune in bad decisions! They are the same boards that built a Golf Club in a year where industry screamed that Golf Clubs were on the financial down slides. This is the same board who was sued for illegally kicking Bonnie Alicea off the ballot twice and calling her a "murdered" to try to stop her from running for office (the right of every US Citizen 18 and up!) The same board who ran for office while taking Union Pay to Play campaign funds... Should we go on about what the bad decisions are costing us? Just remember election season will be here soon enough again and bad decisions need to be done with forever.
These boards are costing us a fortune in bad decisions! They are the same boards that built a Golf Club in a year where industry screamed that Golf Clubs were on the financial down slides. This is the same board who was sued for illegally kicking Bonnie Alicea off the ballot twice and calling her a "murdered" to try to stop her from running for office (the right of every US Citizen 18 and up!) The same board who ran for office while taking Union Pay to Play campaign funds... Should we go on about what the bad decisions are costing us? Just remember election season will be here soon enough again and bad decisions need to be done with forever.
Devon Hodges Update
Pretty soon we will all be hearing the juicy details of stalking, harassment, and bullying that was administered to a student on school time and after school. This student, whom we thought the school was there to protect during school hours, was subjected to this behavior by adults, coaches, and others. Devon Hodges is suing the school district and will bring to light how the administration of our school district is run. From the school board ignoring his families complaints and allowing it to happen, to the Superintendent claiming he would do something and then did (he ignored it all). All the way down to coaches and players of the team.
We look forward to reporting on this case and wish the Hodges family luck on exposing the TRUTH!
We look forward to reporting on this case and wish the Hodges family luck on exposing the TRUTH!
Bolingbrook Library already a Dinosaur
It is estimated that one out of two children will own a laptop by the age of 10, within the next few years. Some states issue each kindergartner a tablet for doing their work and classroom activities. WiFi is becoming increasingly free at many local establishments and more technological advances have been made for computer wi-fi features.
With cellphones able to Google and allow research opportunities, and most people owning at least one cell phone in their household, how important are public libraries? Research shows that libraries, once thriving as the only place for scholarly activity, is now a dinosaur. Many colleges are discontinuing library degrees and many patrons visit less that twice a year.
So while the tax payers of Bolinbrook will spend years paying for that (over) $50K library, will they see it as a place to visit?
We polled over 100 local patrons at a grocery store. Only one has visited the new library. Yet all of them are paying dearly for it. Is there an option? Is there an alternative to use this building as something else? Sure there is! Sell the building to a local college branch or to private industry. Use that money to open a satellite library. Since most people can rent books online now, through their Nook or Kindle, doesn't keeping so many books in stock seem silly? Where were these decisions coming from over the last two years? Who thought about all this when they spent that money?
What do you think as a resident paying taxes for a huge building?
With cellphones able to Google and allow research opportunities, and most people owning at least one cell phone in their household, how important are public libraries? Research shows that libraries, once thriving as the only place for scholarly activity, is now a dinosaur. Many colleges are discontinuing library degrees and many patrons visit less that twice a year.
So while the tax payers of Bolinbrook will spend years paying for that (over) $50K library, will they see it as a place to visit?
We polled over 100 local patrons at a grocery store. Only one has visited the new library. Yet all of them are paying dearly for it. Is there an option? Is there an alternative to use this building as something else? Sure there is! Sell the building to a local college branch or to private industry. Use that money to open a satellite library. Since most people can rent books online now, through their Nook or Kindle, doesn't keeping so many books in stock seem silly? Where were these decisions coming from over the last two years? Who thought about all this when they spent that money?
What do you think as a resident paying taxes for a huge building?
Annual Budgets vs. Annual Spending
How close does Bolingbrook follow the budgets, when you review the end of the year spending vs. beginning of the year budget process? Bolingbrook fails to follow budgetary concerns in the voting and issues that arise during the year.
When you look at the past few years of annual budgets, you will see it is all "smoke and mirrors". It is suppose to be the best estimate of what the trustees will spend of your tax dollars. Tthroughout the year it becomes apparent that this document does not matter. Furthermore, to better hide the smoke, they continuously change auditors for their financial reports, having done so numerous times in the past ten years. Issues that one auditor would find, would not need to be addressed if you hired a different auditing company the following year. Needless to say, the end of year financials do NOT balance with the start of a year's numbers. Either it is shotty finance management or it is a cover up. Bolingbrook is the only community in the surrounding communities to have this issue. Think about it!
Why STOP at Kindergarden?
Our question goes to the scool board... but first we want to point out the following:
1. Your budgets are the same every year, unless you raise taxes.
2. Your raises mean you have to cut staff every year to pay for increases.
3. When you add a program like all day kindergarten,the money must come from somewhere, so cut more staff.
4. Cut staff to add kindregarten all day and pay for the construction.
So the question is, why not add Pre-K too? Some states pay for Pre-K (preschool) and require attendence. You guy are on a roll, and from what we hear (snicker, snicker) it helps kids get into college.
So to do so, you would need to CUT MORE staff for the construction and staffing. Will we have any more staff left in five years at the rate of your spending? If so, will it all be administration? So the real question is, if you need to cut staff, doesn't that mean less administration is needed? When will that be cut? When will those individuals raises be halted or their pensions looked at?
Stop the spending and stop the cuts, unless it is to the paper pushers. Leave the teachers alone so we can count on them to give our children a good education!
1. Your budgets are the same every year, unless you raise taxes.
2. Your raises mean you have to cut staff every year to pay for increases.
3. When you add a program like all day kindergarten,the money must come from somewhere, so cut more staff.
4. Cut staff to add kindregarten all day and pay for the construction.
So the question is, why not add Pre-K too? Some states pay for Pre-K (preschool) and require attendence. You guy are on a roll, and from what we hear (snicker, snicker) it helps kids get into college.
So to do so, you would need to CUT MORE staff for the construction and staffing. Will we have any more staff left in five years at the rate of your spending? If so, will it all be administration? So the real question is, if you need to cut staff, doesn't that mean less administration is needed? When will that be cut? When will those individuals raises be halted or their pensions looked at?
Stop the spending and stop the cuts, unless it is to the paper pushers. Leave the teachers alone so we can count on them to give our children a good education!
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