A public comment from the CEO of the Gillespie-Benld Area Ambulance Service led to a larger discussion during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Macoupin County Board about delays in collecting property taxes and paying disbursements to local taxing bodies. Ultimately, the board referred the issue to committee after spending several minutes discussing the matter.

Josh Ross, CEO of the Gillespie-Benld Area Ambulance Service, told the board his agency and other local taxing bodies have suffered as a result of delays in receiving their share of property tax revenue.

“There has developed, over a couple of years, a troubling pattern of poor communication, a lack of transparency, and at the very least an outward appearance of inefficiency and an apparent lack of urgency when it comes to the collection and distribution of property taxes,” Ross said, reading from a prepared statement.

He said he reached out the the County Treasurer’s Office and several county board members about the issue but received no satisfactory explanation for the delays.

Ross said state statute requires the county to make disbursements to local taxing bodies within 30 days of the due date. For 2023 taxes payable in 2024, the ambulance service received its first distribution on Aug.19, 2024. A second payment due on Sept. 27, 2024, did not arrive until Feb. 27, 2025. A final distribution for interest arrived on June 17, 2025—303 days after the first disbursement and after the state of the agency’s fiscal year.

Ross said he’s been told to expect similar delays this year in regard to 2024 taxes payable in 2025. Macoupin County tax bills have not gone out this year while Sangamon County sent its bills in April with the initial due date set for June 6. Macoupin County residents are expected to receive tax bills in August, with a first installment due date of Sept. 19 and the second installment due on Oct. 31—just 39 days before the county is required to set levies for the 2025 tax year.

Ross said the delays negatively impact local taxing bodies, including fire protection districts and other agencies that provide critical services. Moreover, since COVID recovery funds are no longer available to cushion the impact, some agencies are forced to dip into interest-bearing reserves to meet their obligations.

“The unpredictability and inconsistency we have been experiencing for these last several years have made budgeting for six months, let alone a full fiscal year, nearly impossible,” Ross said.

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Acknowledging that tax collection and distribution are the responsibility of independent county officers, he asked that the board exercise oversight to get to the root of the problems and offer a solution.

“Is what he’s saying true?” Board Member Holly Klausing asked. “Are we out of compliance?”

County Treasurer Amber McGartland told the board delays in disbursing 2023 tax funds in 2024 resulted from faulty software that forced her office to hand process distribution of tax funds. She said the software has since been replaced, which should result in more timely processing. She noted, however, that she can only send out tax bills after the County Clerk provides her with the amount of tax due for each taxable parcel. The clerk’s office is responsible for finalizing the levy for each taxing body and the county, and applying that levy to the current equalized assessed valuation for each and every parcel in the county. She said tax bills are expected to go out “no later than August. 19,” with a first installment due on Sept. 19. Final disbursement to local taxing bodies will occur after the county tax sale, which is set for Jan. 12, 2026.

The County Clerk said his office can be hamstrung by delayed reporting from the Supervisor of Assessments to confirm the equalized assessed valuation for each taxable property.

John Bresnan, Supervisor of Assessments, said he can only submit his report to the County Clerk after local assessors provide him with updated assessments.

“The last couple of years there have been difficulties with the tax system,” Bresnan said. “We expect things to be a lot better going forward but it take time.”

Further exacerbating the issue is a dearth of county assessors. Bresnan said it’s difficult to find people willing to do local assessments. As a result some assessor positions in the county are vacant. “When you have two assessors doing 20 townships, that’s not a good situation,” he said. Filling assessor spots is a statewide problem, he said. “In my opinion, it’s at a crisis level now.”

“Are we expecting 2026 to be back to being in line with other counties?” Klausing asked.

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“We expect things to go forward better now that we’ve converted to a new system,” Bresnan said, reiterating that much depends on how quickly a handful of assessor can complete their assessments.

In answer to another question, County Clerk Pete Duncan said accountants hired by the county to audit county accounts are four years behind on auditing the county’s tax collection and distribution.

“Someday, I’m going to come in with a very larger bill (for four years of audits) that we have to pay,” he said.

Board Chair Larry Schmidt cut the conversation off, adding that the issue should be further investigated at the committee level.

BUDGETARY BELT TIGHTENING

Duncan presented an extremely tentative budget, noting that it is subject to change as the board continues to wrestle with balancing expenditures with anticipated revenues. Currently projected revenue is $10,335,742, which is up $251,000 from last fiscal year. If the board approved all department requests as submitted, the budget would be $204,746 in the red.

The tentative budget anticipates $10,318,790 in expenditures, leaving a tight surplus of $16,952. The expenditure projection was reached by basically eliminating department requests that were not related to salary increases and reducing the Capital Outlay budget from $250,000 to $175,000.

“I put this proposal together to show you that after adding just the salary requested, there is basically no room for additional funding for the other requests, Duncan said. He said he has already asked the county’s newly hired Grant Manager to look into potential grants to fund some of those non-salary department requests.

 Duncan also told the board that final budget numbers are due to him by Aug. 5 in order for him to update the budget and have it ready for approval at the board’s Aug. 12 meeting.

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“If we don’t meet that timeline, some people aren’t going to get paid,” he said.

Duncan added that the board might be able to accommodate requests from the Sheriff’s Department by “sweeping” some unspent line items and further reducing Capital Outlay expenditures allow for the purchase of two vehicles for the Sheriff’s Department and begin setting aside money for a $500,000 upgrade to the jail’s door system. Reducing the Capital Outlay Budget, Duncan warned, could leave the county unable to pay for unexpected expenditures related to county buildings.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT

The board took several actions involving the County Highway Department, including approval of a resolution giving power to act on bids for improvements to Staunton-Bunker Hill Road. County Engineer Tom Reinhart said having the power to act would allow work to start as soon as possible after the bid letting on Wednesday.

The board unanimously approved a three-year contract with non-union workers employed by the Highway Department calling for an 8.5 percent increase in the first year, and increases of four percent in the second and third years. Reinhart said the contract will bring non-union salaries in line with union wages.

Three 50/50 petitions were approved obligating the county to subsidize half of the cost of culvert replacements in Barr, Bird and South Palmyra townships. The county will pay half of the $6,000 cost of replacing a culvert in Barr Township, half of the $7,000 cost to replace a culvert in Bird Township, and half of the $7,500 cost of replacing a culvert in South Palmyra Township.

GRANT MANAGER

The board was briefly introduced to newly hired Grant Manager Joseph Amazuwa Chirwa. Chirwa said he has many years of experience with writing grants. “It’s what I do,” he said.

He said he will need the support and involvement of the board and county office holders to clarify the specific need for various grants to improve the chances of securing a grant award.

“He started work on day one,” said Klausing, Economic Development chair. “I’m really excited to see what he can do for the county.”

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In a related matter, the board approved a resolution to increase the Community Development budget by $15,000 to defray a portion of Chirwa’s salary.

OTHER ACTION

In other action, the board:

• Approved bidding specifications to seek a new contract to provide health insurance for county employees.
• Authorized the State’s Attorney’s office to participate in a 40-county consortium to hire additional special attorneys to defend against lawsuits resulting from a 2023 Supreme Court decision regarding the sale of delinquent properties.
• Approved increasing in the County Sheriff’s salary to $176,460.50 and the Public Defender’s salary to $197,393. Duncan said approval was necessary for the county to be eligible for partial state reimbursement for the Sheriff and Public Defender’s Salaries.
• Approved a plan recommended by the county’s auditors to all payments and disbursements for various county offices and agencies through the county’s centralized computer accounting system, which will enable the County Treasurer to reconcile all county accounts in lieu of having those accounts managed by individual offices.

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The Public Access of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office has determined the Macoupin County Board technically violated the state’s Open Meetings Act on March 26 when Board Chair Larry Schmidt used a text message to solicit the opinions from 15 of the board’s 18 members about whether or not he should step down from the chairmanship.

In a letter dated July 2 to the County Board and Chelsa Pruden, Staunton, who filed the initial OMA complaint, Matthew Goodman of the Public Access Bureau confirmed the board violated the OMA but does not assess any penalty or punitive action. The Attorney General’s determination, however, does require the board to publicly disclose a verbatim copy of the text messages exchanged by some of the board members and Schmidt on March 26.

Those texts were made public during a meeting of the Macoupin County Board this week.

At issue was whether or not the text messaging represented “contemporaneous interactive communication” among a majority of a quorum.

While court cases nor legislation has legally defined what constitutes “contemporaneous” communication, Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison told the board his assessment was that the Public Assess Bureau used one hour as a standard for defining “contemporaneous.”

“If the messages had been spread over two hours or over several days, it probably would not have been a violation,” Garrison said.

In his letter to the board, Goodman states that Schmidt sent his original text at 5:03 p.m. Only seven of the 15 members Schmidt contacted responded, with replies coming between 5:05 and 5:58 p.m.

During the board’s Tuesday night meeting, the text of the conversation between Schmidt and board members was made public as follows:

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Larry Schmidt (5:03 PM): As most of you know I caused quite the controversy with a personal statement I made on facebook. I was referring to Anheiser Busch not funding the Gay Pride Parade this year in which I was in agreement. I chose poorly on my words and it sounded worse than intended. They tied it in with me being county board chairman. I am truly sorry and regretful this happened. I am willing to suffer the consequences. Here are the options…

Let it ride and see what happens

Resign as chairman and stay as district 5 as a member 

Resign from the board all together.

I am so sorry for getting you into this mess. Let me know your thoughts. I am not homophobic in anyway and I do not let personal beliefs interfere with my official duties on any job I have had. Let me know your thoughts.

Kristi Dunnagan (5:05 p.m.): Agree!

James lbberson (5:07 p.m.): Let it ride, Larry.

Aaron Stayton (5:07 p.m.): Let it ride. It will settle down.

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Bernard Kiel (5:12 p.m.): Let ride in my eyes you’re a very good chairman.

Leann Barr (5:14 p.m.): I do not know the comment, but sounds like it was taken out of context and you reiterated you do not let personal beliefs interfere with official duties. You have your answer. Do not resign and let it ride.

John Trevino (5:19 p.m.): Same Larry, let it ride you have my support.

Robert Wiggins (5:55 p.m.): Hey we made it thru the “cat season” with just a scratch. We’ll get thru this. People need to lighten up. You’re doing great. (Dunnagan responded to this message with “Haha.”)

Todd Armour (5:58 p.m.): A little grace goes a long way. Larry gave me grace, I’m giving it back!

The controversy stemmed from a comment posted on the KMOV Facebook page in regard to Anneheuser Busch withdrawing its support of the St. Louis Pride Parade. “You can be queer, but you don’t need to march in the streets to show off your disability,” Schmidt posted. LGBTQ+ advocates claimed the comment was part of a pattern of anti-gay/trans rhetoric previously posted by Schmidt. During the April meeting, Schmidt apologized for the comment and said he had deleted the post.

Upward of 100 protestors appeared before the April meeting. Those protests have continued every Tuesday since that time, though the focus has shifted to anti-MAGA sentiments.

During the April meeting, John Blank and Holly Klausing both condemned Schmidt’s remarks. Notably, Ryan Kilduff noted he was not contacted by Schmidt and alleged the text messaging did, indeed, constitute an illegal meeting of a quorum.

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Pruden filed her complaint shortly after the April meeting. The board retained attorney Peter C. Drummond to respond to the complaint to avoid potential conflicts of interest with the Macoupin County State’s Attorney’s office.  Drummond argued that the text messaging did not constitute a “meeting,” and since no legislative action was taken, there was no remedy if the Attorney General found a violation.

In an unusual move, Schmidt also filed a response to the complaint even though the complaint cited the board, not Schmidt individually.

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Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education on Monday night voted to adopt an amended budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30, committed $189,000 in CEJA grant funds to partnering with the City of Gillespie to improve Plum Street, and reviewed ongoing and upcoming facilities improvement projects.

During a public hearing prior to the regular board meeting, Supt. Shane Owsley told the board an amended budget is required anytime “you spend even a penny” over what was initially budgeted for a specific fund. For the just concluded fiscal year, the district overspent the budget in the Bond & Interest Fund, Transportation Fund, and IMRF/Social Security Fund.

With funding uncertainties and uncertainty about when state payments will be received, Owsley said it is nearly impossible to draft a budget a year out that will be completely accurate at the end of the year. For example, at the time he was preparing the amended budget presentation, nearly $40,000 in state money had not been processed by the comptroller. That money did arrive on Monday but if it had come a day later, it would have been considered revenue for fiscal 2026.

Expenses from the Bond & Interest Fund exceeded the budget because a $500 service fee previously paid by the bond broker fell on the school district because of a change in state law. That unanticipated expense pushed expenditures to $1,120,974—$500 more than the $1,120,475 the board initially budgeted. The amended budget increases expenditures to $1,120,975. With $1,117,397.85 already received, the amended budget boosts revenues to $1,123,614.

Salary and benefits for additional support personnel, bus inspections, and additional expenses for contractural services boosted Transportation Fund expenditures to $892,631.25, nearly $60,000 more than the $836,090 initially budgeted. The amended budget approved Monday night increases the amount allotted for expenditures to $921,800.15, with revenue increased from $860,242 to $926,788, with $817,752 already received.

Owsley pointed out the amended budget allots $210,726 for bus driver salaries, compared with $190,000 initially budgeted. Salaries for special education drivers is increased from $81,357 to $115,374, while expenditures for bus aides salaries is increased from $79,833 to $102,759. Expenditures for special education transportation is increased from $7,150 to $7,650, and expenditures for inspections are increased from $1,500 to $2,000.

According to Owsley, expenditures from the IMRF/Social Security Fund exceeded the initial budget in part because of an increase in the IMRF employer rate that become effective Jan. 1. IMRF operates on a calendar year that does not coincide with the school district’s fiscal year. Additionally IMRF/Social Security expenses were influenced by higher than expected expenses for overtime and substitute teacher wages, new hires and position changes.

In total, the district spent $440,078 from the IMRF/Social Security Fund—about $60,000 over the $410,887 initially budgeted. The amended budget increases the expenditure line item to $472,402, with the revenue side increased from $219,308 to $219,846.

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Owsley said he added a small contingency to the affected fund budgets “just in case something unexpected happens before July 1.”

The board is expected to get a first look at the new budget proposal for the current fiscal year in August with final approval usually coming in September.

CEJA GRANT

The board agreed with Owsley’s plan to commit about $89,000 in anticipated grant funds from the federal Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) to partner with the City of Gillespie to make improvements to Plum Street. The street has been a focus of discussion for the City Council for several months after the school district rerouted bus traffic to Plum to facilitate synchronizing starting times and dismissals at each of the district’s three attendance centers. City officials say the bus traffic over the past year has severely deteriorated the condition of the street, which was not designed to carryheavy traffic.

“There was talk that we would not be able to continue using Plum Street,” Owsley noted.

While no engineering has been done for the project, the expected price tag is expected to be in the range of $250,000. City officials have said the city cannot afford the improvements on its own and would require the school district’s participation to make the improvements. The project would likely include re-establishing a thicker base along with resurfacing.

The school board originally earmarked the CEJA funds to install more solar panels but agreed with Owsley to divert the money to the Plum Street project.

Owsley said he would ask the school attorney to draft an agreement clarifying that the district would be able to continue using the street for bus traffic in exchange for its financial participation.

PERSONNEL

Following an 80-minute executive session the board took extensive action in the area of personnel.

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The board accepted the resignations of Jennifer Brown as high school prom sponsor, and Chase Peterson as a middle school cross-country coach. Vacancies were posted for both positions.

The board accepted the resignation of Mike Smith as a part-time bus driver, and appointed him as a substitute driver. Additionally, the board posted vacant positions for two full-route bus drivers, and exercised a Reduction In Force (RIF) to lay off half-time bus driver Jeff Nehls.

The board voted unanimously to hire Tom Turiglatto as a district custodian, pending a background check.

By a unanimous vote, the board agreed to post vacancies for three paraprofessional positions. Owsley said those hires could be or not be new positions depending upon final enrollment figures for the 2025-26 school year.

After some discussion, the board agreed to rehire coaches for middle school and high school sports programs. Board member Weye Schmidt briefly questioned rehiring Athletic Director Jeremy Smith as head coach for the high school baseball program. Schmidt said the board discussed whether or not Smith should continue his coaching duties while also serving as Athletic Director.

“I remember we said we would try it for a year and see how it worked out,” Schmidt said. As baseball coach, Smith is responsible for supervising upward of 30 games, board member Dennis Tiburzi commented.

Supt. Owsley said the roster of coaches proposed for rehires was approved by the high school principal. 

Board President Mark Hayes said Monday night was the deadline for rehiring coaches. “You either have to hire him or fire him tonight,” Hayes said.

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In addition to Smith, Tim Wargo, Dan Smith, Adam Tallman and Tate Wargo were rehired as assistant high school high school baseball coaches. Michelle Smith was rehired to coach high school softball, along with Jim Matesa, Joe Kelly and Melissa Heigert as assistant coaches. Jay Weber was rehired as head high school boys track coach, with Alex Ottersburg rehired as assistant coaches. The board rehired Korbin Clark to coach high school girls track with Ottersburg rehired to assist. Casey Fellin was rehired to coach high school girls soccer with Michael Otten rehired to assist. For high school bass fishing, the board rehired head coach Jake Kellebrew, JQ Hartman and Ryan Bossman rehired to assist. Chase Peterson was rehired to coach middle school boys track, while Jacob West was rehired to coach middles school girls track. Jarrod Herron was rehired to coach both middle school and high school scholar bowl.

EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE

On the advice of Supt. Owsley, the board agreed to contract with Blue Cross-Blue Shield to provide employee health care coverage for a period of 14 months with a premium increase of about nine percent. Owsley said the board was locked into choosing an insurance provider Monday night because the Teacher Retirement System requires teacher salaries and benefits to be documented before the end of July.

During the 14-month term of the newly approved policy, the Owsley and the board are likely to look further into the potential for entering into a self-insurance consortium. Under the plan, the school district would cover employees for up to $75,000 of medical expenses, after which the consortium would kick in to cover up to $300,000 in medical expenses. Anything above $300,000 would be covered by an umbrella policy.

Owsley said it could take five to eight years of expense experience to tailor the program specifically to meet CUSD 7 needs.

“This is a big thing in some states,” Owsley said. “With increased costs in pharmaceuticals and health care, this is seen by some as a way to combat rising costs. There’s more risk at the beginning, but it potentially could result in greater reward.”

FACILITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

Owsley briefly reported on the status of a number of improvement projects at district facilities using grant funds and funds generated from the sale of alternate revenue bonds. Major projects already completed include a new intercom system at the middle school, new fire alarm system for the middle school and high school, new HVAC and lighting at the middle school, a key card system to control entry to the middle school and high school, and other projects.

For the current 2025-26 year, Owsley said plans are underway to install new playground equipment at the elementary school, paint the press boxes at the softball and baseball fields, install new window coverings for the elementary school gym, install lighting for the track and a sidewalk from the elementary school to the high school, and remove carpeting from high school classrooms.

Starting with the summer of 2026, the district plans to resurface the track, add new doors for the weight room, install new breezeway windows, and update the lights and ceiling in the GHS/GMS cafeteria. With the recommendation of Building Manager Brian Page, Owsley said the school will begin a program of annually inspecting building roofs and making minor repairs as needed with an objective to avoid major expenditures for roof replacement.

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DISTRICT HANDBOOK

The board approved a  Student Handbook for district students. Owsley said a major change include increasing the number of credits required for graduation from 23 to 24, requiring an additional science credit. To mitigate against impacting vocational programs, the district is designating Animal Science as a qualifying science course. Owsley said the graduation credit hike corresponds to other schools in the area. Carlinville requires 26 and Litchfield reportedly requires 25 credits for graduation.

The handbook also requires students to store cellphones in their locked lockers during class time. Previous policy allowed teachers to set their own policies regarding cellphones.

OTHER ACTION

In other action, the board:

• Awarded the 2025-26 food contract to Kohl Wholesale, Quincy.
• Approved a course description book that updates course offerings and includes classes offered through the South Central Illinois Regional Workforce Training and Innovation Center in Litchfield.
• Approved an intergovernmental transportation agreement with the Jersey Community School District to provide bus transportation for the CUSD 7 student who attends the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville.

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