Connect with us

Community News

Rotary hears from State Rep. Wayne Rosenthal

Published

on

“The State is broke”

The Area Rotary met in a regular meeting on Tuesday, January 24th at Toni’s Restaurant in Benld. Wayne Rosenthal, the 98th district representative for the State of Illinois, updated the Rotary on what is going on at the state level and answered all of the questions thrown at him by numerous Rotarians.

Rosenthal, who resides in Morrisonville, attempted to keep it short until questions exploded from the fifteen people in the audience. Getting elected just last year, republican Rosenthal has not spent much time in the general assembly.

To start the discussion, Wayne started on a soft note and explained to everyone that the state is broke. “I do not expect that to change any time soon,” Rosenthal started, “Last year our budget was pretty tight and this year we are still 4-8 billion dollars behind in paying our bills.” The State of Illinois expects another 4-6 billion dollars worth of bills and no more revenue, according to comptroller Topinka.

He went on to say that he expects the House to craft a budget on projected revenues as done for the 2011 year. “If we would have been doing that the last 10 years, we would not be in this mess we are currently in,” Rosenthal said as he chuckled.

Pensions could be brought up again, according to Rosenthal, because the plan is to make the pensions sustainable in the future for all state workers, teachers, and everyone else concerned. “We need to make sure they are there, but figure out how we are going to fund them,” Wayne explained, “It is an ongoing battle.” He went on to say he anticipates changes with the teachers union and he believes the teachers should represent themselves in the argument because “it isn’t right for legislatures to dictate how it is going to be without proper representation from the IEA and IFT.”

Wayne explained further of why there is no money in the pension fund. New legislation is introduced and, regardless of what it is, it is hard to vote against it and say it is not true when the facts are there and it is true. Legislators don’t think about paying for it before hand and just assume the general fund will cover these programs whether it be for the elderly or the veterans. Then, at the end of the year, the general fund is out of money. “Now what?” Wayne questioned, “They borrow from the pension funds and after they consistently did that, the pension fund is broke. Now, those guys are gone and the problem lies with us.”

After being questioned how to stop the Chicago influence, Wayne answered the best way would be to continue have people from downstate represented. Speaker Madigan has majority of the control, Rosenthal explained, and Madigan basically controls the agenda. During the last session, Wayne explained he was sitting in the back of the chambers and was wondering why the talk of paying bills was never brought up. The reason why the bills weren’t brought up was because the meeting is speaker driven and the only discussion items are from Madigan.

“The State of Illinois is controlled by only two or three individuals,” Rosenthal established, “They are President Cullerton, Speaker Madigan, and the governor.” Those three just control the whole thing and Wayne has no clue how the state will get out of it.

Advertisement

“So we will continue to be the second most corrupt State in the U.S.,” questioned an individual from the audience. “I mean, yes. I don’t know what we can do to get out of it,” Wayne responded hesitatingly, “Everyone heard we got downgraded on our bond rating again. One of the things discussed in Springfield is: as long as we can borrow money, we aren’t broke.” Rosenthal went on to say this shocked him, but explained that is how it is viewed up there.


Follow The BenGil Post on Facebook


Rosenthal went on to say that Illinois has the worst bond rating out of all the states. “We are down to almost nothing,” he explained, “And back to the old picture, their feeling is if we can sell bonds – we are not broke. They just don’t get it.”

He then went on to explain that Illinois lies in heart of the United States and has great resources to our advantage. “We just need to get the government out of our way and start taking advantage of the resources we are bless with. Then we can create jobs and put people back to work!”

Another problem Rosenthal explained about the government is there is a big line separating how we grew up and the folks in Chicago grew up. “We look around and prefer to take care of ourself without the government. We would survive very well and be very efficient while they [leaders from Chicago] look around and see big buildings while living in the rat race. They see the corporations and want them to pay for everything, but they don’t realize that the people are different when they come down here.”

The biggest disconnection Rosenthal sees is: the State thinks if the rates are raised it equates to more revenue. He went on to explain that it is not always the case and is not necessarily true. If we gain money, we lose jobs because people exit the state. “Until we can create a better business environment and attract businesses, we will not gain the revenue to pay for the programs we want and desire,” Wayne pushed, “We cannot make enough cuts right now.” The state would not have enough money even if the people were taxed to death, according to Wayne.

The problem is a trickle down thing that affects counties and municipalities. “Every place you go, water systems are in need of repair or sewer systems are in need of repair,” Rosenthal explained. The state does not have any money to help the villages or cities repair these problems because “we are essentially broke.”

Rosenthal went on to explain that the governor, Pat Quinn, cut 9% on each departments budgets. The question now stuck with Rosenthal is what do you do now? “One of things I have done and the first piece of legislation that was passed was the baths salts last year,” Rosenthal stated, “And we have found that the synthetic drugs are just changed a tiny bit and pushed back on the market.” Rosenthal said he has talked to Larry Pfeiffer, who is the ROE for the 98th district, and Wayne is going to continue to pass legislation to ban synthetic drugs.

Advertisement

In the spring session, he expects concealed carry to be brought up again. That State Sportsman Caucus told NRA if the lawsuit does not get settled in Chicago, the State will pass some type of legislation that will exempt Cook County or the City of Chicago and “[I] would be pretty optimistic that we would pass concealed carry that way.”

Share this story

Comments

comments

Community News

Skinner falls to Ashby as Republicans capture a second county office

Published

on

By

With a commanding two-to-one tally, Republican Amy J. Ashby became the second Republican to capture a county executive office in Macoupin County in General Election balloting Tuesday.

Ashby, a resident of Carlinville, defeated Democrat Dana Carr Skinner, Gillespie, to succeed Democrat Lee Ross, also of Gillespie, as Macoupin County Circuit Clerk––an office held by Democrats since 1948 when Democrat Philip Brown defeated Republican incumbent Elery Hardin. 

Republican L. Amber McGartland defeated appointed incumbent in 2022, becoming the first Republican County Treasurer since A.C. “Junie” Bartulis, Benld, held the office from 1966 to 1970.

Unofficial results with all precincts reporting, Ashby captured 14,892 votes (65.44 percent) to Skinner’s 7,863 votes (34.56 percent). Ashby took commanding leads in 43 of the county’s 45 precincts. Skinner tallied 294 votes to Ashby’s 274 in Gillespie 1. In Gillespie 2, the candidates tied with 372 votes each.

A total of 22,755 votes were cast in the Circuit Clerk’s race. Countywide, 23,574 of the county’s 31,516 registered voters cast ballots for a voter turnout of 74.8 percent, meaning more than 800 voters did not express a preference in the Circuit Clerk’s race.

Ashby, a native of Palmyra and graduate of Northwestern High School, touted her legal experience in her bid for the Circuit Clerk’s office. A resident of Carlinville for the past 25 years, Ashby told voters she had 30 years of experience working for various law firms in Macoupin and Sangamon counties. She earned an associates degree in 1994 from Robert Morris University in Springfield.

Skinner holds a paralegal degree and has 25 years of legal experience with 15 of those years directly in the courtroom.

The Circuit Clerk is responsible for establishing, maintaining and keeping all records of the court, as well as several administrative, financial and public services.

Advertisement

DISTRICT 13 CONGRESSIONAL RACE

As of 10:30 p.m., Tuesday night, incumbent Democrat Congressional member Nikki Budzinski, Champaign, was locked in a remarkably tight race for a second term against Republican challenger Joshua Loyd of Virden. Budzinski held a lead with 57.6 percent to Loyd’s 42.4 percent in the 13th Congressional District, which includes Champaign, Springfield, much of Decatur, Metro East St. Louis and Macoupin County. Associated Press and NBC projected Budzinski as the winner.

Macoupin voters heavily favored Loyd with 14,309 votes (62.65 percent) to Budzinski’s 8,532 votes (37.35 percent).

Budzinki is seeking a second term after being elected two years ago. Loyd is a West Point graduate and transplant to Central Illinois where he was a precinct committee person in Southern Illinois but has never held an elective office.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

In the presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, Macoupin voters again heavily favored Trump. Macoupin voters cast 16,023 ballots (68.67 percent) for Trump, compared with 6,867 votes (29.43 percent) for Harris.

Moreover, Tuesday night’s results demonstrated no softening of support for Trump in Macoupin County. In 2016, with a voter turnout of 71.55 percent, county voters favored Trump over Hilary Clinton 64.46 percent to 30.11 percent. In 2020, when Joe Biden captured the Presidency, Macoupin voters favored Trump 67.24 percent to 30.66 percent.

Nationally, Associated Press declared Donald Trump as the 47th president of the U.S. around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday with Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, and Alaska not called.

STAUNTON BOND ISSUE

Voters in the Staunton School District decisively authorized the Board of Education to issue $26.1 million in bonds to finance construction of a new school. A total of 1,674 votes (56.53 percent) were cast in favor of the measure, compared with 1,287 votes (43.47 percent) opposed.

Voters in all six precincts included in the district favored the bond issue.

Advertisement

NONBINDING QUESTIONS

Macoupin voters favored all three non-binding statewide questions on the ballot, reflecting results from throughout the rest of the state.

A total of 12,114 voters (53.84 percent) favored a measure to impose a three percent tax on incomes in excess of $1 million with the revenue generated earmarked for property tax relief. A total of 10,388 (46.16 percent) voted against the measure.

A mesure to impose civil penalties against any candidate who interferes with the official duties of election officials was favored by 19,746 voters (87.78 percent), while 2,749 voters (12.22 percent) opposed the measure.

A measure to enact a law requiring all insurance plans that provide pregnancy benefits to also cover assisted reproductive treatments such as in vitro fertilization was favored by 14,185 Macoupin voters (63.71 percent), compared with 8,079 (36.29 percent) opposed.

UNOPPOSED RACES

Incumbent State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison and incumbent Coroner Anthony Kravanya, both Democrats, were returned to office with 16,371 votes and 17,724 votes, respectively. Both totals suggest that upward of 4,000 voters withheld their votes when provided with no choice on the ballot.

Likewise incumbent County Board members were returned to office as follows: Jon C. Payne (R) and Gordon Heuer (R) in District 2, Ross Adden (R) and Mark Dragovich (D) in District 4, and Todd Armour (R) and Molly Rosentreter (R) in District 9.  Republican John Trevino was elected to a two-year unexpired term in District 3, also without opposition.

Republican Thomas Denny was elected without opposition as resident Seventh Judicial Circuit Judge, replacing retiring Circuit Judge Kenneth Deihl, a Democrat.

Advertisement
Share this story

Comments

comments

Continue Reading

Community News

School board accepts financial report, wrestles with rising insurance costs

Published

on

By

Ken Loy, an auditor with Loy Miller Talley Certified Public Accountants, Alton, presented highlights of the financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30 this year.

Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education voted on Monday night to accept the district’s annual financial report and audit, and agreed to drop $5 million in mine subsidence coverage in an effort to mitigate against rising commercial insurance premiums.

Ken Loy, an auditor with Loy Miller Talley Certified Public Accountants, Alton, presented highlights of the financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30 this year. Loy said the auditors provided a “clean opinion” overall for the district’s procedures for accounting, tracking financial information and maintaining internal controls. State law requires the auditors to render opinions in three specific areas, including an opinion on overall auditing standards and an opinion on internal control compliance within each of the district’s major programs. Additionally, the auditors were required to present on opinion on the district’s handling of federal funds, which exceeded $3.4 million last fiscal year.

“You have three reports with three clean opinions,” Loy said.

The financial report also includes a financial profile assessment required by state law. Loy said the profile, determined through calculations for five different ratios, is 3.7 out of 4.0 for the past fiscal year. The “Recognition” status is the state’s highest category for school districts.

“Most districts have been on the ‘Watch List’ and Gillespie has been on the ‘Watch List’ in past years,” Loy commented. “But you’re at the top of the ladder now and have been for the past two years.” Loy said Gillespie had a perfect score in four of the five categories used to determine financial status but fell short in the area of long-term debt.

“Your long-term debt is a little on the high side,” Loy said, largely because of financial liabilities the district incurred after the loss of Benld Elementary School due to mine subsidence.

The report shows the district having $11,460,000 in long-term debt, requiring annual debt service payments of $1.1 million to $1.2 million. Additionally, the district has $639,711 in lease liabilities for equipment such as school buses.

Comparing revenue to expenditures, the district took in more money than it spent in all for two funds, where budgeted spending deficits were covered with existing surplus funds.

Advertisement

The financial report documents a property tax for last fiscal year at $3.49 per $100 in equalized assessed valuation. At the same time, the district’s total equalized assessed valuation was set at $103,564,334, up from $87,198,959 two years ago.

“The last three years, you’ve had some pretty big increases in equalized assessed valuation of six to eight percent,” Loy commented. “That’s a lot different from a few years ago when it was 2.7 to three percent.”

 The document reports the cost of educating one student for one year at $8,892, which is what the district would charge as tuition for an out-of-district student. The average daily attendance was 1,005, which is up from 996 the previous year, but still shy of 1,028 for 1,100 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Loy characterized the school’s overall financial condition as stable.

“You’ve had three or four pretty good years in a row that helps offset some of the bad years you had in the past from about 2016 to 2020,” Loy said.

COMMERCIAL INSURANCE DEBATE

On a motion by Amanda Ross, seconded by Peyton Bernot, the board voted to renew a commercial insurance policy with Wright Speciality with some modifications to the company’s original proposal. The action followed several minutes of debate as the board wrestled with substantive increases in premiums.

Athletic Director Jeremy Smith addressed the board with an end-of-season report.

The policy covers general liability, property damage, crime, vehicles and workers compensation, along with additional coverage for mine subsidence. While premiums for coverage in most areas were similar to the previous year, the premium for property damaged jumped nearly $40,000 from $105,821 to $142,444. Supt. Shane Owsley said the increase was due to the insurer’s experience with paying out weather-related claims over the past year. Additionally, the company proposed reducing the district’s deductible for wind and hail damage from 10 percent to 1 percent.

The total premium for standard coverage came in at $261,238, compared with $219,888 last year.

Additionally, the district purchased mine subsidence insurance for $124,189 for the first $10 million in coverage, plus $48,852 for the next $5 million and $44,175 for yet another $5 million in coverage. Essentially, the district was paying $217,216 for a total of $20 million in mine subsidence coverage.

Advertisement

Owsley said the district could shave $5,893 from the standard policy premium pay upping the deductible to $15,000 for all perils excluding wind and hail.

“I’d love to keep all the insurance, but you’d be looking at about $50,000 in additional premiums,” Owsley said. “I don’t have any good answers for you.” Owsley proposed increasing the deductible from $10,000 to $15,000, dropping $5 million in subsidence coverage, and purchasing additional “gap” coverage for about $50,000 for wind and hail coverage.

Owsley noted that a castrophic loss due to mine subsidence, as when Benld Elementary School was a total loss, is unlikely. Moreover, $20 million in coverage would not be nearly enough to cover a total loss of one of the district’s classroom buildings. Mine tunnels under the newly constructed BenGil Elementary School were injected with concrete before the school was built, but portions of the High School/Middle School are undermined and subject to mine subsidence damage.

“When you drive around this area in the country, you see a lot of sinks,” Weye Schmidt commented.

Owsley said he’d been advised that it’s not a question of wthether or not the district will experience mine subsidence damage at some point but rather “when” that damage will occur.

Bernot agreed $20 million would not be enough to cover a catastrophic loss and if such a thing were to happen, the district would be forced to return to the legislature for funding to replace a school. Additionally, the amount of money the district can levy is limited by tax caps, meaning the district cannot levy enough in property tax to cover the increase in premiums.

“Where would that money come from?” Bernot asked.

“It would have to come from our reserves,” Owsley replied.

Advertisement

Bernot commented that he’d be comfortable with eliminating $5 million in subsidence coverage to reduce premium costs.

The approved plan—with $15 million in mine subsidence coverage, a $5,000 boost in the deductible, and the addition of gap coverage for wind and hail—will total $475,386, compared with $421,976 the district paid last year.

ATHLETIC REPORT

Athletic Director Jeremy Smith addressed the board with an end-of-season report, which included an extensive discussion regarding to the future of the district’s soccer program. Previously, the district was part of a coop with Litchfield High School to field enough players tor a team, but Smith reported Litchfield recently dropped out of the coop.

“I’ve reached out to local schools to see if they would coop with us,” Smith said. “They’re not really interested, mainly because, with our enrollment, it would put them up into the next class.”

The district could resume a soccer program as a parent-supported sport, according to Smith and Owsley. However, the Litchfield program became a school-supported sport two years ago, meaning Gillespie soccer parents have not been active for the past two years. Owsley said a goal would be to recruit at least 18 players, at a cost of about $10,000 per player—meaning parents would have to raise about $180,000 to fund the program. Owsley was optimistic about recruiting 18 players because younger players have been reluctant to join the program because they could not drive themselves to Litchfield.

The district currently sends six players to Litchfield.

Smith said he is awaiting results from a survey of students to gauge the level of interest in a local program. In the meantime, GHS Principal Jill Rosentreter said soccer parents are “anxious” about what direction the school will take. She said she and Smith are making an effort to keep parents informed as the local district works toward a resolution.

Smith also introduced a sports webpage which can be accessed via the school district’s webpage. The new website includes a sports calendar, schedules, and information about Sports Hall of Fame inductees. Smith said parents can even set up a personal account through the page which will ensure they receive emails regarding schedule changes, cancellations and other information.

Advertisement

PERSONNEL

Following a one-hour executive session, the board voted to post a vacancy for an elementary Social/Emotional Learning coordinator, and voted to hire Kelly Helen as a district custodian.

In other action, the board accepted the resignation of Jay Weber as head coach for the parent-funded middle school cross-country program, and hired Trae Wargo as the seventh grade basketball coach.

The board accepted the resignation of Alexis Ollis as the GMS/GHS head cook and posted a vacancy for the position. Board members also voted to hire Amy Costello as a three-hour part-time cafeteria worker, pending a background check, and voted to post a vacancy for a six-hour part-time cafeteria worker.

CEO FUNDING

In other action, the board accepted Owsley’s recommendation to make a $3,000 investment in the county’s Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunitites (CEO) program, payable in three $1,000 annual increments. CEO board chairman Scott Reichman made the request last month during a District Focus segment.

Share this story

Comments

comments

Continue Reading

Community News

Elementary school earns ‘Exemplary’ designation from state; Middle, High schools earn ‘Commendable’

Published

on

Contributed content

Ben-Gil Elementary School (photo/Ben-Gil Elementary)

The Illinois State Board of Education has recognized all three Gillespie Community Unit School District #7 schools with top designations, marking an outstanding achievement for the district.

Ben-Gil Elementary School has earned the prestigious “Exemplary” designation, placing it among the top 10 percent of elementary schools in Illinois, while both Gillespie High School and Gillespie Middle School have earned “Commendable” designations.

The Exemplary designation is awarded to the highest-performing schools in the state, while the Commendable designation recognizes schools that have no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate greater than 67 percent, and whose performance ranks in the top 90 percent of schools statewide.

“This is a proud moment for the entire community,” said Superintendent Shane Owsley. “This designation is a sign of the hard work, time and dedication put in by the students, staff and community members of CUSD #7.”

All three schools demonstrated strong performance across multiple academic indicators, including:

  • Student academic achievement
  • Student academic progress
  • English language proficiency progress
  • Chronic absenteeism
  • Graduation rates (High School)

Ben-Gil Elementary’s Exemplary status places it in an elite category of Illinois schools, while the Commendable designations for the middle and high schools reflect the district’s consistent commitment to educational excellence across all grade levels.

This district-wide achievement highlights Gillespie CUSD #7’s success in maintaining high educational standards and ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed, from elementary through high school.

Advertisement
Share this story

Comments

comments

Continue Reading

Trending

×

We need your support. If you value having timely, accurate news about your community, please become one of our subscribers. Subscribe