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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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The
Public Policy Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, August 20,
2001 at 6:30p.m. at the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.
Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order.
Members present were James Barr, John Dlabal, Eileen Dubin and Jeffery
Metzger. Ed Brown and Pat
LaVigne were absent. Greg Millburg,
Ray Bockman, Robert Pritchard were also present.
Moved
by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was voted unanimously to accept
the minutes from the July 16, 2001 meeting.
Ms. Dubin asked if an item could be
discussed regarding a feasibility study for Transportation under the legislative
agenda?
Moved
by Ms. Dubin, seconded by Mr. Dlabal, and it was voted unanimously that the
agenda be approved.
Chairman Tobias stated that the first eight items on the list came from our own departments. Items 9 through 16 she gleaned from McHenry, Lake, and Winnebago Counties Legislative Agendas for this year. She noticed that most of the ones that she added for discussion were ones that were presented in all three counties. Chairman Tobias mentioned that she noticed that most of the items submitted from our department heads have to deal with finance. So we need to watch our expenses as always. Many of these items are from last year’s Legislative Agenda. Mr. Bockman stated that if a department head feels that the item is important then they will keep submitting it over and over again. Ms. Dubin asked Mr. Bockman if we have any support? Mr. Bockman said sometimes yes, some never see the light of day. Mr. Barr asked if the staff does have opportunity to support our policies? Mr. Bockman said yes. If we know where the board stands on an issue, then we are in a more stable position to advocate in that direction. Another thing too, Mr. Bockman continued, is that this agenda, does go to Metro Counties and last year one of the initiatives on our agenda, along with several others was adopted. They’ll only take one, two or three items at the most per year and they have full time paid lobbyists that work on these items to get passed. The one issue that was on our agenda and was put on Metro Counties’ agenda the nursing home item and they were successful.
The Committee then discussed the priority of the
list that was handed out to them by Chairman Tobias.
1.)
The first issue dealing with permits for farmhouse, since they are
exempt, the Planning & Zoning Department would like to see this as an item
on the legislative agenda. Mr.
Millburg of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau said that they would probably not
support it. Mr. Bockman said that
he had thought the insurance underwriters would support this.
When he called several underwriters he got the impression that they
couldn’t care. Mr. Millburg said
that he agreed with Mr. Bockman that it is not a high priority.
Mr. Pritchard asked if there was any more background on the additional
items relating to the legislative agenda? Some
of the legislative agendas that he has seen before there had been two or three
sentences that give you the feel and may cite other documents or laws that they
are going to support it, he said. It
would just be more helpful to have a little bit more information so the reader
can get a quick idea of what we feel the issue is, he said.
Chairman Tobias said, yes, that when we are finished with our final
format that it will be presented as it was last year with a brief description
for each item.
2.)
To amend the property tax limitation law is from the Finance Office - to
exempt tax levies where the expenditures cannot be controlled by the local unit
of government, such as funding state retirement programs and paying tort and
liability claims, said Chairman Tobias, is the second item on the list. Mr.
Bockman said that there are areas where the expenditures are truly out of their
control. The retirement levy is set
in Springfield and is adjusted annually, he said.
There have been years in the past where there has been substantial
fluctuation. Now, any fluctuation
in that levy that goes beyond that year’s allowance for growth will result in
a reduction of services somewhere else, Mr. Bockman said.
He stated an example of, “what if we had a multi-million dollar
settlement that we had to pay, because we are self-insured, even with a
structured payment for those years that you were making those payments to the
extent they exceeded 5% or whatever that year’s limit was, that money is going
to have to come literally from some department’s budget.”
3.)
Amend 55ILCS 5/5-1024 – Population Parameters.
Chairman Tobias said this is so that the population figure of the County
is based on the 1990 Census figure so that the tax rate for the General Fund is
not reduced. Chairman Tobias said
that her question is, “how can you ask for it to be based on 1990 Census when
there is an actual new census figure?” Mr.
Bockman said that the cap is not only on a corporate fund, but it’s on
everything altogether now, so what’s the point?
Secondly, what’s the point to a population threshold on a property tax
cap in the first place? What in the world does that have to do with anything, it has
nothing to do with assessed value, he continued. Chairman Tobias asked if we should write this so that we ask
that the law should be deleted? Mr.
Bockman said yes, to take it off the burner, we will find a way to word it.
4.)
Amend the unemployment statutes for election judges.
Election judges that work one or two days a year have to pay an
unemployment tax. They make less
than $100 each time and with the administration costing as much as the state
would get out of that, Mr. Hanson suggests amending that law, said Chairman
Tobias, i.e., exempt the election judges from the tax that employers must pay on
their wages.
5.)
Recognize the concept of “contributory negligence.”
This concept would not penalize the employer for accidents that happen
when the employee is negligent in following prescribed safety rules.
Mr. Hanson suggests that medical bills be paid, but limitations be placed
on claims for lost wages and settlements for permanent injuries. If the employee is definitely at fault then they should be
made to pay their own claims on certain aspects of it. Mr. Metzger suggested that the committee should not only do
research for next time but also invite the finance people here so that they
could answer whatever questions we might have to help us assess this issue
better, since not all of us work with these issues everyday.
Mr. Bockman said that if there are questions, then we need to get people
here to answer them. Chairman
Tobias said that if anyone had any questions, to please contact her with them so
that they could invite the appropriate people to attend the next meeting.
6.)
Adequate reimbursement for residents financed by Medicaid (DCRNC). This
is a continual issue for the nursing home, said Chairman Tobias.
7.)
County Motor Fuel Tax. Continually
trying to address increased demands for infrastructure improvements, that is,
upgrading the roads, wider, heavier structures, etc., said Chairman Tobias.
She mentioned that at our Sandwich Meeting the Mayor of Sandwich
mentioned the thousands of cars that went out on Chicago Road daily and so
it’s really taking a toll on the condition of the road.
Not just the traffic, but also the pounding of the road.
There is a state law that provides for a county motor fuel tax in DuPage,
Kane and McHenry Counties for up to 4 cents maximum, per gallon of gasoline.
8.)
Adequate funding – Community Mental Health Services.
Mr. Lane would like to see increased support for mental health funding.
9.)
Allow counties to charge citizens for cost of using credit cards to pay
for services. When these people use
their credit cards the “receiver” of the money has to pay for them to use
their credit cards so it’s less money for what the actual fee is because you
are paying the credit card company for the transaction, said Chairman Tobias.
Because of this, some of the counties are suggesting that the people should pay
for the use. Mr. Bockman said that
since we are collecting all taxes for other taxing bodies, we can’t pay their
fee. So, we are not allowing credit card payments because we can’t, said Mr.
Bockman.
10.)
Allow advertising on the county web pages.
Chairman Tobias said that she didn’t really like this idea and thought
it would be “tacky.”
11.)
Establish fee structure for electronic permitting.
The committee said that when they receive more information on this one
that they will discuss it further.
12.)
Recording of real estate documents in the county where property is
located, in addition to national electronic database.
This is very difficult, said Mr. Bockman.
The committee will discuss this item further when it receives more
information.
13.)
Support legislation initiatives that reduce school district reliance on
property taxes as primary source of revenue. Chairman Tobias said that there was
a staff analysis that she had a copy of and that she would include it in these
minutes so that the committee could review it further.
14.)
Support legislation to allow the court to charge a service fee of $1 –2
to offset expense of providing a qualified foreign language interpreter service.
Chairman Tobias said that she supported this issue and the rest of the
committee agreed.
15.)
Support legislation that would increase the amount of Social Security
checks retained by nursing home residents on Public Aid to $50/month.
The committee supports this legislation.
16.)
Support legislation to increase the local Health Protection Grant Line
Item in the IDPH budget by an additional $10 million, to support programs at
state-certified health departments. The committee supported this issue also.
Mr. Barr stated that he felt that we need to
prioritize this list next month and shorten it. After that we need to go after the items aggressively.
17.)
Ms. Dubin spoke about her additional item regarding the feasibility study
on transportation in this county. She feels that we need to look at transportation for the
older population in this county as one item.
She felt that we need to establish a policy on this.
Mr. Barr suggested that maybe this could be handled successfully through
PACE. Mr. Bockman stated that bus
transit needs federal support and that we need to contact our local legislators
and Mr. Tom Zucker of VAC to talk to them about this.
The committee decided to consider this item for the agenda.
Chairman
Tobias said that each committee member would get a copy of the documentation on
the extra items so that they can prioritize items for inclusion on the 2001
Legislative Agenda.
Mr. Dlabal stated that the County needs to look at
other forms of taxation besides property taxes, like income tax.
Chairman Tobias informed the committee members that
Mr. Bockman and Mr. Paul Miller have been talking to the Mayors of DeKalb and
Sycamore about regional planning. They
said that so far the people that they have talked to have been positive about
the concept. When it comes to the
details and trying to find the way to organize this could prove more difficult,
however, she stated further.
Chairman Tobias also mentioned that for the
committee’s October meeting in Genoa, that
Mr. Terry Hannan, DeKalb County Forest Preserve Superintendent, and Ms.
Christine Johnson, DeKalb County Treasurer, have agreed to attend the meeting to
answer questions from the audience. She
was also thinking of inviting Mr. Lorence and, of course, Mr. Bockman, to
attend. If the committee could
think of any other department heads that they would like to invite, they should
notify Chairman Tobias about who they are.
Moved
by Mr. Dlabal, seconded by Mr. Barr, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn
the meeting.
Respectively
submitted,
______________________________
Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias
______________________________
Judy Brady, Secretary
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