Coming (trust us) To A County Near You

Outcomes of “Open Illinois Week”

Richard Lorenc, Director of Outreach at showmethespending.com Coalition partner the Illinois Policy Institute, submitted an update about Open Illinois Week (February 23–27, 2009):

“The very first Open Illinois Week was a success! The Illinois Policy Institute, in partnership with www.sunshinereview.org, focused last week’s event on Illinois county governments in an effort to get their leaders to commit to a platform of transparent, open government. Liberty Leaders from the state’s three most populous counties received positive responses from county board members who were asked to sign the Institute’s Transparency Pledge. Additionally, Liberty Leaders contributed to a growing body of transparency knowledge by adding information to their counties’ listings on www.sunshinereview.org.”

“The impact of the Open Illinois Week event is already being felt. Just today, March 4^th, the Cook County board passed a resolution introduced by Transparency Pledge signatory Tony Peraica to post county expenditures online. ‘We’re declaring war on the waste and abuse that costs taxpayers millions of their hard-earned money,’ said Peraica. ‘It’s time to usher in a new era of transparency and fiscal sanity in Cook County government.’”

“The next Open Illinois Week event will be held this May and will focus on another level of Illinois government. Sign up for the Institute’s Liberty Leaders program to get details!”

You Can Fool Some Of The People . . .

"Stimulus" $2 Billion for HeadStart; $50 Million For NASA

As more industries continue to beg President Obama for money from the next $819 billion economic plan, NASA was largely left out of the latest stimulus package.

Although Obama said the next $819 billion -- which was approved by the House -- will be another step towards other money packages, NASA was not granted $2 billion for space exploration and Orion development. NASA officials were dismayed to find they were only given $50 million from the House, despite the high costs of developing a next-generation space craft and repairing damage caused by Hurricane Ike.

Despite problems in the House, NASA officials hope to have better luck with the Senate bill, if all goes according to plan. Some politicians are upset there is so much money being granted towards social programs while programs such as NASA are trying to scrape together funding for future missions to Mars and moon.

By the way, the House included an additional $2 billions for Headstart programs. Other than stimulating social programs, what the heck kind of "stimulus" priority is that? When the headstart kids grow up I guess they can become social workers but not NASA engineers.

As an aside, although infrastructure construction and repair creates jobs, what help is that to my unemployed office worker friend, my unemployed banking friend, and my unemployed copy writer friend? Should they all be "retrained" to be union construction workers and move to other states where the pork projects are located?

Let's Review Who Supported This Guy . . .

Top contributors to Blagojevich were overwhelmingly from the labor sector. Unions made up five of his top ten contributors in 2002, three in 2004, seven in 2006 and six in 2008. Unions were also Blagojevich's top four contributors during his re-election campaign in 2006.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union was the only contributor, union or non-union, to appear on Blagojevich's top 10 contributor list every year since he became governor. It contributed a total of $758,200 to his campaign, an amount that was far less than Blagojevich's other labor contributors.

The Service Employees International Union, which contributed $1.92 million from 2001 to 2008, was the largest overall contributor to Blagojevich. With $931,722 in contributions, it was also the largest contributor to Blagojevich's reelection campaign in 2006.

Education-related unions were the second-largest labor contributors to Blagojevich, donating $1.89 million.Of these labor organizations, the Illinois Federation of Teachers was the largest contributor at $1.2 million from 2002 to 2008.

TOP CONTRIBUTORS, 2002 ELECTION

Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte/DCCC $925,000
Service Employees/SEIU $821,494
Illinois Federation of Teachers $642,558
Illinois Democratic Party $605,190
Illinois Education Association/I-PACE $536,671
Hull, Blair $459,061
AFSCME Illinois Council 31 $376,000
Unitemized Donations $341,083
CGK Consulting $314,500
Teamsters/IBT Drive $219,000
TOTAL $5,240,557

TOP CONTRIBUTORS, 2004 ELECTION

Illinois Pipe Trades/UA $130,000
Development Specialists $105,000
Clifford Law Offices $100,000
Democratic Governors Association $100,000
Illinois Hospital & Health Systems Association $100,000
National Material $100,000
Illinois Laborers/LIUNA $96,250
Teamsters/IBT Drive $95,000
Illinois Council on Long Term Care $85,000
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association $80,860
TOTAL $992,110

TOP CONTRIBUTORS, 2006 ELECTION

Service Employees Illinois Council/SEIU $908,382
Illinois Federation of Teachers $515,669
Illinois Pipe Trades/UA $462,482
Laborers/LIUNA $350,000
Illinois Hospital & Health Systems Association $300,715
Construction & General Laborers Council of Chicago & Vicinity/LIUNA $220,000
Clifford Law Offices $204,346
Democratic Governors Association $200,000
Teamsters/IBT Drive $155,000
Illinois Laborers/LIUNA $152,250
TOTAL $3,468,844

TOP CONTRIBUTORS, 2008 ELECTION

Illinois Pipe Trades/UA $230,000
Illinois Laborers/LIUNA $150,000
Squier Knapp Dunn Communications $105,113
A Finkl & Sons $80,000
Service Employees Illinois Council/SEIU $80,000
Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois/IAFF $60,000
Dream World $50,000
Lakhani, Mansoor & Shamim $50,000
Teamsters Joint Council 25/IBT Drive $50,000
Teamsters/IBT Drive $50,000
TOTAL $905,113 (post June, 2008 $ not yet reported)

So, how do you feel about those union dues now?

Ready Another Cell For Another Illinois Governor

The FBI has apparently taken the Governor and his chief of staff into custody.

You know the rest. Blago seemed to think the vacant senate seat of Obama's is his personal chit. I think we now understand his and Durbin's "empathy" for Ryan and their support for a Bush pardon.

I can't help but remember 2002 when this joker was hailed by the Illinois left (teachers, unions, minorities, etc.) as the second coming. He even got nearly 55% of the vote! I'll bet you can't find 5 out of 10 of your friends that will admit to voting for him now.

Sound familiar?
Just remember - we've said all along - if you like Illinois you're going to LOVE Obama-Clinton.

Fat tax break for felon

It just gets better and better. This from the Chicago Sun Times yesterday:

Key Rezko witness Stuart Levine saved $351,000 on property taxes over 11 years

Stuart P. Levine, the star prosecution witness in Tony Rezko's corruption trial, might be an admitted drug user and felon. But he's savvy when it comes to his property taxes.

Levine found a way to save $351,715.12 over an 11-year span. And -- unlike many of the crooked deals Levine admitted to on the witness stand -- his tax break was perfectly legal.

» Click to enlarge image

Stuart Levine
(Sun-Times file)

RELATED STORIES

Clout corner Special section: The Watchdogs

RELATED PDF

Levine's tax break, by year

Levine got his break through the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency's "property tax assessment freeze" program. The idea is to offer tax breaks to encourage people to renovate historic homes.

First, you make sure your home meets the state's criteria for "historic." Then, you do the construction work, making sure the project is up to state standards.

If the state agrees, you get a "certificate of rehabilitation." That freezes the assessed value of your home -- the figure your property taxes are based on -- for eight years. In the next four years after that, your assessment is gradually ramped back to normal.

Levine's house, on Deere Park Drive in Highland Park, is a good example of how lucrative the program can be.

Levine and his wife, Sheri, bought what's known as the E.C. Fucik house in the early 1990s for $1.8 million, Lake County property records show. It's a stone, English-manor-style structure that dates to the 1920s, overlooks Lake Michigan and has a private beach.

The Levines wanted more space, an updated kitchen and new windows, among other things. So they hired an architect to oversee plans for a two-story addition, plus interior work, records show.

Under historic-preservation rules, the addition and other work had to match the existing house. The Levines ended up spending $588,327 on their rehab project, which wrapped up in November 1995.

Then, they reaped the financial benefit. Between 1996 and 2007, the Levines paid $338,977.51 in property taxes (see chart). Had their house not been part of the state program, they would have paid more than double that amount in property taxes -- $690,692.63 -- during that time.

Now, the freeze has expired. And the Levines are moving out.

They put their house on the market Jan. 2, with an asking price of $4.95 million -- about double what they paid for it and spent on renovations.

The six-bedroom house -- with four fireplaces and a four-car garage -- went under contract in early March for an undisclosed amount. It has yet to close, according to property records.

Levine's home is among 3,158 houses and condos statewide allowed in the tax-freeze program since 1985. Preservationists credit the tax breaks with keeping historic buildings in good shape.

A downside: Other taxpayers pay a little more in taxes to make up for people who have the tax breaks. Exactly how much depends on the number of historic structures in various taxing districts.

Originally charged with money-laundering, attempted extortion, mail fraud and other crimes, Levine pleaded guilty to two of the 24 counts against him. He's expected to get 67 months in prison.

Chris Fusco

Another Prong In The Fork

In another thinly veiled step toward creating a "Greater Eureka Park District", the Eureka City Council approved $25,000 for the "study" of building a swimming and water entertainment facility.

Did the city of Eureka ever fix all of the water and sewer infrastructure problems which were plaguing the system a few years ago? It seems to us that there were over 5 miles of mains and pipes to be replaced at a cost of nearly $3 millions.

If not, perhaps that would be a better place to spend that money. If so, perhaps they could pay off those bonds before issuing more for a pool.

Then again, maybe they are planning to collect all of the water leaking out of the municipal water supply and fill the pool with it.

We understand that there are gambling tax revenues to be had from the suburban Chicago horse racing facilities with the formation of a "proper" park district. However, we wonder if creating another administrative tax district with its attendant salaries and pensions spread out upon the backs of the property tax payers in (what has always been discussed as the base for this) the District 140 wide area is the proper road for the city of Eureka.

Usually a fork has four prongs. We now have the ball fields and programs, the "dog park", and the pool. What is the final prong on this latest fork to be stuck into the property tax trough? Perhaps a nice Eureka Civic Center? We'll find out soon enough.

Gary Joseph/Tom Karr "Explain" Opposition To PTELL

Gary Joseph (running for reelection to District 2 - Woodford County Board) and Tom Karr (running for reelection to District 3 - Woodford County Boar) give the rationales for their votes last August preventing PTELL from appearing before the voters this Tuesday in this video.

For more information on this vote, please look here.

Coming up next, the Caroline Schertz (running for reelection to District 3 - Woodford County Board) video.

"Perplexed" in Linn Township

A reader replied to a previous posting:

Perplexed in linn township said...

We moved here and bought a 100yr old house on 1 1/2 acres in the Washburn/Lowpoint area in Ocotber of 06. This house was last sold in 1990 . Our 06 tax bill was $1400 and some change. We've just received a notice of revised tax assessment . The previous equalized value assessed in 06 was 23,500 and there had been NO work or improvements done to this house since septic was put in in late 05 by previous owners . The NEW equalized assessment for 07 is 64,230--meaning our 07 bill will be almost 5,000 !!Thats like a 300% increase ! Weve heard we have the worst schools and thought we'd have the lowest taxes around in Woodford county ?(We homeschool 7 children and live on one income).

To top all this off we found out a few months after buying this house that they are going to widen the road and will be taking it all from our side . Our home is already very close to the road and in essence doing this they will be destroying ANY value our home has--and yet they are raising our taxes by 300%. We feel like we've been hit by a semi in all of this and don't quite know what to do. Any thoughts?

Eureka Public Library Online Presence

The time has come for us to clear up a few things about the Eureka Public Library, Eureka, Illinois, and the so-called "complaint" registered with the Illinois Attorney General.

A few months ago, Citizens for Transparency in Government, the publisher of WoodfordTaxFacts.org, wrote a note to Lisa Madigan via the Attorney General's online messaging feature, simply asking for clarification on last year's amendments to the "Illinois Open Meetings Act" laws. The changes require that publicly funded entities post minutes and agendas of meetings on their websites if the sites are maintained by employees of the taxing authority.

Next thing we know, we receive a copy of a letter to the library from the Attorney General telling them they have ten days to respond to a "complaint" they received on the library's compliance with the open meetings act provisions.

OK. Fine. There was no "complaint", but we thought it would be interesting to see how the library responded.

We received a copy of the library's letter back to the A.G. Their defense, essentially, is that they are not currently updating their website at all and so are not bound by the Open Meetings Act provisions. They basically shut down their website rather than go to the "expense" of posting agendas and minutes.

We suppose that is one approach to transparency.

The library has a bit of confusion apparent as to the law. They must believe that "full time" employee refers to an employee who's full time job is to maintain the website. This is not the case. "Full time" refers to regular employees who happen to maintain the website - just for clarification.

Our point here though really, is that we never filed a complaint. We simply were asking for clarification on the fine points of the law. We apologize for any trouble we caused Eureka Public Library. We also encourage them to post minutes, agendas, and Board email addresses and phone numbers on their website. It would only take a few minutes a month. We'd be glad to help in any way we can.

Internet Can Enhance Local Government Transparency

The Union Leader in Manchester, N.H. (that bastion of anti-tax sentiment - "Live Free or Die") has an interesting article sounding notes ever more frequently heard across the country on transparency in government and how the internet can help:

Corruption can't flourish with someone watching over your shoulder. In government, that transparency is doubly important. Every government expenditure is made with money taken from people's pockets. Government has an obligation to explain to each of us why it took our money and what exactly it's doing with it . . .

Modern technology has created tools to make even the smallest details of government accessible to everyone. One hundred years ago, opening the books to public inspection would have been burdensome and impractical in all but the smallest of towns. But the Internet has changed that and created a national movement toward government transparency.

. . . Missouri's Web site, www.mapyourtaxes.mo.gov, is a good example of what's possible . . .

The general idea is to list online every government expenditure by name, date and amount . . . A transparency Web site is designed to show not just how much government is spending but the details of what our money is being spent on. Every person, company and amount will be listed so we know who received the money taken from us and what exactly it was for.

Knowing what is happening doesn't necessarily dictate a policy decision. That's why the transparency movement is being encouraged by both Grover Norquist, the most influential conservative taxpayer advocate, and Ralph Nader, longtime liberal consumer advocate.

For smaller towns, this task is relatively simple. Every transaction can be posted online. Credit card statements can be posted in their entirety so we know each charge, regardless of size.

Not everyone will bother checking the town Web site. But in each town there are a few dedicated souls who concern themselves with every little detail of government. Opening up the details to their eyes lets everyone know that someone's watching. That very transparency should keep anything from happening in all but the most extreme cases . . .

Sometimes leadership filters up. Once a few cities and towns start opening the doors of their government to the people, state government might start talking about it.

Unfortunately, today state government can't even tell us how much it spends in total on a regular basis . . . A little kick-start from the towns might be in order.

Or from the counties.

Who Pays Property Taxes in Woodford County?

According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the following is a breakdown of who pays property taxes:

Property Type % of Total
Residential 55.61%
Commercial 27.76%
Industrial 12.28%
Farm 3.89%
Railroads .40%

Could someone point us to these figures for Woodford County?

Eureka Public Library Budget

Wow. Hold your breath or this one will knock it right out of you . . .


According to their website, the Eureka Illinois Public Library District serves a population of 6,231.

Most libraries show a "registered user" base somewhere between 60 - 85% of their district population. Let's be generous and assume Eureka's is 85%. That gives us 5,296 registered users. We couldn't find current figures, but in 2002, according to the Illinois Library Association's own figures, Illinois Libraries averaged around $25 in spending per capita; $54 in spending per registered user. Let's inflate that last number for the ensuing years and call it $57 per user now.

Eureka's 2007-08 budget calls for $617,000 in operating expenses which is a whopping $117 per user. Salaries, Health Insurance, and Retirement Funding alone is $285,000 which comes out to $54 per user per year! Don't even get us started on what is termed "travel" in the budget at $10,500. That is more than the line item expense for periodicals.

In fact, the personnel expense plus travel is nearly three times the amount budgeted for library materials (books, audiovisual, periodicals, and software)!"

Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

"Sir, step away from the property tax trough with your hands in plain sight!"

Woodford County Agendas and Minutes/info

We shall endeavor to post monthly meeting agendas and minutes/budget information for our readers' convenience:

Woodford County Board -
Agendas
Minutes
Committee Minutes
Budgets - N.A.

Illinois Central College District #514 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees - N.A.
Budgets - N.A.

Congerville-Eureka-Goodfield CUSD #140 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees
Budgets

Deer Creek-Mackinaw Unit No. 701 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees
Budgets

El Paso-Gridley CUSD #11 -
Agendas - N.A.
Minutes
Committees - N.A.
Budgets

Fieldcrest Community Unit No. 6 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees - N.A.
Budgets

Germantown Hills SD #69 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees - N.A.
Budgets

Lowpoint-Washburn CUSD #21 -
Agendas - N.A.
Minutes - N.A.
Committees - N.A.
Budgets [links broken]

Metamora Community Cons. District Unit No. 1 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees
Budgets [links broken]

Metamora Township High School No. 122 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees
Budgets ['07-08 missing]


Riverview Community Cons. School District #2 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees -N.A.
Budgets [fiscal '07 missing]

Roanoke-Benson Community CUSD #60 -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees -N.A.
Budgets


Eureka Public Library District -
Agendas - N.A.
Minutes - N.A.
Committees - N.A.
Budgets - N.A.

Illinois Prairie Public Library District -
Agendas
Minutes
Committees - N.A.
Budgets - N.A.

Grant Memorial Park District
Web Site - N.A.

Metamora Park District
Web Site - N.A.

Roanoke Park District
Web Site - N.A.

Village of Bayview Gardens 309-678-4742	Village of Metamora 309-367-4044
Village of Benson 309-394-2523	City of Minonk 309-432-2558
Village of Congerville 309-448-2276	Village of Panola 309-527-3693
City of El Paso 309-527-4005	Village of Roanoke 309-923-3661
City of Eureka 309-467-2113	Village of Secor 309-744-2444
Village of Germantown Hills 309-383-2209	Village of Spring Bay 309-822-8400
Village of Goodfield 309-965-2517	Village of Washburn 309-248-7222

Benson Fire Protection District
2040 Co. Rd. 2200 E, Benson IL 61516
Fire Chief-Randy Koehler (309) 394-2421

Congerville Fire Protection District
317 County Highway 8, Congerville IL 61729
Fire Chief-Dave Zobrist (309) 448-2384

El Paso Fire Protection District
247 E. Front St, PO Box 56, El Paso IL 61738
Fire Chief-Dale Uphoff (309) 527-2555

Eureka-Goodfield Fire Protection District
PO Box 2, 211 North Main St., Eureka IL 61530
Fire Chief-Craig Neal (309) 467-6181

Germantown Hills Fire Protection District
313 Prairie Ave., Metamora IL 61548
Fire Chief-Mathew "Chip" Wilmont (309) 383-4890

Metamora Rural Fire
1472 Lourdes Rd, Metamora IL 61548
Fire Chief-Fred Glueck (309) 367-2640

Minonk Fire Protection District
PO Box 32, Minonk IL 61760
Fire Chief-Bill Herman, Jr. (309) 432-2844

Roanoke Fire District
106-108 West Broad, Box 748, Roanoke IL 61561
Fire Chief-Jeff Smith (309) 923-8351

Secor Fire District
Box 17, Secor IL 61771
Fire Chief-Greg Slayton (309) 744-5358

Spring Bay Fire District
200 Ronald Road, East Peoria IL 61611
Fire Chief-Dennis Perry (309) 822-0152

Washburn Fire District
2004 Co. Rd. 00N, Washburn IL 61570
Fire Chief-Jesse Erkman (309) 248-7219

Tip o' the Hat to www.woodford-county.org . . .

More to follow . . . stay tuned . . .

Track Federal Spending - If You Can!

A tip o' the Blogging Hat to Mark Schaver of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky for this:

... using the new, free FFATA Portal. A spokesman for Global Computer Enterprises, Inc., the private company that created the site, told Federal Computer Week that "the goal of the search portal is to make the information easy to find by taking out the government jargon." The site explains:

The portal offers free, instant access to contracts and grants awarded across the federal government via a user-friendly free text search and dynamic reporting tool. No login or registration is required – the public has instant access to federal spending information and the ability to create custom reports from that information. This site is not associated with any government agency and is provided free of charge from GCE.

By providing more transparency in government, this site is the easy way to track federal spending and your tax dollars at work. Users are able to search government contracts, grants data, and earmark grants from the appropriations process.

OMB Watch is another private entity that offers a federal spending database.

We need to stay on top of this spending machine in Washington. We may not be able to stop it but we can certainly attempt to expose it.

Kudos to the County

We've had a lot of fun over the past couple of years at the expense of Woodford County and the ongoing attempt to provide an "online presence".

Our County government is a strange animal in that we have an elected board, elected officials, and "hired hands", each which essentially run their own "businesses". To get all of these folks to sign on to a common internet web page scheme is no small accomplishment; nor did this come without a considerable price tag.

We at "WoodfordTaxFacts" are free with our criticism of government. It is only right that we are free with our applauding efforts to enhance, what we feel is most important in representative governance, and that is, transparency and usefulness to "the folks".

Shortly, by visiting http://www.woodford-county.org you will be able to get County Board agendas, meeting minutes, Committee schedules, pay tax bills, and over the next year or so do much more.

This investment, both monetarily and in terms of "share of mind" on the part of your representatives, shows admirable vision on the part of your local governmental agencies.

Let's face it, if we want young people to take ownership of their local government, we need to reach them in the language they understand and use - and that language today is digital.

We encourage you to 'root on' this effort by your County Board, Elected Officials, Staff, and Administration. A few "atta boys" once in a while never hurt anyone and the cost for that is. . . well . . . nominal.

Accountable Transparency Is The New Democracy

Grover Norquist, Financial Times:

Published: 08-09-07

" The nice venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are always looking for 'the next big thing'. While we will have to wait for another six months to learn who will make it through the Republican and Democrat "Survivor" reality show we call primaries we can already see the next big thing in politics bubbling up from the 50 states: transparency. Making state budgets, contracts and individual expenditures available to the public on the internet "

Any of this sounding familiar to you regular visitors to our site?

RELAX! PTELL won't hurt a bit.

The fear mongering is beginning once again in Woodford County.

Next Tuesday, the Woodford County Board will vote on whether or not to allow the State of Illinois' Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) to be put on the November '08 ballot for voters to give a thumbs up or thumbs down. PTELL essentially limits the growth of property tax extensions to 5% per year or the rate of inflation, whichever is less - UNLESS THE INCREASE IS TAKEN TO VOTERS for approval in a referendum. This "cap" does not pertain to new construction growth.

Already, two objections to EVEN ALLOWING THE "FOLKS" TO VOTE on this issue have been raised by those terrified of a PTELL initiative (taxing authorities). Both are red herrings:

1. Taxes will actually GO UP, because taxing districts will "load up" on the front end, and . . .

2. PTELL will force one local taxing district (read School District) to live by the rules of another area's voters not those in the district.

Both arguments are specious not to say ridiculous.

First of all, taxes may indeed go up initially in a PTELL county if a taxing district chooses to "front load" on its extensions before the law can go into effect. Not only is this onerous, it is a tactic designed not only as a threat to voters in advance of a vote, but if implemented after a successful vote, a deliberate, albeit legal, attempt to circumvent the will of the voters. If a taxing district chooses this route they will indeed have a revenue bump in the initial years, but history shows that this initial bump will pale in comparison to the spending restraint statistically accrued over time in those counties under PTELL versus those not. It will also destroy the taxing authorities perceived credibility, accountability, and transparency to the voters - hardly worth the effort just to be able to say, "we'll show them".

Second, with regard to the "unfairness" of one district having to live with the same rules as another in the County (the PTELL opponents gripe that areas with larger populations have a disproportionate influence) - couldn't the same thing be said about ANY county law? Why should one district live under the zoning laws of another? Why should one school district have the same truancy laws as another? What about "local control" of a school district? Let's face it - "local control" is largely an illusion anyway. What about NCLB? What about federal and state mandates? What about unions?

Local control? Well, let's demonstrate that by asking the local voter for the money rather than confiscating it.

Clearly, the "unfairness to local districts" argument a silly one. Even if it were true that the voting on PTELL were somehow skewed because it is one man, one vote (hunh?), it simply IS NOT TRUE that a taxing district can't raise any amount of money that they wish under PTELL. No one but that district's own voters can determine what their budgets will be. The district, simply, must ASK THE VOTERS rather than just TAKING THE MONEY. No other area is in charge of a district's levy or extension under PTELL. If it's more than the rate of inflation or 5% the district simply needs to ask the voters for that increase. WHAT"S WRONG WITH THAT?

Finally, and most egregiously, you will hear Woodford County Board members that are opposed to PTELL maintain that "this is why we, and the local taxing authorities' Boards are elected - to 'make the hard decisions'. We don't need PTELL to help us keep taxes low. The voters already have accountability - at election time!"

Well, that is fine and good. Unfortunately, taxes are assessed every year costing homeowners thousands of dollars. Officials aren't elected every year. Try and get an explanation in plain english for a rise in equalized assessed valuations from one of your board members at any level. This isn't asking for money - this is taking it.

Can you even attend all of those board meetings? We sure can't. There are hundreds of taxing authorities in Woodford County.

Just look at the past record and decide for yourself if you want to give permission for increased taxes or if you want to continue to cede that permission to various local boards.

Government doesn't "spend"; just moves money around

Patrick Robinson isn't a political analyst. He's a "pop" author in the Tom Clancy vein. Never-the-less, we were struck by one of his character's (from a 2004 novel) concise analysis of government spending.

And we paraphrase:

Do you know what brasses us off about government? It's what is never adequately explained to "the folks". The fact is that "government" doesn't have any money of its own. It creates nothing - no wealth. They only "have" what they can take from the American people and corporations. So when they say, for example, a counter insurgency program, or an aircraft carrier is "too expensive" they are talking nonsense. Government doesn't "spend" in the conventional sense. They take money from whatever source they can find with out inciting a revolt and they redistribute that money throughout the economy.

This applies at all levels of government. They don't really spend, they push everyone else's money around and take a cut for salaries, pensions, and benefits in the process.

Let's take a road initiative. Half of the labor cost goes to they guys building the roads - paychecks that go to people who immediately give one third of it back to the government in taxes. The rest gets spent in the communities, buying concrete, lunches, etc., which goes to other folks who immediately pay one third back to the government. Some goes to corporations like Cat, Mitsubishi, etc., who pay corporate taxes. The whole thing is just a round-about.

The road isn't expensive - it's free! It's not the government's money anyway. They're just moving it around and taking their cut.

We get so amused by these people that want new benefits, new parks, want to force a "green" society via taxes; Where does the money come from? These folks aren't creating any new money. They are just taking from one area and moving it to another while taking a salary for their supposed "wisdom".

Next time something is called "expensive" or "no-cost" by your taxing authorities - STOP - and think - where is the money coming from and who is it going to?

Live web casts of County and City Council meetings good for transparency

If you want a democracy to work, the people have to know what their leaders are up to. And, conspiracy theories aside, technology has greatly improved public access and transparency -- from C-SPAN to YouTube.

More than 250 cities/counties nationwide have chosen to make their meetings available online. The services can be expensive, but not prohibitively so. Recent costs have averaged $30,000 for the initial setup and $15,000 per year to create and maintain searchable archives of the meetings. The public boards often contract with outside vendors who store the video and integrate it with agendas, minutes and other public documents.

In addition to Internet video streaming, many boards broadcast their meetings live on area cable television systems.

All it would take for, say, Woodford County to broadcast its Board and Committee meetings live is a flick of the switch and some pocket change. Board members and the County Administrator have talked a good game for months now about a new website which may or may not already include some of these costs. Hopefully, regional peer pressure will make it act sooner rather than later to enhance transparency in this fashion.

Of course, all of the video in the world, streaming or otherwise, won't make a difference if local residents don't actually tune in or log on to see their local governments in action, and, after watching, participate in the political process. But it does give voters one less excuse for not being informed and involved.