Illinois Anniversary of Statehood Today

Illinois joined the Union 189 years ago today - that's 1818 for the numerically challenged.

Remember when you were proud to be from Illinois? Today it is almost an embarrassment.

Gallup: Republicans Rate Themselves With Better Mental Health

We're just going to publish a couple of these graphs from a recent Gallup Poll and let them speak for themselves:


































































No real surprises here if one carefully thinks through the ramifications.

U.N. Rates "Best", "Worst" Countries In Which To Live

The U.N.'s "Human Development Report" 2007/2008 rated Iceland the most desirable place to live in the world. Countries were rated in terms of their "human development index". After Iceland, the next nine "best places to live" are: Norway, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, and France. The United States (not pictured) came in 12th, a drop from eighth place in 2006. The AIDS-devastated African nations of Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone came in last. The full report can be found here.

No word yet on why the authors insist upon living in New York.

Nebraska: 40% Of Corn Crop Goes To Ethanol

Apparently, Nebraska is sending a lot of food to be burned.

Nebraska is the third ranked state with regard to corn production in the U.S, and second in the production of ethanol.

With three new plants added in November, annual corn demand for ethanol production in Nebraska passed the 500-million-bushel mark for the first time, using 37% of Nebraska's corn.

Here's Your Share!

Thanks to a loyal reader, we have the Woodford County (2004) Contribution to Property Tax Extensions by type of property. They reflect an interesting disconnect between revenue generators' and homeowners' share of the tax burden:

Property Type % of Total
Residential 68 %
Commercial 20 %
Industrial 11 %
Farm 1.6 %
Railroads .1 %

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.

ZOGBY: Clinton Trails Leading GOP Candidates

		Released: November 26, 2007 Zogby Poll: General election match-ups show the New York Senator would lose against every top Republican UTICA, New York – A new Zogby Interactive survey shows Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would lose to every one of the top five Republican presidential contenders, representing a reversal of fortune for the national Democratic front–runner who had led against all prospective GOP opponents earlier this year. Meanwhile, fellow Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois and John Edwards of North Carolina would defeat or tie every one of the Republicans, this latest survey shows. 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 38% 45% 43% McCain 42% 43% 47% 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 40% 46% 43% Giuliani 43% 41% 48% 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 40% 48% 48% Romney 43% 38% 40% 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 39% N/A N/A Huckabee 44% N/A N/A 11/26/2007 7/14/2007 5/17/2007 Clinton 40% 47% 48% Thompson 44% 41% 41%

Illinois Tax Payers Pay for Open-Source Bias.

The Microsoft fact in Illinois by ZDNet's Paul Murphy -- The Illinois study is one of eight documents from the Microsoft web site, all intended to sell IT managers on the idea that a small commitment to Microsoft can be leveraged to produce significant budget and span of control gains.

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?

Why Al Gore Can't Run Again For President

Joint Nobel prize winner Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. doesn't appear to be all that popular with Americans according to a recent Gallup poll:

CUSD #140 Administrative Costs Up 57%

At its last meeting, the Congerville-Eureka-Goodfield Community Unit School District Board waived the state provision requiring the district to keep administrative expenses from rising at an annual maximum of 5 percent.

Administrative expenses are budgeted at $363,800 this year which represents a 57% increase over last year.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education figures over the last ten years, CUSD 140 "General Administration" spending has increased 49%, while "Instruction" spending increased at a 40% rate.

The district lost 32 students over that period of time!

"Operating Expense" per pupil increased 56%, which equates to $2,605 per student.

Hillary "Rob'em" Clinton

"I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all."

- - - Hillary Clinton, 9-10-07, to Boston Globe Editorial Board



Trick or Treat, y'all.

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!"

Ethanol Running Out Of Gas?

Several wire service articles and "local" papers have run pieces similar to this one from the PJS:
"Ethanol-fueled boom losing steam"

One of the most telling items was this from Chet Perry, president and CEO of Barrington-based ITEC Refining and Marketing:

"Everybody, in my opinion, is holding out to see what comes out of Washington in the next energy bill and the next farm bill," he said. "I know a lot of people in the industry would call me a Judas for saying this, but as long as you have mandates, it's a license to steal."

Indeed. Ain't government market intervention wonderful?

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 . . .

"Pluralistic Ignorance" in the United States of America

The editorial staff at the Bloomington Pantagraph writes:

You read it here first, so you should believe it

Sunday, September 23, 2007 11:01 PM CDT

Anyone who regularly reads Internet blogs, comments made after stories on www.pantagraph.com and even letters to the editor on this page has seen how many people can ardently, fervently believe something no matter how much contradictory information is available.

The old Mark Twain quotation that “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes” may have been a humorous observation in his day but it’s deadly accurate in the era of the World Wide Web.

For those who are troubled by that, there’s no comfort in a recent study by University of Michigan social psychologist Norbert Schwarz. He found that even when people are told by an authoritative source that something is not true, a large percentage of them will erroneously remember the false information as true. Worse, they will attribute the false information to the source that tried to debunk it.

A lot depends on what people hear first — the correct information or the myth, according to Schwarz and other researchers.

The situation would be almost comical if not for the serious implications.

Schwarz’s latest research involved a myth vs. fact flier distributed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the flu vaccine.

But such examples also have been witnesses— and most likely will continue to be seen — in political campaigns, whether it’s the issue of which candidate is “smarter” than the other or what a candidate did decades earlier while serving in a combat zone.

Political consultants are well aware of the phenomenon — confirmed by these researchers — that repetition leads more people to believe something, even if the repetition is from an unreliable source or involves individuals trying to debunk the information.

But ignoring a falsehood won’t make it go away.

In the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” category is research finding that failure to respond promptly to accusations leads many people to believe they are true.

Just ask unsuccessful presidential candidate John Kerry.

Therefore, whether you are the CDC or a political candidate, you have to do your best to get your message out and hope for the best. There is not a lot you can do about human nature.

But there is something we, as individuals, can do — and must do.

We can be careful consumers of information who read things carefully and consider the source or sources.

We respond:

Woodford Pundit wrote on Sep 24, 2007 7:22 AM:

The unfortunate side effect of this pervasive 'factual relativism" is the development of what some writers have termed "the decline of truth" in the U.S. and the fact that, despite any and all evidence to the contrary, a lot of people today think they are smarter and more knowledgeable than they objectively are proven to be.

This, in turn, has led to a feeling on these folks part that they are somehow "more special" than others and somehow "better" and should not have to abide by the rules and conditions of "the others" in society. ["The others" tending to be everyone but themselves.] When confronted with fact and reason they tend to shut/shout down discussion with, "deal with it" or "grow up", or with cries of "racist!"

The Pantagraph wisely avoids mentioning specific issues demonstrative of the "I's knows what I's knows and ain't no facts gonna make no difference" attitude. Empirical, evidential reasoning seems dead. The ancient Greeks must be turning over in their graves. Wait . . . you know they're not really dead . . . "We heard that in an email we got from an online blog we read (well, we looked at the pictures anyway . . . )."

Another article we were reading recently states:

". . . Sociologists call it pluralistic ignorance. It's this concept where reality applies to everybody but me," says Kevin Wehr, an assistant professor of sociology at California State University, Sacramento. "We justify things because we think we're better or different from other people. But, of course, we are not better than others. We are just as bad as the next folk."

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.

Saudis Abandoning "Peg" To The Dollar?

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Illinois Property Tax Law

Here is a complete listing of Illinois Property Tax laws, exemptions, and processes for your perusal and archives in .PDF format.

For all of the Woodford County grousing about the potentialities of PTELL, we notice a lack of concern on the part of the various taxing authorities regarding the "elephant in the closet" (from page 25):

"Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption — Your property qualifies for this exemption if

• you are at least 65 years old;
• you own and occupy the property as a residence (or lease and occupy a single-family
residence; and
• you are required to pay the property taxes for the residence.
The maximum amount of the exemption from equalized assessed value is $2,000 ($2,500 in
Cook County.)
Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption — You qualify for this exemption if
• you are at least 65 years old;
• your total household income is $40,000 or less; and
• you meet certain other qualifications.
This exemption “freezes” your property’s equalized assessed value the year that you qualify for
the exemption. Your property’s equalized assessed value does not increase as long as you
qualify for the exemption. Your tax bill may still increase if any tax rates are increased or if you
add improvements that increase the value of the property."

Imagine what happens to the assessed valuations in Illinois when the "baby boomers" all start claiming the above exemptions; And you're worried about PTELL? Better get used to belt tightening regardless of PTELL or not. The halcyon days are just about over. Who do you think is going to pick up the slack? The slacker generation? Pensions, benefits, Medicare, and a dwindling property tax base are about to come home to roost and you won't be able to tax your way out of this one. Read Alan Greenspan's new book for clarification. It's simple demographics.

Remembering 9-11-2001

Guest Commentary on Property Taxes

Published Sunday, September 2, 2007

What state needs is a taxpayer revolt

Bob Stevens
Be Our Guest

The Henderson County [North Carolina] Board of Commissioners decided to place a referendum on the November ballot concerning a proposed transfer tax which will be paid by sellers when they sell their properties. The proposed tax will at least help seniors because they aren't "playing the housing market" like many of their neighbors.

The real issue that should be addressed is the basic inequity of the ad valorem property tax.

Just because others in Henderson County are making money by selling their homes for high prices, others who don't plan to sell are victimized by an increase in the assessment of their homes.

If the present trends continue, seniors who have either lived here all their lives or moved from other states are confronted with the same dilemma which faced home owners in California in the mid-'70s.

If a stock increases in value, the owner is not required to pay any tax on the increased value until and unless the stock is sold. Then the stock will be taxed at the appropriate capital gains rate.

For some homeowners who had the good (bad) fortune to be living in highly appreciated real estate, the bad news was that California intended to take its pound of flesh every year, no matter how high the property taxes rose and regardless of the intention of the owner to sell the home or the ability of the homeowner to pay the increased taxes.

Home prices appreciated wildly in much of California, resulting in a windfall for home sellers and those in the real estate-related industries (brokers, title insurers, property insurers) but which forced some homeowners living on fixed incomes to consider selling their properties in order to pay the rapidly increasing property taxes, which were based on comparable sales in the area.

This situation became intolerable for many people in California. What became known as the "tax revolt" rocked California. The chief rebels were Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann and the initiative they sponsored was known as Proposition 13.

On June 6, 1978, nearly two-thirds of California voters passed Proposition 13 which reduced property taxes on homes, businesses and farms by about 57 percent. The tax assessment year was rolled back to the 1975-1976 tax year and the assessment was set at 1 percent of the 1975-1976 valuation. There was immediate relief for all property taxpayers. Please note that prior to the passage of Proposition 13, 100 percent increases in property taxes were not unusual.

The amendments to the California constitution mandated that property tax rates couldn't exceed 1 percent of the property's market value and future increases couldn't exceed 2 percent per year, thereby giving predictability to future property taxes. This system is still in effect and will remain so until and unless the state constitution is amended.

In the days leading up to the referendum, gloomy forecasts predicted the decline and ultimate demise of public education and a precipitous decline in public services offered by the state.

Opponents of Proposition 13 claimed that $6 billion to $7 billion in property tax revenue would be lost. Since counties and schools depended heavily on property tax revenues, there was an understandable outcry from all quarters about the elimination or decline in essential local services, such as police and fire. Education which was funded almost exclusively by property taxes was certain to collapse. But California survived.

A lawsuit by Stephanie Nordlinger made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court (Nordlinger v. Hahn). Nordlinger alleged that the 1 percent valuation provision in Prop 13 was unfair because it resulted in neighbors paying wildly disparate property taxes, sometimes five times more than the "older" neighbor.

The Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the court of appeal, and the 1 percent rate is still the law in California.

New purchasers pay more than their neighbors. Property taxation is predictable and not subject to the whims of elected officials.

What can be done to avoid the California situation? First, the county should freeze assessments for seniors (65 to 70) at the current level. Second, we need a North Carolina Jarvis and Gann to lead our citizens in a "tax revolt." Third, we must acknowledge that it is unlikely that our elected officials will act on their own to shut off the flow of easy money. Finally, spending at all levels be must be controlled by some sort of cap.

I hope we can find the right leaders for these difficult times.

Bob Stevens was a licensed lawyer in California for two years and a licensed real estate broker for 24 years. Since moving here [Henderson County, N.C.] in 2003, he has taught business law courses at A-B Tech and an introductory business law course at Mars Hill College.

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.

Why We Fly Our Flag

Our friend and brother dropped us off earlier today and stated with an inquisitive tone, "That's you, right - with the flag? How patriotic."

He was making no criticism. Many (mostly very young people or very baby-boomer people) are not so solicitous.

We got to thinking about why we have a flag out front. Our main reason, we think, is that our fathers used, depended upon, and believed in, that symbol when putting their lives on the line in past wars and saw their friends die in the same.

Arguably, that is not a very good reason.

We then turned to Edward L. Bernays, the "father of modern propaganda/public relations" who was an American student of Sigmund Frued. Without too much simplification, we hope, Mr. Bernays suggested that effective "P.R./propaganda" depends upon three essentials - Emotionalism, Tribalism, and . . . oh, who's that mythical figure who stared at himself in the pond . . . oh, yeah, Narcissus
. . . Narcissism.

The American flag for us meets all three criteria. It represents our tribe. It is a colorful symbol of intellectualized freedom. We remember with great emotion our ancestor's claims to the spiritual nature of seeing that flag - which in an emotional and extremely tribal sense represented their homes and families - flying proudly upon their return from fighting for causes they barely understood.

Lastly, and least politically correct, it feeds our narcissism. We United Statesians aren't bad folks. We are good folks. We aren't the problem in the world. We wish to be part of the solution.

Now some may dismiss us flag flyers as old fogies, old fashioned, and irrelevant - and at the ballot box. That is their right. It is ours to fly our flag - So far.

If they choose to dismiss the symbol, and those that display it, they must do so with caution. It is their heritage, like it or not, as well as ours.

It's called being a nation. One nation. All for one. One for all. A nation - with symbols - get it?

A nation also has borders. Common language. Common values.
A nation has a communal justice - for all - usually colored by tradition.

A nation has purpose and vision.

A nation has a banner - to proclaim what it's citizens believe in and stand for. If they cannot sign on to a common vision then they can have not a nation.

They shall live where they are and remain homeless, foreign, frustrated, and and listless.

Propagandistic? Perhaps.
Patriotic? Most assuredly.
Passe? Probably.
Portentious? Indeed.

No www.Woodford-County.org yet.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a whole buncha times . . .

Quote Of The Day

Calvin Trillin

from Quotes of the Day

"Health food makes me sick."

A Brief History of the new County Website

The website is here! The website is here! Sorta.

We have it on good authority that Woodford County's long fabled website is to go up today or tomorrow. Right now we still are getting ye ole "placeholder".

Please peruse the history of same here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Phew! The long and winding road. We hope for the best. From what we hear it will be pretty useful for the taxpayers.

PTELL Is Dead ! ? !

There is only one way in which we can deliver relief to taxpayers - through mandated local TELs.

PTELL is dead.
PTELL is dead.

Long Live TEL.

The Fat Lady Sang - Again - PTELL in Woodford County

An initiative to put Illinois' Property Tax Extension Limitation Law before the voters in Woodford County once again went down in flames at tonight's regular Woodford County Board Meeting.

We thought there was a 50-50 chance of PTELL ending up on the November '08 ballot. Boy, were we wrong. It wasn't even close. It was soundly voted down, and if you take the Board members' explanations of their votes at face value, it was voted down for the most ridiculous and uninformed reasons imaginable. Here's a sampling:

"If you look at rates, I've done research, they haven't gone up that much . . ."

What do "rates" have to do with PTELL? NOTHING!

"We and others have CUT taxes in the past. I don't know if we could DO that under PTELL"

Oh, we don't think that would be a problem.

"Larger population areas shouldn't be able to tell smaller population areas what to do with their schools."

Huh? Under PTELL, as under the current laws, no one, no how, outside of a taxing district can tell that district how much money they can raise. The question of extensions in excess of the ceiling goes to the voters in and only in that district. How is this "unfair"?

"I was GOING to ask for this to be tabled for more study, but I'm not going to now, and I'm voting against letting the voters decide on this issue, BECAUSE SOME OF THE PROPONENTS HERE TONIGHT ARE USING EMOTIONAL, PATRIOTIC, INFERENCES . . ."

Well that's as good a reason as any of the others.

"I don't appreciate one of the board members making veiled threats . . . so I'm voting against it"

Yes, well, nothing like voting on the merit of the proposal.

"We [the County Board] can't solve your property tax problems"

The implication is "so why should we even try. It's not our problem."

"I don't know what the impact of PTELL has been on the counties that have it. I wish some of the "public input" speakers would have presented some facts on that. I'm voting against it"

Gee, Mr. Board member. Maybe you could have Googled PTELL before the meeting and boned up a bit. One name that would have come up is woodfordtaxfacts.org. We'd have been delighted to accommodate you. The Illinois Department of Revenue has voluminous non-biased information on PTELL and its implementation. Or you could have asked your finance committee for that information BEFORE YOU VOTED! And these are the same folks that said in the same breath (with nary a grin in sight) that the voters have trusted THEM to make taxing decisions!

It went on and on. We have access to video of some of this stuff and we'll attempt to cross post it over on YouTube and here. It's quite entertaining.

We were so shocked by some of the votes that we missed the final tally - more on that tomorrow - but it must have been nearly 2 to 1 against.

A lot of the tough talk from the last Republican Primary contest for Board seats seems to have gone all squishy when it came to PTELL.

Update:

The PJS says the vote was 9-5:

"Voting against putting PTELL on the ballot were Larry Whitaker, Kenneth Uphoff, Caroline Schertz, Joel Lemkemann, Gary Joseph, Gary Jones, Thomas Karr, James Fyke and Glazier. Voting in favor were Pete Lambie, Marcus Adams, Thomas Evans, Thomas Janssen and John Krug."

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.

China Drops "the other shoe"

You knew it was inevitable. China has finally started to publicly threaten the U.S. with "taking its chips and going home".

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

Foreign control of over 45 percent of the U.S. debt has left us incredibly vulnerable to political miscalculations of our various "friends" overseas.

Cheap goods are great, borrowing for social programs wonderful - until the tab comes to the table.