Where do our numbers come from ...

The other night we encountered some folks who disagree with the views on this site. That is great - spirited debate should be what this is all about. However it is noteworthy as to their way of dealing with all of this. The conversation starts with "your numbers are bull@#$%" to which the we respond " which numbers do are you referring to?" This is met with a non-answer.

Once and for all here is the deal - every number quoted on this site comes from either the village's own Audited Financial Report (AFR) posted on the state comptroller's website or from a village budget document . We take great care to try and get it right and will from now on cite our specific sources when we refer to numbers.

Ay least there will plenty of elbow room at the new village hall...

In the 2008 budget the village reduced its FTE (Full Time Equivalents ) from 375 to 350. They outsourced the IT department and gave early retirement bonuses to reduce staff.

So why do they need 42,000 square feet at their planned new village hall ? As we pointed out in a prior post almost 70% of the village workers are paid to not even be at village hall. Does it occur to anyone that building such a large facility will only lead to a larger more expensive village government?

If they have the money to speculate in real estate why did they raise our taxes ?

Last year the village board raised the rate of our local sales tax ( this is on top of the state, Cook County and the RTA) by 50% - if they have all this money lying around to buy Dominick's and build a new village hall why did they decide to take more out of our  pockets ? 

Post from LA

The Board and Village are out of hand! Anything the Village proposes isapproved by the Board.  There is NO control and no one is watching out for the constituents/Tax payers ! ! !  

It would appear that we need new board members …………

Why can't the village board let the library board do their job ?

As the old saying goes " Catch them a fish they eat for a day ; teach them to fish and they eat for life" 

The village board has decided to finance the new library out of village funds vs. letting the library board do what it was elected to do which is get the funding on their own via a referendum for bond financing.

 It has gotten to the point where at a recent board of trustees meeting at least one board member went so far as to suggest where the windows should or should not be in the new facility. 

No one elected the village board to finance and design the new library. Whether the library board is capable of doing this or not is another issue that should be dealt with on its own terms. 

Over 1250 square feet per employee

Think about this - the village has 350 employees - this includes full and part timers. 

Of all of these employees  70% are either in the fire, police or public works departments . This means they are being paid to NOT to be in the village hall. 

 Why in the world would we need a 125,000 square foot building for less than 100 employees ? 

Letter in the Glenview Announcements

More government? No!

While you are confronted by the some of the highest sales taxes in the nation and ever-escalating food, fuel and utility bills in an uncertain economy, on July 1 the Village Board decided it would be a good idea to build a new village hall and substantially increase the space for village staff.

This project is in addition to its plan to fund a new library -- without a library bond referendum. Already the board funded the construction of a new post office while telling us there was no choice because the U.S. Postal Service had no money for new facilities. This cost taxpayers millions.

The same board that has gone into the land speculation business with your tax dollars during one of the worst real estate markets in history with its purchase of the vacant Dominick's and excess Navy-owned land in The Glen thinks we need a lot more room for village government. Trustees think this despite the fact that the police vacated a significant amount of village hall space to move to a very large and expensive new facility -- again all funded with no public referendum.

This is the same village board that continues to defend the millions of tax dollars invested in The Glen Town Center and Von Maur at no interest, and we have yet to see a penny of repayment.

Since 2000, the village has been on a spending spree funded by a sharp increase in debt and a dramatic increase in tax revenues. The village's overall level of indebtedness has grown by 131 percent from 2000 to 2007 and that does not include financing for The Glen, library or a new village hall. During this time our population grew by only 6.2 percent. While increasing our debt, the village has been awash in new sales tax revenues, and the traffic that comes with them, and has seen its take from our utility bills grow by 59 percent. You do not need an accounting degree to figure out that this cannot continue.

Maybe the village does have a plan, since it has been busy annexing property west of the tollway to further expand the village in areas next to Wheeling and Prospect Heights. If history is any indication, the addition of more land and more lousy deals in the name of economic development will only result in more government, more debt, and higher tax bills. Now does not seem to be a good time to be building more, much larger village facilities. You should let your trustees know how you feel before it is too late, and they make a bad situation worse.

We're back

After an extended break we are back and this time we are sticking around. Things have just gotten too crazy to sit on the sidelines anymore so we are going to try and stir the pot up some. 

On July 1st the village board - not as an agenda item but under the guise of the manager's report "decided" to go forward with their Joint Administrative Facility or in other words a new village hall. 

If this project goes forward we will have replaced the approximately 47,000 square foot village hall on Waukegan Road with a combined police - village building that is 266% bigger than what they had to stat with. Putting the significant cost aside - this is an idea that will have an impact on our village for a long time to come.