Thursday, February 20, 2014

Lisle Park District Seeks to Increase Debt to the Limit; Property Tax to Increase


Bond Issue = Property Tax Increase

Lisle Park District Board of Commissioners is scheduled to discuss and vote on an ordinance that will increase the debt of the District by $1.1 Million and push the debt limit ratio for non-referendum debt to the statuary limit of 0.575. The meeting is tonight, Feb 20, 2014, at 7 pm.

The Park District's non-referendum bond limit is set by State Statute at 0.575 percent of EAV (equalized assessed valuation). Non-referendum bonds are payable from a property tax debt levy and do not require the approval of the voters in the District. The EAV, the assessed value of taxable property in the District, has been falling since 2008. As the EAV drops, the dollar amount of debt the District is allowed to carry also drops.

At the end of FY 2012, the Lisle Park District reported $14.3 Million in total outstanding debt to the State of Illinois Comptroller's Office. The Park District informed Lisle Watchdog that their report for FY 2013 has not been completed. 

A FOIA request seeking information on the use of bond proceeds and the projected debt ratio with increased debt and lower EAV was submitted on Feb 18, 2014 shortly after the agenda with the proposed bond issue was posted online that day. A response has not yet been provided. 

*** Update: As of 5:30 pm on the day of the vote, the Park District did not respond for records that identify the specific capital projects that would be funded with these bonds funds.***   

The debt service tax levy for the Lisle Park District accounts for approximately 25% of the total property taxes levied and collected by the District.

2002 Pool Bonds

Included in this debt service tax levy are taxes to repay bonds that were approved by taxpayers at the polls back in 2002 for the complete overhaul of Sea Lion Aquatic Park. Voters approved a $7.8 Million bond issue to borrow money to renovate the pool and the pool was reopened in 2004. In 2010, the Park District reissued those pool bonds extending the repayment period. The Park District asked voters to support the measure for a defined specific project which would increase property taxes and the voters approved.

2008 $21.9 Million Bond Referendum for New Community Center Fails

In 2008, the Lisle Park District went back to the voter seeking approval to borrow $21.9 Million for a brand new community center. About 60% of the voters said "NO."

2010 $7.25 Million Non-Referendum Bonds

In 2010, still feeling the sting from the rejection from the voter in 2008, the Lisle Park District issued $7.25 Million in non-referendum bonds without asking voters. Portions of the bond issue were used to purchase and renovate an existing office/industrial building in the College Park Industrial Park and convert it to Park District offices and to move the preschool from Meadows to the new building. The building, which was vacated by MicroSun Technologies move to Woodridge, was removed from the tax rolls upon purchase by the Park District further reducing the EAV.

The District did not ask the voters at the polls to approve this new debt (perhaps fearing that the voters would again say "No?")  The District levies taxes annually to pay the principal and interest payments for these bonds in addition to the pool bonds.

2014 $1.1 Million Non-Referendum Bonds - Proposed

The proposed $1.1 Million bond issue on the agenda for tonight's meeting is different than the 2002 Pool bonds.
  • The District has not provided taxpayers with an outline of specific capital projects that will be funded by the proposed $1.1 Million bonds.
  • The District did not put the question of borrowing more money to the voters at the polls.

Is the Park District borrowing for the sole purpose of having the ability to borrow and raise revenue? 

The District is permitted to use the funds from these bonds for annual "maintenance" expenditures  - expenditures which should be funded, planned and budgeted for in the general operating budget. The regular tax levy, however, is subject to a tax cap. One way for the Park District to raise taxes higher than the tax cap is by issuing new debt. This allows the Park District to utilize the general operating funds to increase salaries/benefits and use the debt funds for annual maintenance.

One thing is the same though.. 

This proposed bond issue will raise both the property tax levy and property tax rate. 

Transparency Issues

Minutes of the Dec 19, 2013 monthly meeting of the Park Board of Commissioners document that a public hearing was called regarding a much lower proposed bond issue of $200,000

Is is unclear how the proposed bond amount escalated 5-fold after the hearing to $1.1 Million. (Interesting how these hearings for tax levies and bonds are always held really close to the Christmas holiday making it inconvenient for public participation, isn't it?)


History of Lisle Park District Property Tax Rates for Debt Payments:

Tax Year         Tax Rate for Debt
2003................0.1085
2004................0.1031
2005................0.1006
2006................0.0959
2007................0.0945
2008................0.0931
2009................0.0975
2010................0.1047
2011................0.1144
2012................0.1247
2013................bills to issued April 2014.

Lisle Park District Property Tax Rates are Higher Than Neighboring Communities.

The high property tax rate levied by the Lisle Park District is one reason that property tax rates in Lisle are higher than neighboring towns


District                         2012 Tax Rate
Lisle Park District                 0.4875
Naperville Park District          0.3148
Butterfield Park District         0.3544
Downers Grove Park District   0.3853
Glen Ellyn Park District          0.4114


Contact Elected Officials: HERE

Coming Soon...  Lisle Sea Lion Pool Attendance reaches 5 year low.



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Taxpayers Pick Up $1000 Lunch Tab for 41 to Attend Broda's "State of the Village" Address



More Waste of Public Funds in Lisle

Lisle taxpayers were stuck picking up the tab for 41 local elected officials, government employees, spouses and guests to attend Mayor Broda's 2014 "State of the Village" address presented at a Lisle Chamber of Commerce 2.5 hour luncheon held at the Hilton Naperville-Lisle on Jan 16, 2014. 

The "2014 State of the Village" address could have been presented at the Village Hall Board room (Lisle's $10M Taj Mahal) in the evening and broadcast live for the convenience of Lisle residents, taxpayers and citizens to attend for free in person or watch it live on cable or internet from home. Not to mention that holding this event at Village Hall in the evening would have allowed all of the boys in Boy Scout Troop 108 ( who were presented with an community service award on a school day during school hours) to attend. 

More than 50% of the people who attended the 2.5 hour event received lunch on the backs of taxpayers. 

A Lisle citizen would have been charged $35 to attend the luncheon event at the Hilton Naperville-Lisle. An edited video of the 45-minute speech portion of the 2.5 hour event was posted online by the Village of Lisle 11 days after the event. The video was later removed from YouTube and re-posted on Feb 4, 2014.

In response to FOIA requests, Lisle Watchdog obtained public records from the Village of Lisle, the Lisle Park District, the Lisle Library, the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District and Lisle Community School District 202 that included the costs for employees, elected officials and guests to attend the 2.5 hour luncheon to hear the 45-minute "State of the Village" address. Each public body was asked to provide the names of those employees who were paid to attend and to provide the documents that contained the public purpose and public benefit of the taxpayer funds expended. 

The Village of Lisle responded that they had no records that contained the public purpose and/or the public benefit of the expenditure of public funds for this purpose. 

Village of Lisle picked up the tab for 28 people:  
   13 Village employees were paid salary to attend during regular work hours.
     7 Village of Lisle Elected Officials (all elected officials except Trustee Mandel)
         (Open meeting violation?)
     9 Guests, including the mayor's wife, an employee from Benedictine University 
         and the scouts/leaders who received an award. 
     Mayor Broda was given a "free" lunch ticket. A gift from the Chamber.   
     * Cost $700.00

Lisle Park District picked up the tab for 4 people:
     3 Park District employees were paid salary to attend during regular work hours.
     1 Park District Elected Official (Buchelt)
     * Cost: $100.00

Lisle Library picked up the tab for 3 people:
     2 Library employees were paid salary to attend during regular work hours.
     1 Library Elected Official (Flint)
     * Cost: $75.00

Lisle Community School District 202 picked up the tab for 3 people:
     1 School District employee was paid salary to attend during regular work hours.
     2 School District Elected Officials. (Alhmann, Narot)
     * Cost: $75.00

Lisle-Woodridge Fire District picked up the tab for 2 people:
     2 LWFD employees were paid salary to attend during regular work hours.  
     1 LWFD Trustee, Tom Althoff attended the event, but LWFD did not pay for 
            his lunch  - Mr. Athoff is the president of the Lisle Chamber. 
     * Cost: $50.00

_____________________________________________________________

                                  TOTAL COST  = $1000.00
 (not including salary/benefits paid to employees to attend a 2.5 hour event)

                                Benefit to Taxpayers = ZERO 

                   Public Purpose of Expenditure of Funds = NONE

_____________________________________________________________


Article VIII Illinois Constitution:
    (a)  Public funds, property or credit shall be used only
for public purposes.
    (b)  The State, units of local government and school
districts shall incur obligations for payment or make
payments from public funds only as authorized by law or
ordinance.
    (c)  Reports and records of the obligation, receipt and
use of public funds of the State, units of local government
and school districts are public records available for
inspection by the public according to law.
(about 10 tables of 7 persons  = 70 attendees)
Records:
Response from Village of Lisle HERE
Response from Library HERE.
Response from Park District HERE.
Response from School HERE.
Response from Fire District HERE.