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Township's Responses to the Allegations Made in the November 25, 2009, ABC 7
News I-Team/Better Government Association Segment about Township Government |
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Recently, ABC 7
aired stories critical of township government. Rich Township was one
of a number of townships mentioned in the story. Financial and other
figures based upon a superficial analysis of mandatory Township reporting were
presented and erroneous or misleading conclusions were then made. The
reports utilized the Rich Township Annual Financial Reports which are filed
with the Illinois Comptrollers' office. Reporter Chuck Goudie and the ABC
I-team made four major allegations concerning Rich Township:
1. Only 5% of its budget is provided for
temporary aid to the poor. The
report combined the Town Fund
expenditures of $4,049,322 and General
Assistance Fund expenditures of $380,552 for total expenditures of
$4,429,874; an unrealistic denominator to evaluate GA expenditures. They are
both restricted purposes funds, in the main.
Last year, fully 65% of General Assistance expenditures went to
Prescriptions, Utilities, Shelter, Food, Transportation, and Emergency
Assistance. Their report also failed to
mention that GA recipients are "self-selected", that is, they come to us for
help and 2) GA has a very strict set of eligibility criteria; everyone who
applies will not be eligible. GA is
mandated by law for those who receive no other benefits such as unemployment
benefits, workmen compensation benefits, Social Security or Supplemental Social
Security benefits. We currently have
about 125 people, on average, receiving GA.
Naturally, areas of affluence will have less of a GA eligible
population, areas with more poverty will have more. The Town Fund is where the "non-mandated"
programs reside including our award winning transportation program for seniors
and the disabled, our food pantry, the Park Forest Senior Center, and more.
2. Townships have excessive tax funds. The Illinois Government Finance Officers
Association recommends that units of government that are dependent on property
taxes, such as townships, maintain enough funds to last until March of the
following year. Rather than a 4-6 month cushion
recommended by IGFOA, we have only maintained a one to two month cushion. Incidentally,
Illinois courts have ruled that units of local government should not have
cash-on-hand balances of more than twice their annual expenditures. In our case, our allowable limit would be approximately $8 million. In addition,
some of the line items cited may reflect the value of capital assets, not cash
- based upon an accounting mandate called GASB 34, implemented a few years ago.
3. Townships have no oversight. Townships are the only unit of government to
have a mandated annual public meeting
with popular participation at which any citizen of the township can have
the other citizens in the audience vote on policy and other matters. An annual audit is required by law to be
conducted by an outside CPA firm
which is filed with the State Treasurer and the County Clerk within six months
of the end of the fiscal year and is available for public review. Their contention does a disservice to
independent audit firms who would not put their reputations and business on the
line for any client.
4. The role of the Township Assessor. Assessor Ranieri plays a vital role in the
assessment process. Assessor's duties include
maintaining and updating Township assessment information going to the Cook
County Assessor; including zoning and Sidwell maps, assistance with homeowner
exemptions, maintaining all important property records, sales transfer history,
past real estate records. The Assessor answers
assessment questions and the filing of appeals, provide residents with
preparation of Certificate of Error documents and involved with property
variances in municipalities. The Cook County Assessor is ultimately
responsible for Assessments. Many
however, are involved in the assessment process.
Rich Township has won Illinois Hometown
awards for the Food Pantry, and awards for our Senior Center. PACE awarded
our Transportation Department with an Innovation, Coordination and Enhancement
grant from the RTA for GIS based route scheduling. Other awards includes PACE Driver of the
Year, Township Officials of Illinois "2008 Supervisor of the Year", and many
other honors.
Honest public servants and the Residents of
the Township were done a disservice with these stories. They were staged, and snarky as far as
representing this Township. Say what one will about other individuals or
occurrences that they may have represented.
It's time to clear the air and get the record straight regarding Rich
Township. Ben Franklin once said, "Never
argue with a man who buys his ink by the barrel". Sorry, Ben.
You're wrong in this regard.
Sincerely,
Rich Township Board of Trustees
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Did you know? |
- The Rich Township Food Pantry serves about 1,500 people a month.
- The Rich Township Transportation
Program provides approximately 70,000 rides a year to seniors, the
disabled, and GA, Medicaid, and homeless clients.
- The Shirley J. Green Senior
Center provides health and wellness programs for our seniors, including
the CNN meal site
- Our Meals on Wheels program provides meals for approximately 450 homebound
seniors.
- Our Senior Companion Program helps approximately 200 seniors to
stay in their homes rather than be institutionalized,
- And the list goes on...
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