January County Board Meeting

The regular meeting of the Champaign County Board was this week (agenda packet, video). Click these links for previous Cheat Sheet posts on Committee meetings earlier this month here and last week's Committee of the Whole and Special meeting here. The January meeting came on the heels of a ruling on the the longstanding disagreement on the appointment power of the County Executive in her favor. From the News-Gazette earlier this week:

A legal dispute between Champaign County’s first elected county executive, Darlene Kloeppel, and the county board over executive authority has been decided in Kloeppel’s favor...

The county board hasn’t contested Kloeppel’s authority to make appointments to non-elected vacancies. In filling elected position vacancies, however, the board has relied on the state election code, which states unexpired terms of elected officials should be filled by the appointment of the county board chair with the advice and consent of the county board.

The board contended that the plain language of that statute controls language in the county-executive law, Bohm wrote, but that fails to take into consideration that the county-executive law was passed more recently than the election code.

Full article here. This had left a previous appointment to fill a vacancy on the board in a bit of limbo. Former County Administrator and Deb Busey served as a parliamentarian in case of complicated protocol issues arose. A vote to confirm the appointment of the previous appointee, Cameron Raab, maintained the status quo without any fuss. Some board members facial expressions appeared to ask what the point was of this protracted battle that changed nothing in the short term.

The News-Gazette's conservative opinion columnist Jim Dey had overflowing praise for the ruling as "persuasive," "a tour de force, a clear and concise examination of all the issues involved and a thoughtful rationale..." that leaves one wondering if he's merely a glowing fan of the new Republican Judge. More likely, Republicans are looking at the long term ramifications and the original conservative intentions of the County Executive as a Republican check on a Democratic County Board. The position was designed by and for the popular former County Clerk Gordy Hulten who compared the position to being President of the County. Dey only went as far as describing it as "akin to having a mayor for the county."

When the political tides change, we may see another reversal of who wants to keep the County Executive Form of government, and who wants to revert back to having an appointed County Administrator.

After the appointment was approved, Board Member McGuire called on folks to help others with access to the vaccine. Some of the methods for gaining access use technology which can be difficult for some, especially many elderly people at greater risk. He was also hoping for more detailed breakdowns of vaccination progress among categories such as age groups and Nursing Home residents. The health department's vaccination dashboard has more general data, but includes the current phases and eligibility here.

Appointment votes on a few other boards and commissions fell down mostly party lines. Democrats blocked an appointment to the Mental Health Board, seeking a different candidate to be nominated. Republicans voted against another MHB nominee, but didn't have enough votes to block him.

The Auditor had a presentation for folks interested in the nitty-gritty of the previous year's budget, CAFR (what's this?) and process. It's available at the 45 minute mark in the video. The presentation slides are available here on the County website.

There was an issue with a public participation earlier in the meeting, with one person unable to be heard due to a technical issue. The Board voted to allow Amanda Dixon the opportunity to comment later in the meeting with a vote at around the 54 minute mark. She expressed her frustrations about Animal Control and other authorities not taking her complaints about a pet hording couple seriously until they had caused serious harm to the animals.

There appeared to be some other members of the public attempting to comment as well, but the vote to make an exception was only for the speaker who had the earlier technical issue by name. After last week's nearly 5 hour long COW meeting, there didn't appear to be a willingness to have an extended late night public comment opening.

The meeting ended with a bipartisan statement of appreciation of Deb Busey helping as a parliamentarian and her long time dedication to the County government.

More COVID Updates: Tier 1 Mitigation

Following up on yesterday's COVID updates on the Cheat Sheet, news broke yesterday that Region 6 has jumped back to Tier 1 mitigation status, which includes Champaign County and of course Champaign-Urbana. This follows recent news of the more infectious UK strain of the coronavirus being detected in Illinois (the vaccine appears effective against this variant). First the good news from WAND last night:

Central Illinois regions have moved to lower COVID-19 mitigation levels after the state announced a hospital staffing program and changed its mitigation metrics. 

Region 6, which includes the east half of central Illinois, has met the metrics to move to the Tier 1 mitigation level. Region 3, or the west half of central Illinois, will have even fewer restrictions as it moves to Phase 4 of the original Restore Illinois plan. Both regions were previously under Tier 3, which is the strongest mitigation level possible. 

The changes significantly reduce restrictions to businesses and will allow bars and restaurants to reopen in central Illinois. Tier 1 allows limited indoor service at the lesser of 25 percent capacity or 25 people in the room. Indoor tables can't exceed four people under Tier 1 and indoor service is suspended for business that don't serve food. 

Full article with more regional details here. The Illinois Department of Public Health mitigation page explains what this means in far more detail here. The local situation involved a longer trend of slowly declining cases and other indicators. From the News-Gazette website last night:

The new rules take effect immediately, IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold told The News-Gazette.

It was a close call Monday. Region 6's hospitalization number dropped by just one, to 180, giving it the required seven days of decline in a 10-day period.

The other metric the region needed to go its way — a seven-day positivity rate under 8 percent — wasn't as close. Region 6's rate fell from 7.0 to 6.7 percent Monday, its seventh straight day in decline...

In reaching Tier 1, Region 6 isn't all the way back to where it was before Nov. 20, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker placed all 11 regions in Tier 3. The last remaining step is to move from Tier 1 to Phase 4.

Full article here with more details and local data. If you're confused, you're not alone. The State of Illinois' Coronavirus Response website breaks down what they mean by each phase of the recovery (e.g. Phase 4 here). The more helpful link on the right hand side is Mitigation, which explains the mitigation tiers to fight a resurgence of COVID-19 during this process. In other words, if a region starts getting a lot of new cases, they could end up in one of the tiers of mitigation before getting back on track. They have a simplified chart to help:

There's a full breakdown and explanation of the Illinois tier system here. People didn't want a "one size fits all" system, so probably the best thing you can do is check for updates from your local health department to know what the current status and rules are: Champaign-Urbana Public Health Department COVID-19 dashboard.

The C-UPHD Administrator also had an update yesterday on data on with Elizabeth Hess on Urbana Public Television and available on YouTube here. All of this comes on the heals of news a few days ago that the UK variant of the coronavirus had been detected in Illinois. From the IDPH website:

The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced the first case in Illinois of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 first identified in the United Kingdom. The case was identified by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine through sequencing analysis of a specimen from bio-banked samples of COVID-19 positive tests.

The new strain was first identified in the United States about two weeks ago in Colorado and has since been identified in several other states. Evidence suggests that this variant can spread more easily than most currently-circulating strains of COVID-19, but there is no evidence that the new strain affects the sensitivity of diagnostic tests or that it causes more severe illness or increased risk of death. In addition, data suggest current vaccines will be effective and safe in providing protection against the variant. 

“This news isn’t surprising and doesn’t change our guidance around COVID-19. We must double down on the recommended safety strategies we know help stop the spread of this virus,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “In order to protect Chicago, please continue to wear a mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands often, do not have outside guests in your home, and get vaccinated when it is your turn.”  

Full news release here. And since nothing about this pandemic can ever be simple, it's probably worth noting Dr. Ezike's warning in the St. Louis Dispatch:

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Friday that the discovery of the U.K. variant in the state means residents should take extra precautions in the weeks ahead. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday modeled that it could become the predominant variant in the U.S. in the early spring. Other variants have been identified here and in South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil and Japan.

“If we do not continue to wear our masks, watch our distance, and avoid gatherings, this new variant could sweep across the state as it swept across the U.K.,” Ezike said. “That would lead us back to a place that we don’t want to go.”

That full article here, though it is mostly on Missouri's coronavirus situation. What the future holds in Illinois may come down to whether the impact of more infectious variants of the virus outrace our vaccination efforts. It's worth reiterating from the IDPH news release that, "data suggest current vaccines will be effective and safe in providing protection against the variant."

For other COVID-19 Updates this week, see yesterday's Cheat Sheet post here.

Nursing Home Update

The sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home appears to be moving along without any surprises or hurdles. In an update on the upcoming review board hearing the News-Gazette pointed out that the staff charged with looking for any reason to not recommend going forward did not have any negative findings for the board. From last Wednesday:

State review board report raises no red flags on nursing home sale
The pending $11 million sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home is headed to a hearing before a state review board without any negative findings from the board's staff.

The transfer of the property and operation of the county-owned nursing home meets all the requirements under a state administrative-code section dealing with long-term-care facilities, according to a report released Tuesday by the staff of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.

The anticipated completion date of the sale of the county-owned nursing home is Nov. 30, according to the staff report. That's pending approval by the board at its next public hearing Oct. 30 in Bolingbrook.

The sale could potentially be finalized between Oct. 31 and Nov. 30, according to Champaign County Administrator Deb Busey.

Full article here.

Nursing Home Sale Delayed

The Champaign County Nursing Home sale was expected to go through around the end of July, but has been delayed by a requirement for a hearing by a state board:

Sale of Champaign County Nursing Home delayed at least until late October
A planned sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home is being delayed until after a state hearing process later this year.

The sale of the county-owned nursing home to Evanston-based Extended Care Clinical LLC and Altitude Health Services Inc. will require the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to approve a certificate of need, and the next opportunity for that won't be until Oct. 30.

In this case, approval of a certificate of need would mean the state board has reviewed the nursing home sale proposal, and believes the transaction is needed.

Involvement by the state planning board isn't typically required for sales of long-term care facilities. However, sales of government-owned nursing homes are an exception, according to Mike Constantino, a project reviewer on the planning board staff.

County Interim Administrator Deb Busey said she anticipates the hearing before the planning board will take place Oct. 30, which makes the earliest possible date for the sale to close Oct. 31.

More details, including further requirements of the sale and additional opportunities for public input, in the full article here.

County Board 7/19

Reminder: Last month's County Board meeting is available on video now at the County Clerk's YouTube channel for those waiting for it. This month's video is already up and available here.

Last night's County Board meeting saw another failure to consolidate the County Recorder's office into the Champaign County Clerk's office.  From today's News-Gazette:

Champaign County Board votes to keep recorder around
In July 1968, Democrats on the Champaign County Board proposed eliminating the independent elected position of recorder of deeds.

The elimination never happened.

Exactly 50 years later, another generation of county board Democrats proposed the same thing.

And once again, it won't happen.

On Thursday night, the county board voted 15-7 against putting a question on the November ballot asking for the elimination of the office.

Five Democrats joined all 10 Republicans to ensure the status quo...

In other business, county board member Robert King said he will be resigning because he is moving to upstate New York, where he will work with students at Cornell University in residential programs there.

"I absolutely have enjoyed my time on the county board," King said. "I had a chance to work both with folks with the same opinions and differing opinions, and it has been great."

Full article here. According to the County Clerk, County Board member Shana Jo Crews, a Democrat representing District 9 also resigned last night. This page will be updated soon to reflect those changes and any appointment or election updates that result.


Meeting overview:

Public participation started with a couple Scottswood development residents pleading for more assistance in cleaning up their neighborhood. Two citizens explained their efforts towards encouraging better maintenance and organizing a low cost neighborhood mowing service to help those efforts.

County Recorder Mark Shelden made his argument to keep his office elected and separate from the County Clerk's office. He argued that his office is running effectively as is and the proposed changes couldn't be absorbed as explained by proponents of consolidation. He explained that simply replacing him with a lower paid staffer wouldn't work unless quality was reduced or other responsibilities of the County Clerk and staff suffered. Meanwhile the Democratic County Executive candidate Darlene Kloepel argued it made fiscal sense and was an unnecessary complication and expense for voters.

The Reentry Council Report was filed without any significant discussion. Member Petrie noted that she had some additional questions she'd be taking up with the Council. That report is available here on page 14 of the agenda packet PDF (page 9 on the printed version).

The Agenda items were generally passed unanimously and with little significant discussion outside of the Recorder's Office vote. The other exception was an question and answer session with a guest from the Regional Planning Commission about a criminal justice related grant and program (that required Board approval to go ahead). There weren't a lot of specifics yet as the project will be entering the planning phase in the near future. Board members pushed for specifics, but the RPC representative only had broad information at this time. The general consensus was that this was an important and positive victory for the County and appreciation was noted for the hard work behind the competitive grant process (RPC is only one of 41 organizations awarded the reentry funds). The program description (from the agenda XIV. New Business, Item 4.) lays out the general idea:

Multi-Year Federal Funding to Service Over 188 Young Adults Ages 18-24 Who Reside in High Crime & Poverty Census Tract Areas in Probation, Court or Detention or are High School Dropouts. Based on the Needs of the Target Population for the Project, Evidence-Based Interventions and Practices will be Implemented Including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Structural Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress, Intensive Mentoring & Development of Support Groups, Job Coaching and On-the-Job Training and Development of Apprenticeships in Building Trades. RPC & Community Partners will Utilize a Positive Youth Justice Framework that will Guide Development of Career Plans and Case Management to Positively Impact Employment and Reduce Recidivism Rates with High-Risk Young Adults.

More updates on this program as I find them.

There was an item authorizing more appropriations for litigation costs with the Carle Property Tax issue. Petrie and Administrator Busey discussed the complexities that prevent a full accounting of the County Costs as the issue is intergovernmental and multifaceted. There doesn't appear to be a way to track to compare costs to potential gain back to the county if successful.

The Recorder vote had a quick amendment attempt to change the starting date of the change to the end of the election cycle for the office (2020 instead of 2018 in the current wording for the referendum). That failed in a tie vote 11-11. The motion itself failed 7 to 15. I believe the yes votes were Patterson, Summers, Tinsley, Crews, Douglass, Fortado, and Chair Weibel. I was expecting a bit more argument, but folks seem to have gotten that mostly out of their system last month.

McGuire thanked all those who volunteer and work on the elections in relation to their approval of Election Judge appointments. They truly make this whole crazy democratic institution function. 

Petrie thanked Deputy Administrator Ogden for all her hard work on the ADA report to the Department of Justice (with additional information available at the very end of the agenda packet).

The Board went into closed session about a county employee/employment issue prior to adjourning.

Committee of the Whole 6/12

 
In the wake of the Champaign County Nursing Home vote to sell last month, this meeting was far less contentious (and shorter). The video is available on the County Clerk's YouTube Channel here. Here's a quick write up:

Public Participation:
Claudia Lenhoff of the Champaign County Health Care Consumers asked the board, and the general public watching, to ensure the terms and conditions of the county nursing home sale are upheld, including it's capacity and employee protections.

Mark Sheldon of the Recorder's office spoke against a referendum being put on the ballot to merge the County Recorder's Office into the County Clerk's Office. He argues that it is better to keep it independent and accountable. He made arguments along cost and impact to services to support his opposition. [UPDATE: The News-Gazette argued that it should be merged afterward in an editorial column here.]

Communications:
Jon Rector spoke up about his frustration with the tornado sirens not sounding with two funnel clouds. He was not satisfied with the explanation by the director of the Emergency Management Agency that it technically was within protocol not to without more verification. McGuire thanked the first responders.

Petrie asked interim Administrator Busey to go over the details of the Nursing Home process regarding the terms and conditions Lenhoff  had raised in Public Participation.

Marsh highlighted the upcoming aquifer meeting in Mahomet Monday, June 18th at the High School auditorium at 10am (expected to go to noon or possibly later). They will be discussing possible legislation to protect the aquifer over the gas leak controversy.

King highlighted a couple Juneteenth events on the weekend.

General Agenda Items:
The rest of the agenda started with a change. The Rosecrance agreement to be considered wasn't ready yet and rescheduled. They then moved on to submitting reports by the committees.

There were several appointments approved (see agenda packet for details) without opposition and more reports submitted.

There was a motion to defer the recorder consolidation vote until next month. The reason appeared to be a need for more research according to Stohr. McGuire asked why given other pressing needs to drag the vote out that's come up in the past. Crews, who asked to put it on the agenda is absent today. Stohr asked to wait for her. Rector called it borderline ridiculous and political that it even got put on the agenda. He asked to get this over with. Summers argued for letting the voters decide finally. Anderson said he was in favor of keeping the Recorder office and questioned the need for a referendum since this doesn't save or cost the voters any fee or tax. He said there haven't been any complaints or problems for a need to have a referendum.

They had a roll call vote to vote on the matter or continue discussion of the recorder merging... that was very confusing. I couldn't tell if the 2nd vote was to clarify what people were voting for or another vote. The end result was that the vote was deferred to the next county board meeting in July (not the one next week).

Two budget amendments passed for the Regional Planning Commission to use new grant funding for their housing programs. Questions for the RPC (Petrie raised some) will be addressed later on the program by a representative from the RPC.

The Treasurer's report sounded less dire with recent tax revenues coming in and less future concern about the Nursing Home. An upcoming property sale has the interest of Nasty Joe and will be highlighted in the local press (link to the WCIA coverage here). To jump to the Treasurer's explanation of the upcoming Delinquent Tax Auction and Surplus Sale (in response to costs related to that sale) click this link here in the meeting video. Petrie had a question about whether the properties could be used for housing programs, but the Treasurer explained that they're not up to the standards (often being trashed, condemned or mobile homes more valuable as scrap, etc).

The Auditor submitted her report. Petrie had the only question on the Nursing Home population (roughly 140). The Clerk answered a couple quick questions about a state grant that helps pay for support of the voter registration system. Approval of the "acceptance agreement" to get the grant passed.

The Nursing Home report by the interim Administrator showed improvement for the month after a couple "lousy months" as Weibel described them. Goss had some technical questions on the Accounts Receivable (AR) issues of being on the books and the money that the County is owed by the Nursing Home. The interim Administrator said that the details would be dealt with more specifically in a future contract with SAK (a financial contract in addition to their management contract).

The Administrator report mentioned they received an award in recognition for distinguished budgeting. The deputy administrator then went through various budget details. The salary and insurance recommendations for non-bargaining County employees were approved. The interim Administrator explained the thinking behind the numbers, such as inflation and comparison to other workers asked by Fortado.

No other business. Fortado's Finance Chair's report asked for input from everybody towards the upcoming budget work. Offered to come to members' districts and hear concerns and ideas. Petrie suggested everyone meet in retreat fashion so everybody can learn about each other's districts. One on one only advantages to the finance chair alone (as opposed to all members benefiting).

Weibel pointed out that there aren't usually extraneous meetings in July and pointed out that many will be canceled and a Committee of the Whole will not be held. There may still be a zoning board meeting due to Solar Farm concerns, but that's not confirmed yet.

County Board 11/21 Meeting

Highlights:

Well for starters we have a 6 months (option B) budget that doesn't resolve the Nursing Home issue either direction in finding money to save it or that forces it to be sold, but perhaps inevitable depending on which party you ask. I didn't catch the exact roll call, but Chair Weibel said it was 13-8 of which I definitely heard Pattsi Petrie vote for with the Republicans. Fortado summed up the Democratic feelings about the 6 month budget: It is not a responsible precedent. It is a collective failure, including herself in that failure, not to have a 12 month budget. It's something we will all regret and it will be felt sharply later this year. The associated levy passed without opposition shortly after.

There were some goodbyes. It was County Administrator Rick Snider's last meeting as well as County Treasurer Dan Welch's. Both were thanked and had standing ovations by the board and others.

The replacement process was moved along further along last week, as noted by the N-G, as well as with additional votes tonight that were unopposed:

URBANA — Champaign County Board members Tuesday agreed to begin negotiations to rehire former county Administrator Deb Busey as interim administrator.

The current county administrator, Rick Snider, has resigned in order to become the village administrator in Rantoul later this month.

The move to rehire Busey, who would be limited to 600 hours of work under Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund regulations, was made by Republican board member Aaron Esry but approved unanimously.
...
Also Tuesday, the board unanimously approved the appointment of John Farney as the new county treasurer, beginning Jan. 1. Farney, currently the county auditor, will replace longtime treasurer Dan Welch, who is leaving office 11 months early. Both Welch and Farney are Republicans.

As pointed out in an earlier update, this means that there will be an abbreviated ballot petition period for any candidates wanting to run for County Auditor in the 2018 elections. That same link notes some of the early candidates seeking appointment to the fill the vacancy in the mean time by the Champaign County Republican Party.


Other Meeting Notes:

Public Participation included complaints about dilapidated properties and numerous citizens asking the Board to consider the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations for everything from pre-trial hearings, treatment programs for addicts, mental health care services outside of the jail system, etc. Build Programs Not Jails had a strong presence and pleaded with the Board to take significant action on these issues.

Illinois Bicentennial flag arrived and will be up in front of the Court House soon. Chair Weibel also noted a Chair/Vice-Chair meeting about the agenda that is poorly attended after Republican complaints last week at the COW about difficulties getting an item on the agenda.

"Visit Champaign County" had a presentation on marketing Champaign to outside visitors with a video presentation and a run down of numbers brought in through tourism and visitors. Stohr asked that taxicab services be better highlighted in their printed publications along with Uber/Lyft. The sheer number of independent cab companies (>50) makes it easier to link to in on-line materials.

Apparently "cornhole" is a popular game that has a following and events here in Champaign. It was mentioned and nobody snickered. I feel as though a college joke went terribly wrong somehow. They also brought up that the State Farm Center does not have a good layout for large (2000+ person) trade shows and it makes it difficult to host large events in Champaign County because there is not a large convention center that's ideal for the task compared to other regional ones.

The Youth Assessment Center (more info) via the Regional Planning Commission is looking for a new space and highlighted the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations as well. Their work with restorative justice in the community. After fielding some questions on staff and space requirements, it was pointed out (by Circuit Clerk Katie Blakeman, I believe) that it's a fairly unique program on the cutting edge of  criminal justice reform. Sounds like a program I need to learn more about for a future post.

Other agenda items were passed smoothly by voice vote or roll call as required.

The meeting adjourned at  8:37pm. Not 12:53am the next morning like the last COW. So YAY!!! YAY for THAT!!! Phew!


Reactions [Updated 11/22]:

The News-Gazette's Tom Kacich has more details and specifics, including this excerpt on the budget vote:

County board avoids cuts by funding nursing home for only 6 months

URBANA — Champaign County Democrats were unable Tuesday night to pass a county budget guaranteeing 12 months of operation for the county-owned nursing home.

Instead, by a 13-8 margin, the county board approved a fiscal year 2018 budget that includes only six months of funding for the financially troubled facility.

And because of savings from operating the nursing home for only six months, the approved budget doesn't include any of the $1.425 million in staff cuts, polling-place consolidations, capital reductions (including almost $400,000 for police radios), or program cuts (such as the Youth Assessment Center and re-entry council) discussed in recent weeks.

But county officials cautioned that there's great uncertainty about the budget, including a $500,000 payment the nursing home is to make to the county general fund in December and the need for tax-anticipation warrants to help fund the facility's continued operation.

"I don't think passing a six-month budget for any part of the county budget is a responsible precedent," said Democrat Stephanie Fortado.

And she urged county department heads to "keep your wallet in your pockets for the next six months, especially for big-ticket items. If there's something you can wait on, please wait."

And outgoing County Administrator Rick Snider predicted that the board would have to make "significant budget amendments" throughout 2018.

Voting for the budget were all 10 board Republicans and Democrats Pattsi Petrie, Chris Stohr and Shana Jo Crews.

Voting against it were eight Democrats: Fortado, Steve Summers, James Tinsley, Lorraine Cowart, Josh Hartke, Robert King, Kyle Patterson and board Chairman C. Pius Weibel.

Champaign Democrat Giraldo Rosales was absent from the meeting

I'm not seeing any other reactions yet today, but I'll update if I do.

Nursing Home Reactions

Last night's six and half hour meeting (notes, notes, and more notes here) was a long train of budget discussions and dire warnings for the upcoming 2018 budget. The Republicans and department heads painted a pretty bleak picture. When they were going through each department on the areas of each budget, keeping in mind that everyone is jealous of their own funding, it did start to paint a picture of agencies already with a reduced staff making do with the bare essentials. e.g. Blakeman with the secretary for three lawyers, doing ones own IT, PR, relying on loaned free real estate for a program and relying on various outside grants to round out the numbers. 

I try to stay a bit cynical as politics is necessarily theatrical in part. But, it was hard to come away from that meeting without Snider's statement about the budget/cuts not having recovered from the great recession ringing true.

County Board Member Joshua Hartke shared this response:

The nursing home can be very sustainable. You just never hear about the 95% of its history when it was.

3 years ago, we had almost a million dollars in the bank, 200 residents, and 3 and 4 star ratings on care. Since Rauner came in as governor, they have gradually strangled the Medicaid approvals so much that we have fallen behind on payments.

Private nursing homes all over the state are declaring bankruptcy because of this. Our public facility is insulated from some of that, but only for a while.

This is publicly subsidized health care. If you believe in single payer or universal coverage or a public option, you need to be supportive of the nursing home.

Of COURSE administrators claim to be short staffed. I don't think I've ever been in a budget meeting where one of these folks came in and said, "Nope. Don't need anything new. We're doing just fine."

Where the problem is in our county is the fact that almost twenty years ago we installed PTELL property tax caps. That keeps the levy we can raise from being increased any more the CPI. Health care costs are constantly double that in how they increase.

So, again, single payer would be a solution. In the meantime, we have to fight for what our priorities are as citizens of this county. For me, that is providing nursing care to our oldest and most vulnerable citizens. Far more than anyone worried about whether their lawyers have enough secretaries.

Tom Kacich had a photo of the turnout:

Here's an excerpt from the News-Gazette which had an article on the meeting: Nursing home's future more uncertain after marathon meeting

URBANA — Taking advantage of the absence of two Democrats, a majority on the Champaign County Board on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning delivered a series of damaging blows to the county-owned nursing home.

Democrats Robert King and Shana Jo Crews were missing from the nearly 6 1 / 2-hour committee of the whole meeting that ended at 12:57 a.m. Wednesday, during which the board's 10 Republicans and Champaign Democrat Pattsi Petrie failed to approve separate motions to renew or rescind $400,000 in loans made earlier this year to the nursing home from the county's general fund.

The result is that County Auditor John Farney, in one of his last official acts before he becomes the county treasurer, would have to collect on the loans to the nursing home on Dec. 29.

The current treasurer, Dan Welch, told the county board that the nursing home already is cash strapped, with only $117,000 on hand Tuesday and another biweekly payroll due next week.

The first vote, to renew the loans, failed 10-10.

The second one, to rescind the loans, lost 11-9.

Rescinding the loans would have meant that the county would recognize the loans as "bad debt since there's no likelihood of repayment," resulting in a $400,000 loss to the county's general fund.

It's unclear whether the county board can revisit the issue — and possibly take another vote — next Tuesday.

Committee of the Whole 11/15/2017

[UPDATE: Reactions on the meeting here.]

[UPDATE X 2: Youtube video of the meeting is up here. The last 15 minutes has a discussion about voting for the Nursing Home Advisory Board to be dissolved and deal with the new SAK management directly once a month. I missed it when my feed cut out and it was heated. Here's out the N-G described it:

And early Wednesday — in what may have been an illegal vote because it wasn't on the agenda — board members voted 11-7 to put a resolution on the agenda for next week's board meeting to "indefinitely and immediately" suspend the nursing home board of directors that meets monthly and reports to the county board.]

I gave the live streaming option a shot today since I couldn't it make it there in person. Had some issues with it freezing and going off-air at times, but over the course of a nearly six and a half hour meeting. That's right... the 6:30pm County Board Committee of the Whole meeting went to 12:53am technically the next morning.

A lot of public participation tonight due to the Nursing Home issue and the risk of cuts to programs, desire for funding for mental health programs, opposition of expanding jail cells instead of treatment centers and access to care, etc.

Highlights included a social scientist pointing out the absurdity of calling a push poll legitimate, "you get what you pay for with a push poll." First Followers members advocating for transition housing and programs for people transitioning from the criminal justice system to the community and the need for help against homelessness, addiction, and related recidivism. A mother and daughter made a powerful personal appeal for mental health care access, drug treatment and the growing opioid epidemic. They referenced programs that seem to be effective in McLean County modeled after the Memphis model.

Laurel Prussing made some suggestions for alternative revenue options. And one woman who had both parents at the nursing home sang the praises of the new management and discussed her interactions with the directors and her problems with other homes in the county she explored. She raised issues of the limited number that take 100% medicaid versus those that are simply too expensive for many.

There were more including a couple I believe from Build Programs Not Jails, which you can find more information under this or the issues links.


In the beginning...

The Racial Justice Task Force presented an overview of their final report to the board. They announced they will be presenting it to the public at the Champaign Public Library on November 30th (facebook event here).

• Need more cooperation by police with the community to solve racial issues as a community.

• Pretrial services with risk assessment instruments needed... current system primitive and not functioning.

• Fees/court costs: funds to waive/reduce for low income, subsidized car insurance?

• Restorative justice and practices... this meeting is not to the time for a primer, but it is a critical and important issue to address later. Can be integrated throughout the criminal justice system... recommending it throughout. 

• housing... fair housing for criminal convictions, repeal Champaign municipal code 17.4-5 for five years after release from prison/jail

• Community voices 
• 100% employment for African Americans
• Eliminate SROs... branding kids as pre-criminals
• Need to know each other of different races, backgrounds. Helps with understanding

If it looks like my notes are poorly edited at 1:30 in the morning it's because they are and by the time I finished posting this I decided to tidy it up in the morning. Or morning-er. More morning. Later after sleep! That's it!


Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program

After that was the Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program Final Report which was actually rather fascinating and informative, but I doubt I could explain it well. It dealt with mental health in our justice system and there was a great deal of information beforehand that dealt with recidivism tracking for people reentering the community with better access to services and such that may be worth catching their presentation when it's available on the County youtube channel in a few days (waiting for that update). In the mean time the paper report is in the agenda packet from the COW meeting website or at this link at page 100 of the PDF document.


Intermission: A 5 minute recess...

...from 9:12pm to 9:22pm. Because it's the government, silly!

Nominations for filling some positions passed pretty quickly. Deb Busey was brought up in a motion to be interim County Administrator after Rick Snider resigns for his new job. It passed, but I wasn't clear on whether that required another vote at the full board meeting next week to make official from the procedural end.

Then came the Nursing Home Report from the new management which sounded like fairly good numbers and included a story of staffing needs being filled including a couple nurses who came back. Apparently some staff left over fears of the Nursing Home being sold and that being unstable or viewed negatively for their employment. After running through their presentation, it got heated by folks disputing their numbers.

Due to the lateness and also a 50/50 laziness, but also a look into the insanity of how I "note" I'm going to do a note dump of the rest (after skimming for general coherency) on what happened next. I'll probably tidy it up in the next few days unless it makes enough sense to leave and (and embrace my lazy desires). The rest was almost all about the Nursing Home, the dire budget situation, and the already shrunken, squeezed, and belt-tightened budgets being defended from further cuts:

Nursing Home report (bumped to the front)

*Some nurses left out of concerns the nursing home might be sold, since
then some have returned

Goss and Rector* appeared very annoyed at their comments to the N-G
sounding hopeful about no sale.

Goss and McGuire* seemed annoyed at the budget information presented.
Goss disagreed with the numbers. McGuire didn't seem satisfied with
what was presented and how.
*Rector/McGuire were off camera so I may have the wrong names here.

McGuire makes arguments about wanting to sell rather than close, but I
didn't follow the budget jargon.

Another board member asked about the two nurses who returned after they
thought it wasn't going to be sold... one of the SAK pointed out that
people were afraid of conditions worsening if sold, and addressed that
they mentioned the positive improvements as a necessary part of
bringing in new customers/patients.

Another admonished them a bit for not having their budget with them and let them know these kind of questions will be asked and to have it for next time.

*********

Back to regular agenda IX Finance A. Tresurer on Agenda...

Treasurer has bleak outlooks for next year as requested by Goss:

Projection next year shows an ending cash balance each month 167,000 in
january 2018 behind to 922,000 behind by July 2018 ending cash
balance... after that over a million in the hole. Appears to devolve
into a loan spiral.

Loans to the NH (apparently the states attorney agrees) from the
general fund are inappropriate. Subsidy not a loan.

Dan Welch said goodbyes and thanks. (this may be his last COW before retiring)


Auditor report

Nov 7th incident... SAK told the money would be there... courier 30,000
short... money for payroll. Upset at SAK.

"We are in a dire situation with cash."

"It is absolutely dire."

"Their projections are too rosey."

It is wrong the NH staff feel secure when county staff jobs are not
because of the budget.

******

Diane Michaels acting as chair? Yes

Moving agenda items D1,3,5-6 to full board

Item 2, 4, 7 tonight

2 pass voice

4 pass voice

7 pass voice

Moving E3,6, 7 to full board

Item 1-2, 4

4a) nursing home renewal of loans: roll call
yes
hartke
rosales
tinsley... only yes votes I heard 10-10 fails.

4b) forgiving nursing home loans? recognizing as bad debt without
assuming repayment and budgeting it that way. Without the renewal
(already failed in 4a) or forgiving the loan, it would become due from
NH to general fund Dec 29th.

roll call
yes
hartke
...again can't hear, not using mics.

petrie no... 11-9 no fails (I'm pretty sure)

5) 2018 budget discussion by rick snider

Negative outlook added to bond rating... NH renewal plan would likely
lead to a downgrade by Moody's which has taken an interest in the
county.

NH status... new management has had improvements, but may have gotten
the low hanging fruit of available improvements. Future improvement
options may be more difficult/slower... reality starting to fall short
of their budget projections.

Live feed froze/"off-air"/interrupted/froze/"off-air" at 11:48-11:54pm

Departments argue against cuts:

New sheriff's Radios are needed, old ones need updated for
coverage/safety needs

circuit clerk opposes cutting program that she would is desperately
trying to find more money for her budget due to state issues and venue
no longer being available from unit 4

Brooks Marsh, Max Mitchell made appeals towards not making cuts... on
good government and moral grounds for the community.

Snider I believe referred back to circuit clerk's program saying it was
evidence based and effective for families and community and can't just
get rid of.

Snider on ERP replacement, 40 year old software (holy cow) on a
mainframe run by someone that would like to retire. Once he's gone we
can't use it anymore. Without a programmer it doesn't work. Can't
replace on spur of the moment, years to move over to new system.
Another can that's been kicked down the road.

Snider went over what he's tried to do to keep the county running and
NH running, but it has come at a price and putting off needs. He
recommends RFP, not that they have to sell, but just to see what their
options are.

Max Mitchell points out that the meetings are bulk taken up by NH
issues. Pushes sale per voter referendum.

Stephanie Fortado argues for the better employment options for the
nursing home staff, especially black women workers of the county, a
quarter of asian county workers.

Gordy... only places left to cut would result in cutting polling places
and longer lines because election judges cost money and there would be
less.

circuit clerk has no places to cut... she's her on IT person, PR
person... could cut victims advocates or attorneys, but not secretaries
as there's one secretary for three attorneys. Otherwise would have to
cut services.

Jones? Sheriff's department? Budget seems down to necessities... things
like part time jury coordinator... jury food.

McGuire... everything has already been cut, and services shrunk. Fewer
options than private facilities. Gov't going to private firms because
gov't is not ideal to run nursing homes, not simply to privatize.

Snider: Lost 38 employees since 2009 (10% cut) looking at a potential
another 5%... never recovered from great recession. Can't afford to cut
more services. Sheriff's for 5th largest?(wasn't sure) county is too
much ground... spread too thin already. Not right to stretch it
further.

Petrie wants RFP baffled why others (other Dems it would seem) won't go
for it to find out our options.

Mitchell says he won't support RFP unless board is serious about
selling. Too many people depending on us to sell.

12:38am life stream freeze/"off-air"/glitchy/frozen/"off-air" 12:45am

Popped up in the middle of Patterson asking about whether it is good
governance in the middle of the night with pop-up changes to SAK...

Goss wants to tell him what he thinks, Patterson assures him the
question was rhetorical and that he has the floor.

and then the feed froze again... but this time it was my internet. Back
at 12:50...

Pattsi Petrie: NH board over 10 years didn't follow the bylaws. Didn't
do the job. That's why we're here. (only caught the end of whatever
rant that was)

Goss repeats the motion... NH advisory board be indefinitely suspended.
Roll call but again can't hear most of the votes. 11-7

adjourned at 12:53am... wow and the guy running the equipment
immediately hit it off-air. Can't blame him.

When all was said and done it was mostly the heads pointing out that any further cuts would be brutal. Republicans wanted to make clear the serious reality of the budget. And while it appears that Democrats might have been a bit reserved, some of that was due to the live feed issues I was having cutting out around the time of their remarks, so... it'll be interesting to see what their impressions are tomorrow.

As for me, I'll try to add more, make more sense of this, edit and tidy it up and throw on links to the local press coverage. Tomorrow. I mean today. Holy crap it's 2am. G'night, world!

Nursing Home Pre-Meeting News

A big meeting for the future of the Nursing Home (resource page) is tonight and the News-Gazette has two articles and an editorial in support of selling the Nursing Home to a private owner rather than make cuts to the budget. Links and excerpts below:

Nursing home manager: Census up, losses down, new services on way

The census is up and net losses are down at the Champaign County Nursing Home, the facility's new manager said Monday.

And more improvements are coming, promised Suzanne Koenig, the president of SAK Management Services, which took over the day-to-day operations of the troubled nursing home on July 1.

The average daily census in October was 136, up from 132 in September and August. Monthly net losses have dropped from almost $170,000 in July to $123,000 in September.

Time to sell the nursing home

The latest news from the Champaign County Nursing home was a disappointing, but not surprising, call to action that county board Democrats ought not continue to ignore.

The facility is a costly failure, more so by the month and to the point it's putting other county operations in danger.

When will the entire 22-member board accept the result of the April vote that rejected a tax increase for the nursing home and called for the sale of the failing facility? Don't hold your breath.

As of now, the board is looking into widespread layoffs of county employees who provide duties required by state statute to maintain the nursing home — which is not a required government service.

County officials say it will require $1.4 million in spending cuts and layoffs to keep the nursing home afloat through next year. Not only is that kind of budget cutting disgustingly difficult, it would also be unnecessary if the board would finally recognize financial failure.

Administrator: Champaign County's budget-cutting options 'not good'

Snider, in a memo to county board members, made it clear he doesn't support the cuts.

"None of these options are desirable," he wrote.

Among the items on the list:

— $387,786 set aside for replacement radios for the sheriff's office, to replace units that are 11 years old.

— $272,000 to replace the county's 40-year-old software system for human resources and financial management.

— $236,600 for the county Youth Assessment Center, a diversion program for at-risk youth. "There is other funding that comes in, but that cut would be devastating," Snider said. "I don't think the program would continue with that kind of a cut."

— $83,333 for the re-entry council, which works to reduce recidivism. "That one definitely would be out. That would allow it to operate for the first two months of the year to finish out our contract with them. But after that, it would be done," Snider explained.

— $70,000 cut from the county clerk's budget for elections administration. County Clerk Gordy Hulten said earlier that would mean consolidating 14 of the county's 96 polling places for both elections next year and eliminating all early voting locations except his office at the Brookens Center.

— The county's $15,000 contribution to the Economic Development Corporation, $10,000 to the Visit Champaign County tourism bureau and $5,000 to the Community Coalition, which helps coordinate issues involving youth and families.

Administrator Position's Future

A confusing part of the County Executive form of government that Champaign County has voted to go in is how will that office interact with, along side of, or absorb the County Administrator position that oversees the administrative staff, animal control, the county engineer, etc (more at the organizational chart).

But today in an interview with the N-G the outgoing Administrator explained that our confusion is justified. Many of the responsibilities of the Administrator and County Board Chair will merge into the County Executive. It is still unknown if an Administrator position will still exist after the change. This according to the guy in that position.

N-G has the interview in Audio (I don't see a transcript, but the information above is within the first few minutes):

Push Polling and Nursing Home Budgets

The News-Gazette pointed out a recent push poll with extremely leading language to counter Democratic claims that selling the nursing home isn't popular in their County Board districts:

Tom Kacich: Privately commissioned poll claims tide turning against nursing home

Democrats on the Champaign County Board have been saying for months that they felt justified in opposing the sale of the county nursing home because their constituents in the county's urban core opposed it in a ballot question last April.

But County Clerk Gordy Hulten says public opinion has shifted, and he commissioned a poll — using his own campaign funds — to prove it.

First, some background: Last April's consolidated election featured this advisory question countywide: "Shall the Champaign County Board be authorized to sell or dispose of the Champaign County Nursing Home?"

The issue passed overwhelmingly in areas outside of Champaign-Urbana — those represented exclusively be Republicans — about 67 percent to 33 percent.

But in Champaign and Urbana — those districts represented by Democrats — the question lost by a big majority, particularly in Urbana where it went down, 69 percent to 31 percent.

That was April, though, and public opinion has moved over the last seven months as the nursing home's finances have worsened and there have been health and safety issues at the county-owned institution.

In a telephone poll done only within the six county board districts represented by Democrats (out of 11 districts), about 53 percent said they would support the sale of the nursing home in order to solve the county's financial problems, while 29 percent opposed the sale. About 18 percent said they were undecided.

The single polling question asked was: "As you may know from published reports, the Champaign County Nursing Home is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every month, and two residents died this year due to alleged negligence. To remedy the situation, the county board must now decide between cutting services — such as laying off police officers and eliminating some early voting locations — or selling the home to a privately funded company prepared to provide better care. We'd like to know whether you support or oppose the sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home in an effort to solve the problems?"

The Republican County Executive candidate and current County Clerk's friend is mentioned in the article to be behind the pretty blatant push poll, and he also was running facebook advertisements implying cuts to vital services that haven't even been proposed (as this previous article mentions, the budget revenue or cuts to fund the Nursing Home are still to be decided):

County board Democrats, who last month voted against putting the money-losing nursing home up for sale, have to find an estimated $1.4 million of budget cuts or new revenue to balance the county's spending plan for the year beginning Jan. 1.

Fortado's goal, she said, is to "make sure the nursing home stays public, but I also want to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure that the cuts don't hurt personnel.

"There are no easy answers. When the whole board comes together (at a committee of the whole meeting) is when we're going to have those conversations. But we haven't found the one silver bullet."

Which really makes this facebook ad sound both premature and blatantly trying to make it sound like these decisions have already been made and scaring people into thinking it'll suppress the vote and take police (as opposed to other staff changes) off the street:

Democratic County Board Member Kyle Patterson shared this quick analysis:

I put together a brief analysis of this push-poll, explaining how it is subjective and not objective and uses manipulative language to get a desired response.

LANGUAGE OF PUSH-POLL:
"As you may know from published reports, the Champaign County Nursing Home is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every month, and two residents died this year due to alleged negligence. To remedy the situation, the county board must now decide between cutting services — such as laying off police officers and eliminating some early voting locations — or selling the home to a privately funded company prepared to provide better care. We'd like to know whether you support or oppose the sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home in an effort to solve the problems?"

MY ANALYSIS:
“The Champaign County Nursing Home is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every month.”
Extremely questionable facts and does not specify the length of months, nor is it true that this is even a fact for all of 2017. Also, it delves into this topic without explaining why the shortfalls have occurred, such as state issues.

“To remedy the situation, the county board must now decide between cutting services.”
False conclusions on unrealistically limited options

“Such as laying off police officers and eliminating some early voting locations.”
Subjective selection of alternatives and false conclusions. The county has nearly $40 million in discretionary spending and this suggests those are some of the only options for cuts, which is grossly inaccurate.

“Selling the home to a privately funded company prepared to provide better care.”
False suggestion that a private home provides better care.

“…in an effort to solve the problems?"
Does not specify what the problems are and it establishes an opinion as fact that selling the nursing home will solve those problems

Now whether you're for selling the Nursing Home or against it, the budget issues will certainly involve some hard budget choices. And one of the things I'm still not entirely clear on beyond the 6 month budget (that assumes the Nursing Home will be sold) versus the proposed 12 month budget (that doesn't make that fairly big assumption on selling the Nursing Home) is: what will be the real effects of the County Executive?

If you look at the tentative budget (available here) the office and its inevitable staff aren't in the organizational charts yet. The County Administrator's office and staff doesn't appear to be being replaced by or absorbed by the County Executive's office... or maybe that's to be determined? The budget basically reads like 2018's plan is to plan for a plan for how the County Executive will work. Meanwhile the current County Administrator is leaving:

In his last month as county administrator (he was hired last week to be village administrator in Rantoul), Rick Snider has to put together a new county budget that will include up to $1.3 million in budget cuts or revenue increases to balance the budget. That's because the county board voted to stop a proposed sale of the nursing home and to keep it under county ownership for another year.

Snider said Tuesday that it going to be difficult to do without cutting jobs.

"I don't see any way without affecting personnel that we can do it," he said.

"I think there's an opportunity for us to defer some capital expenditures, but there's not a lot of that in the budget anyway. There's really nowhere left to cut."

Where the rubber hits the road? We may find out in the upcoming Committee of the Whole County Board meeting this Tuesday, which you can live stream or Attend a Meeting!

County Jail in the News

Smile Politely is a local on-line magazine that has local writers about a variety of topics of local life from entertainment to dining to politics. They had a jail article that elicited a response from a County Board member in the comments, so if county board members are reading it, I suppose we should too. Here's an excerpt from the full op/ed piece:

The jail plan that won’t die 

A multimillion-dollar bond that would provide county public safety sales tax revenue to upgrade the county’s satellite jail, including facilities for mental and medical health care, has not appeared in Champaign County Administrator Rick Snider’s budget proposal, and it’s fair to say that vocal grassroots pushback has quite a bit to do with that. The Department of Justice grant that funded Deputy Sheriff Allen Jones’s Crisis Response Planning Committee, supposedly formed to divert arrestees in need of mental health or substance abuse services from the jail, but now working to provide in-jail facilities, has not been renewed. Jones himself was cited in the News-Gazette on October 13th saying that the jail was the wrong place to deliver mental and medical health services. 

But seemingly unbeknownst to many on the County Board and in the local media, the jail plan lives on. The figure of $261,113 — over a quarter of a million dollars — is in the current proposal to be allocated either for planning the building of new cells at the satellite jail or for construction at the downtown jail to bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in fulfillment of a years-old Department of Justice citation. It’s not clear how this determination would be made, but past statements have made it clear that the sheriff’s department very much wants to demolish the decaying downtown jail and upgrade the satellite jail. In an August meeting of the county board facilities committee, Sheriff Walsh and Captain Vogees, who runs the jail, spoke of the need for 50 to 60 beds in double-bunked cells, plus a new item: 24 one-person cells dedicated to “special management housing.” The stated intention behind these cells is to provide specialized care inside the jail, though of course this takes funding away from a possible community-based behavioral health provider, and it’s also not clear how qualified round-the-clock staffing would be paid for. In addition, if built, these cells would likely be used for punitive solitary confinement; this is almost always the purpose served by a “special management unit” in a prison or jail...

County Administrator Leaving

The County Administrator is leaving:

From the News-Gazette: Champaign County administrator moving to Rantoul

Champaign County Administrator Rick Snider will be Rantoul's new village administrator. 

The village board voted 4-2 following a 40-minute executive session Thursday night to approve Mayor Chuck Smith's selection of Snider for the job. LaTonya Rufus, director of planning and development for the city of Harvey, was the other finalist.
Smith said Snider will begin his duties in Rantoul on Dec. 1. He will be paid an annual salary of $135,000. 

"I'm thrilled to have been selected. I'm looking forward to making contributions in the village of Rantoul, serving the people there," Snider said. "I'm a little bit sad leaving the county, though, at this point. 

"I would have liked to have been able to do more perhaps while I was here. But it's been an honor to serve as the county administrator. This is the best county in Illinois."

Also from another article: Next Champaign County administrator could be chosen next month

The chairman of the Champaign County Board hopes a decision is made next month on who will replace the outgoing county administrator. 

Rick Snider was approved as Rantoul's new village administrator Thursday night. He will be paid $135,000 per year and will begin his new job Dec. 1. 

Champaign County Board Chair C. Pius Weibel said his goal is to get approval at a Nov. 14 committee meeting to begin negotiations with a replacement candidate. Weibel said that person could be approved at the county board's full meeting on Nov. 21... 

Former county Administrator Deb Busey declined to comment on whether she has been asked to return on an interim basis.

Tax Levies versus Tax Rates

A helpful explanation on tax levies versus tax rates on an issue coming up on the County Board this week.

From the News-Gazette: Tom's #Mailbag, Oct. 13, 2017

Property tax increase"Noted in last week's News Gazette of an upcoming Oct. 19, 2017 public hearing to approve a proposed Champaign County property tax levy increase for 2018. Total property tax levy increase was documented at 7.74 percent. Have searched online for info on reason(s) for this large property tax increase. Please advise where I might access this info in advance of the Oct. 19 public hearing." 

The public hearing on the county's proposed tax levy increase will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, just before the county board meeting at 6:30 p.m. State law requires the notice you saw in the paper and dictates its form and content, said County Administrator Rick Snider. 

The important thing to remember is that an increase in the tax levy doesn't mean there will be an increase in the county's tax rate. 

The 7.74 percent increase in the levy — the amount the county government is seeking in property taxes next year — "is a result of the continuing legal matters surrounding the hospital property tax exemption case," said Snider. 

He is referring to the legal case, which went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court and is now back before the circuit court, regarding the tax-exemption status of the two Urbana hospitals. 

"We learned that there is still a possibility that a ruling may come before the Board of Review closes its books in March," Snider said. That's on a second case that the Supreme Court agreed to hear — Oswald V. Hamer — on Sept. 27. 

"We are overlevying to capture the new growth attributable to the hospital properties returning to the rolls. If this does not happen then the county clerk will automatically reduce the levies to their proper levels under the (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law)." 

In other words if there is a court ruling favorable to taxing districts in the next few months the levy will increase up to 7.74 percent. If there isn't a favorable ruling it won't. 

"This does not increase the rate on other taxpayers," Snider said. "If we didn't act and the properties went back on the rolls, the opportunity to capture the growth is permanently lost and in future years the tax burden would increase for everyone else."

Of course seeing the announcement on the County Board website, had me do a double take even after reading the NG's explanation:

Notice of Proposed Property Tax Increase for Champaign County, Illinois 

A public hearing to approve a proposed property tax levy increase for Champaign County for 2018 will be held on October 19, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lyle Shields Meeting Room, Brookens Administrative Center, 1776 E. Washington, Urbana, IL. 

Any person desiring to appear at the public hearing and present testimony to the taxing district may contact Tami Ogden, Deputy County Administrator/Finance, 1776 E. Washington, Urbana, IL 61802, (217) 384-3776, togden@co.champaign.il.us. 

The corporate and special purpose property taxes extended or abated for 2017 were $30,802,598.95. 

The proposed corporate and special purpose property taxes to be levied for 2018 are $33,302,118. This represents an 8.11% increase over the previous year. 

The property taxes extended for debt service and public building commission leases for 2017 were $1,442,772.56. 

The estimated property taxes to be levied for debt service and public building commission leases for 2018 are $1,440,463. This represents a 0.16% decrease over the previous year. 

The total property taxes extended or abated for 2017 were $32,245,371.51. 

The estimated total property taxes to be levied for 2018 are $34,742,581. This represents a 7.74% increase over the previous year.

Which of course made me ask, "wait... are my property taxes being increased or not." And then I had to re-read Tom Kacich's explanation again. And no, tax rates are not going up, just the levy, which is what the board *seeks* in property taxes next year. If I'm understanding it correctly it's more like setting an income goal on your next year's budget (even if you don't know how many hours, bonuses, side jobs, or raises may happen) to plan your spending goals accordingly. If you set that levy higher, it doesn't automatically get you more money for your budget.

For accountants and wonks that have dealt with budgets outside of my napkin doodles, it seems they toss around the term "levy" as a budget term for an assessed amount *that doesn't* always have the negative connotations it does with tax payers. I'll rely on their far better understanding of it than my previous understanding of it being synonymous with "taking my money."

Now the real question is how will a higher tax levy affect future tax rates? That is a good question and one I hope to have an answer to in a future post. UPDATE: Yes, it can. Additional information follows:

Here's a great generic explanation of Tax Levies versus Tax Rates someone pointed out to me. It is available at this pdf. It's from a school board elsewhere, but the ideas are the same and probably beats my attempt to explain it as best I could muster at the end. Y'know, from people who know what they're talking about. Here's an excerpt:

I wanted to make sure that I was still understanding this right, so I got in touch with the County Treasurer's office and asked:

I had a quick question that perhaps you or your staff could answer. I think I understand a tax levy, like the one being voted on this week, as being a bit like a budget goal. We hope to get that much for the budget from tax revenue.
Are the tax rates calculated from that then? Or are tax rates voted on separately?
Thank you for your time and help.

And got a reply that made sense:

The levy is the document we use to determine the tax revenue to be collected. The levy applied to the taxing district’s taxable value is how we calculate tax rates.

So levies are important and an increase that outpaces the rise in the district's taxable value could cause your tax rates to be higher than last year.

Hopefully that helps. If you already knew this and just like to watch slow people struggle to grasp basic government concepts for entertainment? You're welcome!

Addendum 10/20/2017:

Local yokel and someone who has been following this issue with a far better understanding than I, Laura Sandefur, explained tax levies and also the hospital issue that was at issue with them this week. She gave me the thumbs up to quote her, and I think you'll find her explanations as helpful as I did:

A tax levy is the taxing district asking for the money to keep their people paid, the lights on, and the doors open--money to pay all the stuff they do and services they provide. By law, they have to hold a public hearing about that. Think of it as a kid asking for an allowance. (not being demeaning here, so please don't yell at me!)

The tax rate is what you have after all the various taxing districts submit their levy each year. Once ALL those taxing districts have sent in those levy amounts in, they are then split out across ALL the real estate present in that district, and that is a tax rate. Add all the percentages for each of the taxing districts on the tax bill, and that is the aggregate tax rate for that property Think of that as mom and dad deciding how much they each are paying of that kid's allowance.

Property taxes are calculated based on the ASSESSED value (approx 1/3 of market value according to Illinois law, unless you live in Cook County) for the property. Think of that as mom paying $20. of the allowance and Dad paying $30.

Clear as mud? I spent over a decade trying to explain Illinois property taxes to property owners. Sorry I didn't spot this discussion earlier... Will try to get back later to explain the whole tax exemption portion. Gotta go pick up my mom.

Okay, that last part wasn't necessary to quote, but it helps to remember that in politics we're dealing with real live human beings with real loved ones doing real life things trying to get by in this crazy rock hurling about the cosmos sometimes. She got back to me on the the hospital taxes thusly:

The issue with the tax exemption question the the paper says is outstanding is in regard to the hospitals. They were not paying property taxes on hospital property for a very long time. They were given exemption from property taxes just like churches and publicly owned property like parks and schools. Without getting bogged down in all the details (if you really want those, one day we can all sit down with beverages and talk like folks!) the hospitals were put back on the tax rolls and they became liable for taxes.

Court battles ensued with all kinds of lawyers going back and forth, until, ultimately, the Illinois Supreme Court handed down a ruling saying the hospitals owed property taxes. More court battles came. Then, the Illinois legislature passed a new law that opened the door to the hospitals possibly being exempt again. Even MORE court cases followed after that new law was passed because there is a question about the ability of the legislature to even PASS that new law.

Last I heard, I think I saw, the **original** question was remanded back to the local courts for determination...

You may be tempted to ask how ANY of this relates to you. Can't blame you for asking. Here's the deal, any time a property is given tax exemption that means the rest of the property owners have to pay the share of taxes that should/would have been paid on those exempted properties. When you start talking about "a few" million dollars of property that is exempted, that can add up pretty quick. It increases the tax liability for the rest of the property owners. You pay more so they don't have to.

Levy bodies (taxing districts) are gonna get their money. The question of who is gonna pay it is what's hanging out there right now.

If you feel like you actually understand this after all that, congratulations! You are one step closer to the wonk side!