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The legislative package of 15 bills includes the “Fund the Police Act,” giving $100 million in appropriations to local governments and universities to hire police officers, and changes to the “Community Mental Health Act,” which would give 20% to county sheriffs to be used for mental health services within county jails.
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall anticipates a deeper analysis in the coming days of the 7% increase in the number of full-time employees in the budget will determine whether the positions can be sustained once COVID relief funds are spent. “It looks to be a good news budget for county taxpayers. There’s no tax increase, no property tax increase, no layoffs, there are efficiencies that are starting show, and significant reserves in place.”
Daniel Kay Hertz, policy director for the Department of Housing, said officials were very encouraged by the response to the program, which officials have said is an effort to combat the city’s affordable housing crisis.
Illinois State Council for the Society for Human Resource Management (ILSHRM) Director Laura Miller said there remains too many unanswered questions from businesses about the mandate. “It is going to be very tough for employees and employers for them to figure out, not only the physical dollars but also the time constraint of some of this too.”
“We are specifically concerned about the direct communication between the accused in the indictment, Ms. Thornley, the Illinois State Police Merit Board and the Governor’s Office during the investigation led by Executive Director Jack Garcia,” an Oct. 1 letter Republicans sent the governor, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, says.
Since Pritzker introduced his statewide school mask mandate on Aug. 4, ISBE has placed 58 Illinois schools on probationary status. At least 15 of those schools had their state recognition rescinded.
Adam Schuster, of the The Illinois Policy Institute: “(Lake County) Residents saw funding to fire departments cut by $1.3 million while funding for fire pensions increased by $13.8 million from 1999 to 2019. Only 19% of municipal property tax dollars raised for fire departments is now spent on protecting the community from fires. And this is what it’s like for counties across the state.”
According to the study, since 2002, Illinois has increased benefit spending by 174.7%. Only two states, Hawaii and Pennsylvania, had larger increases.
Skim down to the portion labeled “A learning experience at DePaul” for Zorn’s latest comments on the matter we wrote about here.
The recommended budget doesn’t make a dent in the district’s $64 million in unfunded maintenance, pension obligations or goal to acquire more land. To meet those needs, the district is pinning its hopes on the passage of a property tax referendum that will come before voters in November 2022. The proposed tax increase is “one-fourth of one-tenth of 1%,” said Preckwinkle, who repeated the amount for effect.
Andersonville was recognized for its location close to beaches, parks and for its nightlife. The only neighborhood in the world cooler than Andersonville is Norrebro on the north side of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, said Illinois is not growing like its neighbors. “You just look at what’s happened to Illinois over the last ten years, since January 2011, we have lost 19,000 manufacturing jobs.” In contrast, he said Indiana during that same period has gained 75,000 manufacturing jobs.
While courts have thrown out cases based on racial disparities in recent years, political gerrymandering is almost never the key to invalidating a redistricting plan.
This decline has hit the North and Northwest Side neighborhoods especially hard. And, the share of renters with lower incomes who face housing insecurity has grown.
He says, in part, “We put tremendous resources forward to be of support. I have always provided state police and national guard when called upon by the city. When we don’t hear of the need from the city, even though we are offering it, then we don’t provide it. You can’t just march people in.”
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