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Stockard put brakes on costly vote
Search By Issue In their rush to save taxpayers money, the Decatur City Council almost made a costly error Monday.
Councilwoman Betsy Stockard cast the sole "no" vote to the hurried measure to set the fiscal 2008-09 property tax levy, which could have cost taxpayers at least an additional $1 million.
Stockard said she would abstain from voting further on the issue until the city's finance department had time to sort out the financial details.
"Can't we just stop this and bring it back at another time?" Stockard asked. "This is really getting confusing."
Her caution proved to be prudent.
After an hour of debate Monday, council members agreed to collect $11 million in property taxes next fiscal year- about $300,000 less than City Manager Steve Garman recommended.
Councilman Shad Edwards proposed amending the corporate tax levy ordinance, and council members quickly voted approval. They thought it would set the city's levy at $11 million.
The council then proceeded toward approving six additional tax levy ordinances required to finance city operations.
Meanwhile, city Finance Director Ron Neufeld scrambled to refigure the ordinances as council members voted. He soon alerted them to a big problem.
"You just passed the first one and set it for $11 million," Neufeld told the council. "It's only $10 million now, so you just increased it by $1 million. I'll take that.
"This is one of the problems of trying to do this on the floor. This is a very serious issue, and I don't know if I necessarily want to put it off for two weeks, but we've got to be very careful here. You just increased the tax levy by $5 million with your motion (with several ordinances remaining to be set)."
Council members quickly agreed to reconsider the vote.
By law, the council must pass a levy before the end of the year. It is expected to vote again on the ordinances Dec. 17.
Proponents and opponents of changing the form of city government will head back to court this week.
Macon County Circuit Judge A.G. Webber IV ruled in October that two questions will be placed on the Feb. 5 primary ballot:
* Shall the city of Decatur retain the manager form of municipal government?
* Shall the city of Decatur adopt the strong mayor form of municipal government?
An appellate court judge will review the case Wednesday in Springfield.
An appeal filed by Realtor Carla Brinkoetter says the questions are "improper for a variety of reasons."
Advocates of changing the form of city government say they are confident they are on solid legal ground.
With the Feb. 5 primary election fast approaching, candidates are looking for help in their Christmas stockings in the form of endorsements they hope will translate into votes.
The Illinois AFL-CIO bestowed its blessing Tuesday on a long list of hopefuls, most of them Democrats, seeking election to federal and state offices.
"This morning, the working men and women of Illinois voted to support candidates who have long track records of standing up for workers' rights, workplace safety, education, health care for all, fair trade and corporate accountability," said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan, who also is a Decatur city councilman.
In a prepared statement, Carrigan said Illinois has a powerful Democratic congressional delegation that supports stronger labor laws and trade policy reform and a majority in the general assembly that listens to labor's needs and works closely with its leaders.
"But we can strengthen those majorities with our votes," Carrigan said. "Over the next few months, we will be reaching out to our members with information on the endorsed candidates and encouraging them to vote based on our core issues."
Among the dozens of candidates endorsed were U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, who represents much of Decatur; and state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion. None of the three has a primary opponent, and only Durbin faces a challenge in the Nov. 4 general election.
Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review.com or 421-7985. Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@hereld-review.com or 421-7973.
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