Mahomet

The bleeding continues:

The Mahomet-Seymour school district has announced proposed cuts to its 2011 budget totaling $643,211, including employee layoffs and some cuts to programs.

According to a letter released to the media and public on Friday, the cuts are a direct result of the state's revenue crisis.

The state is currently running an estimated $12 billion deficit.

"We'll have to take precautionary steps, because there are some question marks out there right now," Keith Oates, superintendent of Mahomet-Seymour schools, said.

The District's information is here.

Another school board goes on the record supporting a massive tax increase, hoping to distract voters by talking about miniscule property tax relief.

Board members voted 5-0 at a special Wednesday meeting to support the tax. Members Val Woodruff and Tom Harpst were absent.

The 1 percent tax has enough support for the Champaign County Board to put it on the November ballot.

Board member Max McComb wanted to know when the district would reveal a plan for what it would do with the tax money if it passes, especially related to property tax relief.

If this were really about property tax relief, then the districts should ask for a smaller sales tax increase which is more nearly the equivalent of the property tax reductions being promised.

But it's not about property tax relief.  It's about getting the maximum possible tax increase, much larger than necessary to provide the maximum allowable property tax relief.

From today's News-Gazette:

Board member Valerie Woodruff said she's been approached by individuals who don't know much about the tax but are automatically opposed to new taxes.

But when board members explain that it could provide some property tax relief, "they're good with it" said board member Max McComb.

But one of the forum's attendees, Lea Ehrhardt, said she's not so sure that property tax relief will happen.

"The lottery was supposed to help pay for education. It didn't work," she said. "It looks like a good deal but it doesn't seem to happen that way."

She and two other attendees, Eric Thorsland and Joe Tandy, all said they'd like to see some sort of clause in the legislation that provides for an end to the tax unless it's reapproved by voters.

People are right to be skeptical.  Even in the best-case scenarios, residents of two school districts in Chamapign County would get absolutely no property tax relief, and residents of other districts would get much less property tax relief than this new tax would generate.

From the NG:

Residents of Mahomet voted in favor of issuing $3.325 million in bonds to build a new, larger library Tuesday but turned down a second proposal that would have provided operating money for the new facility.

The bond proposal passed 1,588 to 1,461. The second question, which would have raised taxes 8 cents per $100, failed by 1,308 "yes" votes to 1,651 "no" votes.

We need a Mahomet-focused blogger on here, for stories like this:

The Mahomet Library Board made a final decision about the location of the proposed new library on Monday.

Trustees voted 5-0 that the library would be built in Hunter's Ridge subdivision on U.S. 150, if voters approve a bond issue and tax rate increase on the Feb. 5 ballot.

This is old, but here are copies of last weekend's stories from the News-Gazette about the CUPHD. 

The first article is about Director Vito Palazzolo, who is on paid leave from the District:

It was allegations of financial impropriety with public funds that led to an emergency decision to place Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Executive Director Vito Palazzolo on paid leave nearly three months ago.

Since then, Palazzolo has been collecting more than $9,000 a month in salary.

"Sadly, we're paying him for doing nothing," said health district board member C. Pius Weibel.

The three-member health district board is scheduled to meet on Aug. 6 to decide not only whether to dismiss Palazzolo but also whether to refer misconduct allegations to criminal investigators for possible prosecution.

Board members have been loathe to release to the public details about their inquiry. But interviews with present and former health district officials and documents obtained by The News-Gazette indicate Palazzolo may have:

- Used his district-issued credit card for personal expenditures, including numerous meals at restaurants both in and out of state and frequent coffee outings to Cafe Kopi and Starbucks.

- Violated health district policy by purchasing high-end items without authorization from the district's board, including a pickup truck costing between $25,000 and $30,000 and a $619 tool kit at Lowe's that is not part of the district's inventory. Board members are investigating whether Palazzolo used the truck as a personal vehicle and kept it fueled with the district's credit card.

- Violated the district's nepotism policy by living with a female health district employee at a residence in Westville. The woman involved, Tamie Nagrodski, was hired and quickly promoted during Palazzolo's short tenure there.

- Indulged personal tastes by purchasing two big-screen, high-definition televisions for the conference room and his personal office at district offices.

The second article is about the whistle-blower being fired/resigning:

Shelley Scott feared she might be jeopardizing her job as director of finance at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District when she blew the whistle on thousands of dollars in suspected financial improprieties by her boss.

She was right. Two weeks later, on May 11, Scott, a certified public accountant who had worked for the health district for roughly 18 months, was out of a job.

Versions differ between Scott and the three-member health district board about what happened. The health district contends she resigned. Scott, who lives in Mahomet and is married to a Champaign-based FBI agent, insists she was fired in retaliation for reporting misdeeds that prompted board members to place health district executive director Vito Palazzolo on paid leave while they investigated.

The health district board has scheduled an Aug. 6 meeting to discuss Palazzolo's future. The board also could request a criminal investigation of questionable spending decisions he made while heading the district from January 2006 to May 2007.

Palazzolo is collecting nearly $9,300 a month while on paid leave. Meanwhile, Scott recently was found eligible for unemployment compensation based on her claim of discharge. The health district board voted this week to appeal the state's decision to award Scott unemployment compensation.

The swirl of events has left Scott disappointed but philosophical about her decision to report the suspected misdeeds.

"I don't see that I had any alternative," she said.

But she also is concerned that the public will not receive a full accounting of what transpired during Palazzolo's tenure at the health district and is determined not to let that happen.

"Now what I think is that they still need to be held accountable," Scott said, referring to health district operations.

The health district board is made up of C. Pius Weibel, chairman of the Champaign County Board; Linda Abernathy, supervisor of the City of Champaign Township; and Carol Elliott, supervisor of Cunningham Township.

I normally wouldn't make articles available this way - I got them through the library's archive services, but for some inexplicable reason, the NG hasn't ever put these up on their website.  As a result, since they're not asking $2.95 per article, I'm sharing PDFs of them here.  I also think these two articles are an excellent example of the fantastic role that the NG and its reporters can play in reporting and publishing local news, rather than 48-hours-old AP wire stories.

Please read both articles and discuss.

UPDATE:  Link to second article now fixed.  Sorry!

Tom Kacich (whose blog finally has a "clean" URL!) has the 2006 Census Bureau population estimates for Champaign County communities:

Champaign 73,685, up from 67,518 in the 2000 census
Urbana 38,685, up from 36,395 in 2000

...

Rantoul 12,309, down from 12,867 in 2000
Philo 1,560, up from 1,314 in 2000
St. Joseph 3,780, up from 2,912 in 2000
Mahomet 5,882, up from 4,877 in 2000
Sidney 1,101, up from 1,062 in 2000
Sadorus 399, down from 426 in 2000
Royal 272, down from 279 in 2000
Pesotum 498, down from 521 in 2000
Homer 1,136, down from 1,200 in 2000
Tolono 2,784, up from 2,700 in 2000
Thomasboro 1,207, down from 1,233 in 2000

Discuss.

I wish we had a blogger who would cover Mahomet issues more.  This liquor license story is a good example:

The village of Mahomet has awarded its first liquor license since voters approved alcohol sales in an April referendum.

Brooks Marsh, the owner of Mahomet IGA, received Mahomet's first liquor license Tuesday afternoon. However, he's not sure how soon his store will sell alcohol.

How many licenses will be issued in all?  How many classes?

I attended the study session last night.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Doesn't look like Mahomet will require keg permits, at least not initially.
• A rep from a local gas station requested that the village codify a mandatory carding policy.  This would give all his employees selling beer "an out" if pressured by a customer ('sorry, its the village law, we card everyone').  I think the village will probably do this.
• There seemed to be some desire to create 2 levels of restaurant licenses, to give smaller restaurants a break in the annual fee.
• Bar closing times 2am, package sales allowed pretty early in mornings, and no special Sunday sales restrictions.

The biggest issue seemed to be the "Class A" (bar) liquor license.  There were at least a couple folks in the crowd who thought maybe "0" would be the right number of these licenses to make available.  The village trustees also expressed that they had heard from numerous citizens that their biggest concern was "Main Street turning into a row of bars".  But, on the flip side, there was implication by some trustees that there are at least a couple annexation agreements that would bring some existing bars into the village.  It seemed like some of the trustees were reluctant to do anything that might jeopardize this occurrence.

The study session will be continued on Monday night after a "Big, Small, All" presentation, and should start around 6:30pm.

For your discussion:

If voters approve a ballot question on April 17 ending prohibition in Mahomet, the village expects to have a liquor ordinance in place within a month.

The village board has asked its attorney, Jim Evans, to draw up a proposed liquor ordinance.

Village Administrator Mell Smigielski said the ordinance will be based upon others in effect in St. Joseph, Champaign, Urbana and Monticello.

"We wanted to get a feel for what the other communities do before we draw up our own ordinance," Smigielski said.

The proposed ordinance would determine what kind of liquor licenses would be offered, how many licenses would be created and what to charge for liquor license fees.

Out in Mahomet and other rural communities, Mediacom still is not providing WICD.  With all the laws and protectionisms by government to provide access to all (Champaign vs AT&T), isn't ironic that we now have a service that doesn't allow total access of 'free' programming.  Sure we could add a A/B switch and antenna, but then that it not what we paid for.  Plus now they are raising there rates in April.  Not on service, but on boxes, HD programming, and every other little fee ($4 extra).  By government 'protecting' us, we now have no competion in the marketplace for cable.  I can buy phone service between two companies, but not cable.  It is time for government to allow the free marketpalce work, so that services will be better and cheaper.

Two news items out of Mahomet caught my eye yesterday.

1. The Mahomet village board expressed its opposition to a number of the proposed county zoning changes. (It was in the News-Gazette, but not online that I see.) Good to see this zoning stuff is being noticed by someone.
2. Mahomet schools will be honoring local veterans around Veterans Day. They have sent out open invitations, and requested that visitors wear or bring uniforms or other indications of their branch of service. In light of the controversy about a soldier talking to kids in Champaign schools, I was very pleased to see this.

Yes, Virginia, Mahomet is a Republican stronghold.

The Mahomet Chamber of Commerce is gathering signatures to put it to the voters - should alcohol sales be allowed within the city limits?

Seems to me it would be awful nice for Mahomet residents to be able to pick up a case a beer at the IGA.  Also, the ability to sell wine would definately make a nice restaurant downtown move viable.  Sales tax reciepts would increase, and property tax receipts would likely follow.

On the flip side, Mahomet is a city chock full o kids -  bars in town would seem to increase the risk of drunk drivers.  The city may need to increase police patrols during prime drinking/driving hours.

Thoughts? 

Anyone from Sidney or St. Joe that thinks allowing alcohol sales in your town has been a bad thing?

The holy grail of economic development is business development. Every community is trying to attract more businesses so that the tax burden is shifted away from homeowners and onto businesses. After reading the news about Schnucks maybe going into Savoy, I did some checking to see how communities in our county are succeeding in this regard. Below are the percentages of the assessed values in our five largest towns (Mahomet, Rantoul, Savoy, Champaign, Urbana) which is commercial or industrial. Match the towns with their percentage.
UPDATE

Urbana    41.7%

Champaign    40.1%

Savoy    35.5%

Rantoul    31.5%

Mahomet     9.4%

Some might question these figures because commercial property includes apartment buildings.  Good for homeowners, but may not accurately reflect the tax burden on "people"

Not surprisingly, no one had Urbana at #1.

Overall in the county the percentage is 30.1%.