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No ve mb er 14 , 2014 • $1 .0 0
HOLDING THE LINE Seniors Malone, Knight play stabilizing role on Sycamore’s offense / B1 HIGH
LOW
28 15 Complete forecast on page A8
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Feelings on health City to seek increase of 4.32 percent, less than first indicated law still mixed
DeKalb moves ahead on levy By KATIE DAHLSTROM
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
DeKALB – DeKalb property owners could see an increase in their taxes next year, but likely not by 10 percent. During a joint meeting of the DeKalb City Council and the Finance Advisory Committee on Thursday, officials decided to push forward a 4.32 percent increase, which would cost the owner of a $150,000 home $21 more next year. The move comes three days after aldermen set the ceiling for the city’s property tax levy at $7.1 million, including the DeKalb Public Library’s
Proposed tax levy
n Total levy: $6.8 million n Percent increase: 4.32 n Increase in annual cost for average homeowner: $21
Source: City of DeKalb levy. That would have resulted in a nearly 10 percent increase, costing the same homeowner $51 more in 2015. Both projected a 4 percent drop in property values. “I think at this point in time,” Mayor John Rey said, “given [property]
values as we see them in the community, it makes sense to minimize that burden on homeowners in the community, but take a reasonable position in funding police and fire pensions.” With the 4.32 percent increase, the city will bring in around $6.8 million, including the library’s portion of the levy, Finance Director Cathy Haley said. Collecting $213,000 more in property taxes than last year will allow DeKalb to cover the increase in fire and police pensions with property taxes, but require the city to pull nearly $72,000 more from the general fund to cover Social Security costs.
The 10 percent increase would have allowed the city to fully fund its obligations for Social Security and police and fire pensions while phasing in funding for its Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) obligations through property taxes. City officials are trying to move away from pulling money from the general fund to cover some of its roughly $5 million annual pension costs. Current city practice draws more than $720,000 from the city’s general fund to cover the city’s share of IMRF obligations.
See TAX LEVY, page A5
Decked for the holidays
By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – More than 7 million people have signed up for private health insurance under the system introduced last year for those who were uninsured or had policies considered substandard. What happened to them since has varied greatly. Many have been happy with their new insurance, according to polls. Others are encountering a variety of snags – high premiums, telephone runarounds or difficulty getting care. Together their experiences provide a glimpse of how the largest social program launched since Medicare has worked out for the people involved. With lessons learned, the program enters its second year with enrollment beginning Saturday.
NICK OF TIME
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Scott Tews, public programs and collections coordinator at the Ellwood House Museum, strings holiday lights on the garland along its main spiral staircase Tuesday. Holiday tours of the Ellwood House start Saturday. To view more photos of the Ellwood House in its holiday finery, visit Daily-Chronicle.com.
Ellwood House prepares to host Christmas tours By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The holidays have already started at the Ellwood House Museum with dazzling Christmas trees, twinkling crystal centerpieces and lavish wreathes filling the historic DeKalb mansion. The mansion of barbed wire baron Isaac Ellwood is decked with holiday decorations and open for tours from Saturday to Nov. 30, culminating in a three-day open house where the public can wan-
der through four floors of sparkling holiday decorations. “We recommend people come because it’s one of the better times to see the mansion,” said Scott Tews, the public programs and collections coordinator for the Ellwood House. “It’s a chance to walk through the mansion in a more laid-back setting.” Volunteers from 10 organizations helped decorate more than a dozen rooms in the home this year. Students from a floral arrangement course at Kishwaukee Col-
lege decorated the house’s formal dining room, calling the room’s informal theme “frosted elegance.” They lined the tables and the mantle in the room, and put feathered wreathes in the hallways of the home. “We decided to keep it in silver, white and dark blue,” said Janet Gallagher, a floral design instructor at Kishwaukee College. “We wanted to keep it a little bit more elegant.”
If you go n What: Decorated mansion tours n Where: Ellwood House Museum, 509 N. First St., DeKalb n When: 1 and 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday starting Nov. 15; 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Sunday (closed Thanksgiving) n Cost: $8 for adults; $3 for children ages 6-17 n What: Holiday Open House n When: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 5; 1 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 6; and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 7 n Cost: $10 for adults; $5 for children ages 6-17
Shawn Turner didn’t realize it when the health insurance program debuted last year, but she would become a dramatic example of its purpose. A 54-year-old medical transcriptionist in the tiny Illinois village of Cisco, Turner had gotten health benefits through her job for 15 years. “The main reason I worked was to get the health insurance,” she said. Then, last year, she lost coverage when her employer outsourced her work to an Internet-based transcription service. Her husband, Lloyd, who owns an auto body shop, had been on her policy so he lost his insurance, too. In December, the Turners signed up for a “silver,” or medium grade, plan on the new government website listing policies available. They would pay $236 a month and the government would pay the insurance company $830 a month, a subsidy based on their estimated $22,000 income. Their deductible was $750. A few weeks after her coverage started, she was suddenly doubled over with abdominal pain that sent her to the emergency room. It was uterine cancer. “I was in shock, just kind of numb,” she said. From late January through July she endured two surgeries and chemotherapy. Blue Cross Blue Shield covered more than $265,000 in medical bills, a sum that otherwise “could have wiped us out, I would imagine,” she said. Today, Shawn Turner says, her doctors believe she’s cancer free. Her once-lustrous
See ELLWOOD HOUSE, page A5 See HEALTH LAW, page A5
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Car parts taken
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Memorial garden created at DeKalb’s Westminster / B12
Police: Another string of catalytic converter thefts reported in DeKalb / A3
NIU student works to aid veterans of bomb disposal units / A3
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