WEDNESDAY
No ve m be r 19, 2 014 • $1 . 0 0
NIU HOLDS ON Huskies earn 21-14 win at Ohio / B1 HIGH
LOW
25 11 Complete forecast on page A6
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
Deficit budget awaits vote County Board to decide measure today By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – During the past several weeks, county officials have shaved $60,000 off the proposed spending plan so they only use $740,000 in savings. The proposed budget for fiscal 2015, which starts Jan. 1, will not become official until DeKalb County Board members approve it, but county leaders have been developing the $77.1 million budget for months. County Board members are expected to vote on the budget today. When the budget was first proposed earlier this year, the draft called covering a budget shortfall with $800,000 from the county’s $9.2 million reserve fund. The Finance Committee met in early October with a challenge to reduce that number, and they came to their final proposed number of $740,000 Nov. 5, Stephen Reid DeKalb County Administrator Gary Hanson said. They reduced expenses in part by switching county employees’ Paul h e a l t h i n s u r - Stoddard ance to a self-insured plan, in which employees pool their resources to cover insurance claims rather than paying a monthly premium, said county Finance Director Peter Stefan. “Now we’ll pay them a much smaller amount to process paperwork of claims,” Stefan said. “If the county has a good year, we’ll enjoy the benefits rather than the insurance company.” In calculating the county’s property tax levy and expected property taxes, officials estimated that the assessed value of property throughout the county would decline by almost 3 percent to about $1.68 billion, records show. The proposed budget does not include filling all the positions judicial staff requested. The courthouse is adding a seventh courtroom to hear serious felony cases, domestic
What it means County Board members have reduced a projected budget shortfall by $60,000, partially with a plan to shift to a new health insurance plan. The county will spend about $740,000 from its $9.2 million reserve fund to cover a revenue shortfall.
If you go
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmdia.com
Lincoln Inn waitress Eileen Fanella carries a full tray during the breakfast rush Tuesday in the downtown DeKalb restaurant. Bill McMahon and his wife, Joy McMahon, purchased the 40-year-old restaurant in 1994. The McMahons were able to fund the purchase in part with special tax increment financing loans from the city.
What: DeKalb County Board meeting When: 7:30 p.m. today Where: Legislative Center’s Gathertorium, 200 N. Main St., Sycamore
Economic bootstrap
violence, driving under the influence and other cases, but there is not enough revenue to hire another assistant public defender for $93,000, a prosecutor for $93,000 and an investigator for $95,000, as was requested, according to county documents. Instead, Stefan said the courthouse will add only one clerk when officials requested two clerks and a bailiff. The Court Services Department’s requests for an adult probation officer and a supervisor were also denied, as well as a request from the sheriff to add five correctional officers, county documents show. DeKalb Democrat Stephen Reid, the Finance Committee chairman, said the biggest issue was trying to decide what staff to hire and who to deny. He added the county is constrained by decisions made at the state level, such as including unfunded mandates. “We want more personnel,” Reid said. “We don’t have the money to hire these people, so we have to compromise on that.” DeKalb Democrat Paul Stoddard pointed out that the county is decreasing the amount of money it pulls from its reserves year after year. Hanson said the board pulled $927,000 from reserves for fiscal 2014’s budget, which ends Dec. 31. “As the trend continues, we should be all right in the future,” Stoddard said. “If things take another downturn, then we’ll have issues.”
DeKalb County Board to vote on establishing an enterprise zone By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Without financial incentives from the city of DeKalb, Lincoln Inn and Faranda’s would have been mere dreams for Bill and Joy McMahon. That’s why Bill McMahon supports the countywide bid for an enterprise zone, a special economic development tool designed to attract and expand local businesses by offering tax breaks and other perks. In the past 20 years or so, the company grew from 14 employees to more than 50, McMahon said. “On the surface, I’m in favor of those things, because that’s what made things possible for us,” Bill McMahon said. “And if that’s what it takes to compete, we have to do it.” County officials are vying for state approval to create an enterprise zone through an effort the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. is spearheading. Enterprise zones allow municipalities to offer state and local incentives for companies to locate or expand on up to 15 square miles of designated land. “We feel we have a really good chance because we can demonstrate we’ve lost projects to other places with enterprise zones,” DCEDC Executive Director Paul Borek said. “And DeKalb County is the only municipality in the state with a state university without an enterprise zone, yet.” There are 97 enterprise zones across Illinois, all of which will expire in the next five years. Next year, 49 new zones will be created. Craig Coil, the principal and chief operating officer for the Development Consortium, Inc. and the county’s consultant on the application, expects the county will have to compete with close to 70
Freshly made cinnamon rolls line the bakery shelves Tuesday at the Lincoln Inn restaurant on Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb.
Voice your opinion Which do you think is the most important to bringing more jobs to DeKalb County? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com. other applicants. “I think the general sense is [the county] will be a competitive application,” Coil said. “I don’t have any doubt about that. ... One of the things is you have to show a unified desire and effort to demonstrate you want the zone. I think people generally understand the enterprise zone.” Members of the DeKalb County Board will vote on an ordinance and intergovernmental agreement today that establishes the enterprise zone pending state approval. Meanwhile, governing bodies across the county
must do the same by mid-December. The effect an enterprise zone could have on DeKalb County is evidenced in nearly any of the existing zones throughout the state, Coil said. An enterprise zone in nearby Lee and Ogle counties has spurred nearly $1.5 billion in development and created or retained 5,000 jobs since it was established in 1985, said John Thompson, president and CEO of the Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce. Thompson pointed to developments such as rail car manufacturer Nippon Sharyo in Rochelle, which employs about 400 people and recently broke ground on a $100 million facility that will employ 90 more. Thompson said officials there plan to reapply ahead of their zone’s 2017 expiration.
See ENTERPRISE, page A4
DeKalb’s Egyptian Theatre robbed over the weekend By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The Egyptian Theatre was robbed over the weekend, but the damage won’t stop officials from hosting upcoming activities. Alex Nerad, the executive director for the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St., DeKalb, discovered an undis-
To help investigators To report a tip regarding the Egyptian Theatre robbery to the DeKalb Police Department, call 815-748-8400.
closed amount of cash was taken at DeKalb’s historic theater.
“Any time something like this happens, its unfortunate for the community,” Nerad said. “As a nonprofit, any losses are significant for us.” The theft was reported about noon Monday. Police believe the break-in happened between Saturday night and Monday morning, DeKalb police Sgt. Craig Woodruff said. Woodruff declined to detail what was damaged,
citing the ongoing investigation. “We do have some leads that we are currently following, and some evidence has been recovered that we’re also following up on,” Woodruff said. Egyptian Theatre officials will review additional procedures to prevent something similar from happening, Nerad said. As scheduled, the theater will host the “Rocky Horror
FOOD
LOCAL
LOCAL
WHERE IT’S AT
Mash up
With honor
Concert ahead
New ideas for this traditional Thanksgiving dish / B10
Sycamore police are first police agency in county to earn accreditation / A3
Brad Paisley coming to NIU Convocation Center on Feb. 5 / A4
Advice ................................ B5 Classified........................B7-9 Comics ............................... B6 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...................A2
Picture Show” at 8 p.m. Friday and a bodybuilding competition Saturday. Residents are asked to call DeKalb police at 815-748-8400 if they have any information about the incident. They also can call DeKalb County Crime Stoppers at 815-895-3272 or email crimestoppers@dekalbcounty.org. Crime Stoppers pays a cash reward of up to $1,000 for anonymous tips.
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A5 Puzzles ............................... B5 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...................................A2 Weather .............................A6