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DeKalb cruises into the regional finals with a 10-3 win vs. Elgin / B1 HIGH
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DeKalb council talks budget plan Some aldermen question city spending; another proposal to be drafted By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The root of the problem with the city budget is stagnate revenue and the problem only will escalate, 1st Ward Alderman David Jacobson said at a City Council and Financial Advisory Board meeting Wednesday. Council and financial advi-
sory board members met to discuss final budget recommendations, but costly future projects made some alderman question city spending. “As soon as we cut $10, we spend $20. Revenue isn’t increasing, yet [city staff] salaries are,” Jacobson said. City Manager Anne Marie Gaura and Finance Director Cathy Haley said that budget
cuts had been made but couldn’t point to any specific examples at the meeting Wednesday. S e v e n t h Ward Alderwoman Monica O’Leary shared Jacobson’s con- John Rey cerns about city spending and the impact it had
on residents. “We can’t afford to dump all the problems on the people. People are moving out,” she said. But budget cuts alone wouldn’t be adequate to fund the projects, Gaura pointed out. “You can’t cut your way out of infrastructure issues,” Gaura said. Fifth Ward Alderwoman
Kate Noreiko said deferring maintenance wasn’t an option. “I recognize we’re going to have to make an unpopular decision,” she said. “But we have to decide what is in the best interest of the city,” O’Leary argued that using tax-increment financing money to repair the roads within the TIF districts would make the most sense, and 6th Ward
Alderman Dave Baker said he agreed. But those funds are meant for transformational use, not maintenance, Mayor John Rey said. Nothing was finalized after the three-hour discussion Wednesday. Another set of budget recommendations will be drafted for a hearing in June.
New federal water rules criticized, welcomed
BOOSTING AREA ECONOMY
By MARY CLARE JALONICK The Associated Press
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Triumph Truss & Steel Company employee Salvador Mejia cuts pieces for floor trusses May 14 in the company’s Kirkland-based business. Triumph is a floor and roof truss supplier that started in March 2013 in Kirkland.
Firm recruiting Location, incentives help bring businesses to DeKalb County By DARIA SOKOLOVA news@daily-chronicle.com KIRKLAND – DeKalb County’s job market is still struggling to recover losses suffered during the Great Recession, and local officials continue working to attract more businesses to the area. From 2008 to 2011, the recession contributed to a 5.2 percent decline in average annual employment, from 56,492 in 2008 to 53,532 in 2011. The number rebounded to 55,249 in 2014, according to data provided by the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. From 2010 to 2014, 25 companies relocated or expanded in the county, said Paul Borek, executive director of the DCEDC. Among them were Smart Motion Robotics Inc., Triumph Truss & Steel Co., 3M and the Suter Co. Inc. More recently, tool maker Ideal Industries started building a 220,000-square-foot facility designed to replace some of the company’s aging facilities in DeKalb and Sycamore. It also will bring efficiency and provide
opportunities for some of the company’s new products, such as ratcheting wrenches and lighting control systems. The DCEDC, along with the city of DeKalb and DeKalb County, are working to bring an unnamed Fortune 100 logistics company to the area by offering up to $4 million in tax abatement incentives. The company is considering either a site in Park 88 in DeKalb or a location in the Southeastern United States for expansion. It would build a 987,000-squarefoot facility that would bring about 300 jobs to the area. If the company chooses DeKalb, it would be the largest building since the 1.5 million square-foot Target distribution center was built in 2006, and the first new building since 3M in 2011. “Companies have been cautious in approaching growth,” Borek said. “They [have been] focused on technology, new equipment and acquisitions as well as increasing sales. … And they have taken those steps before committing to physical expansion when they absolutely needed a new building, establish-
ing a new location and increasing employment.” But as the economy is picking up, some of the new businesses are more optimistic. One of them is Triumph Truss & Steel Company in Kirkland, a manufacturer of engineered floor and roof trusses as well as structural steel and ornamental iron. The business has been around for two years, but its executives said revenue has grown steadily thanks to increased demand. Rudy Gerritsen, production manager at Triumph, said the Kirkland location gives the company a competitive edge. Tax increment financing incentives also helped. “First and foremost, it was great location,” he said. “It’s a nice central hub to go east or west or north or south. ... TIF money was good, and the facility was set up to pretty much turn a key and go. So that was major factor to it.” Triumph Vice President David Watts said the company caters to carpentry contractors
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WASHINGTON – New federal rules designed to better protect small streams, tributaries and wetlands – and the drinking water of 117 million Americans – are being criticized by Republicans and farm groups as going too far. The White House said the rules, issued Wednesday, will provide much-needed clarity for landowners about which waterways must be protected against pollution and development. But House Speaker John Boehner declared they will send “landowners, small businesses, farmers, and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell.” The rules, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, aim to clarify which smaller waterways fall under federal protection after two Supreme Court rulings left the reach of the Clean Water Act uncertain. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the waters affected would be only those with a “direct and significant” connection to larger bodies of water downstream that are already protected. The Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 left 60 percent of the nation’s streams and millions of acres of wetlands without clear federal protection, according to EPA, causing confusion for landowners and government officials. The new rules would kick in and force a permitting process only if a business or landowner took steps to pollute or destroy covered waters. EPA said the rules will help landowners understand exactly which waters fall under the Clean Water Act. For example, a tributary must show evidence of flowing water to be protected – such as a bank or a high water mark. President Barack Obama said that while providing that clarity for business and industry, the rules “will ensure polluters who knowingly threaten our waters can be held accountable.” There is deep opposition from the Republican-led Congress and from farmers and other landowners concerned that every stream, ditch and puddle on their private land could now be subject to federal oversight. The House voted to block the regulations earlier this month, and a Senate panel is planning to consider a similar bill this summer. House Speaker Boehner called the rules “a raw and tyrannical power grab.” Environmentalists praised the rules, saying many of the nation’s waters would regain federal protections that had been in doubt since the Supreme Court rulings.
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