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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Monday, June 9, 2014
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Board confronts budget issues Declining property taxes, RTA sales tax lawsuit among problems for county By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Declining property values continue to be a problem in DeKalb County as board members look for new ways to bring in revenue for next year’s budget. Members of the County Board are in the beginning stages of discussing the budget for fiscal 2015, which begins in January. The board’s finance committee met Wednesday to talk about the guidelines they
will use to make budget proposals. They are expected to vote on the 2015 budget in November. Finance committee chair Stephen Reid, a DeKalb Democrat from District 5, has a few concerns on his mind, including the county’s reliance on local property taxes for its general fund. Reid said about two-thirds of the general fund comes from property taxes. It’s not a new issue, but it’s one that hasn’t changed for a few years, Reid
said. This year’s budget projected an assessed value decline of about 8 percent, from about $1.9 billion to $1.7 billion. New construction is expected to account for 0.8 percent of the county’s assessed value at just over $11 million. Declining property values do not necessarily mean governments collect less money – only that their property tax rates increase. However, without meaningful new construction of homes or businesses,
the tax base does not expand. The value of an average home in the county decreased from $200,000 in 2010 to $160,000 in 2013, according to this year’s budget. “We’ve been in a depression for years,” Reid said. “The revenues are flat. There’s no good tax base here because we have a lot of tax exempt institutions.” Officials are counting on new revenue they’ll be getting from tipping fees at the DeKalb County Landfill south
of Cortland to boost their general fund balance. The board voted on May 21 to allow Waste Management to bring in an additional 500 tons of trash a day starting Aug. 1 to generate about $70,000 a month for funding the DeKalb County Jail expansion. The original host agreement with Waste Management stated trash would be accepted starting Jan. 1, but county officials wanted to bring in the money to save for the jail expansion sooner.
County Board members want to spend $23 million on the DeKalb County Jail expansion, even though estimates stated the project could cost as much as $38 million. Paul Stoddard, a DeKalb Democrat from District 9, said the county will draw revenue estimates of the tipping fees by assuming Waste Management will bring in the minimum 375,000 tons a year. Waste Management officials
See BUDGET, page A6
Ill. has 22 STILL WRITING THEIR STORIES fugitive escaped inmates By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Zakar Elbay apparently found religion. The 44-year-old state prison inmate was living at a transition center finishing a six-year sentence for possession of a stolen vehicle when he got a Christmas Day 2013 pass to work at a religious facility. He never returned. Now he’s among nearly two dozen Illinois inmates The Associated Press discovered as “escaped” after compiling and analyzing state data. There’s also Anthony Hebron, who was serving four years for drug possession when he skipped out of a transition center just a week before Elbay’s disappearance, after getting a pass for dinner and a movie. Donald Scroggins, who’d be 86, slipped away from a low-level Menard prison intake facility in southern Illinois on July 31, 1974, where he had been placed after he violated parole on 1960 burglary and weapons charges. And the granddaddy of Illinois fugitives is Harlan Graham, who hasn’t been heard from since April 18, 1955 and would be 111 years old. The AP review was spurred by the escape last summer of Jared Carter from a prison work crew outside the walls of Robinson Correctional Center, which raised questions about how many escape and how quickly those who do are caught. Carter was found four days later and was sentenced in March to 11 more years behind bars. Officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections, shown the AP’s list, said they never stop looking for the renegades – although some have been on the lam for decades. “It could be today, tomorrow, or when you’re 70 years old,” said Mike Harrington, a Corrections apprehension specialist. “It’s not going to go away.” It’s difficult to gauge Illinois’ success. National statistics on fugitives are not readily available. But in the Prairie State, 11
See INMATES, page A6
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
DeKalb senior Jonathon Bell laughs with friends while they are getting ready for DeKalb’s commencement ceremony Saturday at the NIU Convocation Center. Bell received a heart transplant when he was 12 and has become a subject of a documentary for the Gift of Hope organization. For more graduation photos, visit Daily-Chronicle.com.
DeKalb students finish their high school chapter with graduation ceremony at NIU By JESSI HAISH editorial@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – Jonathon Bell’s walk across the graduation stage Saturday may inspire potential organ donors. Bell, who graduated with 350 classmates of DeKalb High School on Saturday at Northern Illinois University’s Convocation Center, received a heart transplant at age 12 after finding out he had cardiomyopathy, a “virus that just attacked my heart,” he said.
Bits and pieces of his story since then will be used in a promotional video about organ donation for Gift of Hope. Bell said the organization, which provides education about and coordinates organ and tissue donation, will show the video in driver’s education classrooms. He has had a crew from Gift of Hope visit the school, and they also plan to interview him in his home. The video will include highlights of Saturday’s graduation. “My family thinks I’m a pos-
itive influence because of this,” Bell said. “They are proud of me. I leaned toward sports when other people wouldn’t have, and they think I’m strong for doing that.” Bell participated in football and track during his time at DeKalb. He has also played football since a young age. “I definitely think sports played a huge part in my recovery,” Bell said. “I turned 13 in the hospital. When I was in the hospital all I wanted to do was play football with my friends.”
He said he hopes people who see the video realize it’s important to be an organ donor. Now that he’s a high school graduate, he’s ready to see what’s next for him. At the graduation ceremony, students and administrators spoke about how each student’s life is a story, and high school is just one chapter. Student speaker Evan Guest said in “the book of you, in the chapter titled High School,” the
See GRADUATION, page A4
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