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July 27, 2015 • $ 1. 0 0
GETTING IN GEAR
DAILY CHRONICLE
TetraBrazil hosts soccer camp for Genoa-Kingston teams / B1 HIGH
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Cities seek boundary agreement DeKalb, Sycamore discuss amendments to discourage possible poaching By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Officials with the city of DeKalb are in talks with their counterparts in Sycamore about an intergovernmental boundary line agreement that allows the two municipalities to share revenue on select properties. The cities split all utility,
property, municipal retailer’s occupation and local sales and use taxes 50-50 on an annual basis. There are 10 revenue sharing areas with 37 individual parcels subject to the agreement. Seven of those individual parcels are vacant, and the rest house businesses, including Ben Gordon Center, KishHealth System, Voluntary
Action Center and 3M’s soonments show. to-be exited buildings at 12101 “The buildBarber Greene Road, 12107 ings will still be Barber Greene Road, and 2600 there, so properWirsing Parkway. ty taxes will still Property taxes are the only be owed,” Haley revenue the 3M buildings gensaid. “I don’t erate, DeKalb Finance Director Anne Marie know that [the Cathy Haley said. In 2014, the Gaura exit] will have total amount billed for properan impact.” ty taxes for the buildings was The intergovernmental $420,245, DeKalb County docu- agreenment has historically
been more advantageous for Sycamore, DeKalb City Manager Anne Marie Gaura said. “Dollar wise, Sycamore gets in excess of approximately $28,000 per year,” she said. The 20-year agreement began Aug. 31, 1995. It expires next month. The agreement is set up so that if either city wants to extend the agreement, they can do so by giving 30
days written notice of the expiration term – either 30 days before or after, Gaura said. Either city has the option at this point to alter the agreement before extending it for another 20 years, which is what 6th Ward Alderman Dave Baker said he wants to explore.
See BOUNDARY, page A4
Lawmaker pay, a firestorm for years, lit again
CLASSIC CARS COME TO SYCAMORE
By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Meygha Bhat and Hector Machado look at a 1957 Chevy 210 on Saturday at the Turning Back Time Weekend in downtown Sycamore.
HIGHLIGHTING HOT RODS Downtown Sycamore hosts annual car show By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Steven Smith has had his 1969 Camaro for about 10 years, and almost every one of those years he’s cruised it into downtown for the annual Fizz Ehrler Memorial Turning Back Time Car Show. He said people often ask if his sleek, light-blue ride is a COPO Camaro, but it’s not, it’s a tribute. At least Smith finally got his Camaro. “I always wanted a 228, but I could never afford it,” he said, “so I ended up with a basic.” A little bit of rain didn’t deter hundreds of car owners and car enthusiasts from filling the street on Sunday, the main event of the 32nd Annual Fizz Ehrler Memorial Turning Back Time Car Show. The showcase closed State Street all weekend to make room for food, music, a parade and lots and lots of cars of different styles, colors and time periods. “The only time we don’t come is because of the weather,” Smith said. “But it’s raining and we’re still here.”
See CARS, page A4
Cars of all kinds line the parking lots Saturday for the Turning Back Time Weekend in downtown Sycamore.
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Walking a mile
Status report
E-campaigning
Comfortable shoes, insoles donated to Fairdale victims / A2
State of the city address to be given today during meeting in DeKalb / A3
Presidential candidate to hold webcast this week in DeKalb / A3
Advice ................................ B4 Classified....................... B6-8 Comics ............................... B5 Local News.................... A2-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World.............. A2, 4
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois government by the numbers: 27 days into a new fiscal year, the state has no budget, a deficit of up to $4 billion and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner insisting that Democrats in the Legislature embrace his five pro-business and anti-corruption initiatives. And in the face of those recalcitrant lawmakers, Rauner has brought some new figures into the equation: A 2 percent automatic costof-living increase, set to take effect this month to boost the $68,000 base legislative salary by nearly $1,400. “They’ve taken a pay hike for themselves without any budget and without any real reforms,” Rauner said last week. It’s also the first pay hike in seven years for salaries that have not kept pace with inflation. The time lapse, the way this year’s pay hike played out and the defense Democrats have assumed this year after having Michael rejected a pay bump in 2014 Madigan all represent a new chapter in what’s been a sordid compensation history for the General Assembly’s 177 members – a number that used to be higher until taxpayers voted to reduce it because of a pay hike. The plot twists have Democrats cornered. House Speaker Michael Madigan won’t answer Gov. Bruce questions about it. After years Rauner of well-intended, politically popular votes to reject raises, Chicago Senate President John Cullerton now says it would violate the Illinois Constitution not to take the pay. The charter prohibits “changes in salary” during a legislator’s term. The Democratic-controlled Legislature has been locked in a weeks-long battle with Rauner over a state budget that was supposed to be in place by July 1. The Democrats proposed a spending plan they said that protected “vital” services but was short on cash by up to $4 billion. Rauner vetoed it and won’t settle the fiscal matter until Democrats embrace his agenda, which includes tighter restrictions on injured-worker compensation, property tax curbs and political term limits. Pay for state representatives and senators has been Kryptonite for decades, as witnessed by a 1978 raise provoking such vitriol that voters sliced the size of the House of Representatives by one-third; an oft-ridiculed and eventually dropped third-party review process, and court cases in the last 15 years that prompted lawmakers to make annual inflation bumps automatic. “There’s no good way to deal with legislative compensation,” said Kent Redfield, a longtime statehouse observer as a legislative staffer and political scientist. Former Gov. Pat Quinn, at the time a political activist who decades later would play another key role in the legislative-pay saga, led a protest over the 40 percent pay hike
See SALARY, page A4
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................... B4 Sports..............................B1-3 State ...............................A4-5 Weather ........................... A10