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July 9, 2015 • $ 1.00
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DAILY CHRONICLE Rock bands to perform at a benefit show in DeKalb / C1
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NIU still out travel expenses
Penny for your parking
Other audit issues resolved, says finance vice president By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Sycamore police parking enforcement officer Giovanni Serra issues a ticket Wednesday to a car with an expired meter on his daily routine of checking the city’s penny parking meters. On Tuesday, the city of Joliet agreed to sell its surplus coin-operated parking meters to the city of Sycamore for $300, so Sycamore can replace or fix out-of-service meters.
The city of Joliet sells Sycamore surplus meter pieces By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – The city’s penny parking meters have found some extra time. The Joliet City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved selling 584 coin-operated parking meters to Sycamore, one of the few communities in the country to still use penny meters. Joliet transitioned to battery-operated digital meters about five years ago. The Joliet City Council approved a motion in a resolution declaring the meters, plus other city property such as vehicles and fire department equipment and televisions, as surplus. Sycamore now has enough parts to keep its penny parking meter system working for at least the next few years, said Giovanni Serra, Sycamore’s parking enforcement officer. “We want to be nostalgic in our area,” he said. “We don’t want to be high-tech.” Donated meters that don’t work will be salvaged for spare parts, such as timers, which have been especially difficult for Serra to locate because the meter com-
Serra checks the city’s penny parking meters Wednesday during his daily routine. pany, Duncan Solutions, no longer makes them. “We’ll use the ones that work well,” Serra said. “The ones that don’t work, well, I’ll strip them down. From what I’ve seen, about 50 of them need to be stripped.” Sixteen parking meters are
currently in shop at the Sycamore Police Department because the timers move too fast, short-changing motorists, Serra said. Sycamore has 316 serviceable spots for the parking meters, Serra said. The meters accept pen-
nies, nickels and dimes – a penny buys 12 minutes, a nickel an hour, and a dime, two hours. If the time runs out, vehicle owners can receive a $1 parking ticket.
See PARKING, page A4
DeKALB – Ron Walters, a consultant Northern Illinois University hired last year, isn’t in a rush to pay the college back the almost $32,000 he owes in wrongly comped travel expenses. Alan Phillips, NIU’s vice president of administration and finance, said the university was in contact with Walters, but so far had been unsuccessful in resolving the issue. “From his perspective, I believe he feels this isn’t appropriate,” Phillips said. “We’re in the process of addressing that with him in terms of the guidelines provided.” An audit of the university in March, completed by Illinois Auditor General William G. Holland, found that NIU had improperly reimbursed Walters and also didn’t comply with a variety of guidelines for internal control and processes related to procurement and contracts. Walters had received $31,945 of travel compensation that shouldn’t have been provided because the cost was from traveling between the university and his home in Washington. “Travel expenses between an employee’s official headquarters and home are not reimbursable,” Ron Walters the audit reads. Walters, an architect and former head of consulting for Deloitte, worked on the university’s Bold Futures project in 2014. Phillips said if the college couldn’t progress with Walters himself within the next couple of weeks, it would seek additional action. He said it was looking into what that action would entail. The university formed a task force to deal with the other issues outlined in the audit. Phillips said those issues had been resolved appropriately. “When the issues came to light, we convened with the key individuals here at the university who would have been involved, like the internal auditor and our legal folks,” Phillips said. “We sat down and identified the issues that needed to be addressed and resolutions for those issues.” For example, Phillips said, they provided W-2 forms for individuals who had been inappropriately compensated for lodging – in amounts of $16 and $201 above allowable reimbursement – so those individuals could pay tax on the value of the benefits received. The biggest issue remains the travel expenses. Walters couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, after calls to his last known workplace. Phillips said the university is continuing to explore options. “Despite what he may think, he shouldn’t have been reimbursed,” Phillips said. “Per the travel guidelines.”
Rauner tells lawmakers he’ll trade taxes for ‘turnaround’ By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday he is willing to raise taxes if the General Assembly agrees to his alterations of the Illinois legal and political landscape, but he nixed the idea of a stop-gap funding plan before Democratic lawmakers even teed it up. The Republican made his most explicit promise on trading his agenda for a tax hike while speaking to reporters outside his state Capitol office. He announced what he
called compromises on his plans to make the Prairie State friendlier to business and wring the corruption out of politics. Democrats were unimpressed. Neither they nor Rauner was on a path that seemed likely to converge soon. The 2016 fiscal year is more than a week old and there’s still no authority for state government to pay bills. For months, Democrats have been behind a $36 billion spending plan they say covers “vital services” but which would outspend anticipated revenue
by as much as $4 billion. They want more revenue, but Rauner says he won’t talk taxes until he gets approval for such changes as limiting liability lawsuit payouts and restricting compensation for injured workers to promote business investment and job creation. Rauner had a retort when reminded Wednesday that his opponents say those initiatives cut into Democrats’ “core beliefs.” “I don’t like taxes, period. I don’t want to ever raise taxes. I’m willing to do it as part of reform,” the conservative
businessman said. “I’m willing to do something that goes against my core beliefs. I can ask the folks on the other side of the aisle to vote for some things they’d rather not vote for.” Later, the House Executive Committee readied for a Thursday floor vote a $2.3 billion short-term budget, allowing the state to get through July while talks continue. Rauner dismissed it as “a mistake” that just creates the Democrats’ “$4 billion deficit one month at a time.”
See BUDGET, page A4
Rich Saal for the State Journal-Register
Gov. Bruce Rauner comments on the budget stalemate Wednesday outside his Capitol office in Springfield. Rauner said he’ll set aside his distaste for tax increases and approve one if the Legislature approves his business-friendly reforms.
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Coaching kids
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Area camp brings NIU players together with youth / B1
Vehicle finds itself on its roof as it crashes near DeKalb store / A3
Technological glitch gives stock market, big business a scare / A2
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