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Hill pleads out to DUI charge in Oct. arrest County Board member gets fine and court supervision By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
McHenry County officials face a decision on whether to continue housing federal inmates when a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals expires in October.
McHenry County jail partnership with immigration, U.S. Marshals may reach breaking point By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
Note to readers: This is the third in a three-part series examining McHenry County’s longtime jail bed rental program with two federal government agencies. Some county officials question whether the program should expire toward the end of 2015. WOODSTOCK – The McHenry County Board and Sheriff Bill Prim have some decisions to make about the future of the county’s contract to house federal detainees locally, but so much remains in flux as the agreement’s expiration date looms. Before he left office, former sheriff Keith Nygren, who inked the deal with the U.S. Marshals Service in 2003 and remained steadfast in his support for the bed-rental program, warned county offi-
cials on his way out: It’s been good for a bit, he said, but it won’t be good forever. “This is a good program, but someday it won’t be a good program – you’ll reach that break even point,” Nygren told County Board members in July at a County Board meeting. Some county officials said we’ve reached that point. Others said it’s much worse than that, and the county is losing money at an alarming rate. Either way, county officials agree it’s time to re-evaluate the agreement moving forward. If the county is losing money at the rate some claim, then it’s time to act, officials said. Employee, health care and food costs are a few of the expenses that continue to increase, while the volume of beds filled each night dwindles and the reimbursement rate has plateaued. “We need to make sure that moving forward we can at least cover our costs,
and, if not, we need to look at how we’re going to get out of this,” County Administrator Peter Austin said. “... We’re starting to realize that we’re approaching that period where the numbers aren’t coming back to where they were when we had 300 [detainees] a night.” The budget for fiscal 2015 budget – which began Dec. 1 – includes $1.2 million less for the sheriff’s office, with the possibility of job cuts on the horizon. Prim has said there could be as many as 40 corrections jobs lost with the contract. Others said expected attrition would reduce that number. Immigration and Customs Enforcement piggybacked on the U.S. Marshals agreement. Detainees awaiting immigration proceedings make up the majority of those housed through the program. Further complicating matters, there is a
See PARTNERSHIP, page A6
WOODSTOCK – McHenry County Board member Tina Hill pleaded out to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence stemming from an October arrest. Hill, a Republican from Woodstock, must pay $2,600 in fines and complete a year of court supervision under the judgment reached Wednesday. Woodstock police arrested Hill in the early morning of Oct. 10 in the 1000 block of North Seminary Avenue for DUI, improper lane use and not having a driver’s license on her person. The former County Board chairwoman entered a monthlong rehab program later that day and took a leave of absence. Her blood alcohol content was 0.153, or almost twice the legal limit, according to the Illinois State Police lab. Hill had a medical episode at the police station that prevented her from taking a breath test. Hill, who had been elected to the chairmanship by her fellow County Board members in 2012, decided against seeking another two-year term, and board members after the Nov. 4 election elected fellow Republican Joe Gottemoller to fill the chairman’s seat. Board members gave Hill the chairmanship of the Management Services Committee, which oversees the overall management of board rules and procedures, and county government’s facilities. Her current County Board term expires in 2016. She was first elected in 2002.
Tina Hill, McHenry County Board member and former County Board chairwoman, was arrested Oct. 10 in Woodstock for DUI, improper lane use and not having a driver’s license on her person. Hill pleaded out and must pay $2,600 in fines and complete a year of court supervision.
Tax drop to put more money in Illinois paychecks By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Illinois taxpayers will have a little more spending money next year. With a temporary income-tax increase expiring Wednesday, a typical family of four with an income of $50,000 will pay $930 less in 2015, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. That is, if the reduction sticks. The drop in the tax rate means a steep decline in revenue for the state. The state faces a $2 billion deficit through the end of the fiscal year in June. The individual rate drops from 5 percent to 3.75 percent, while the corporate income tax rate declines from 7 percent to 5.25 percent. Incoming Republican Gov.
Bruce Rauner has a stiff challenge if he’s to allow the surcharge to be reduced, as he favors. The architect of the increase – now vanquished Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn – campaigned on making the hike permanent, and the Democratic-controlled Legislature planned on it when it passed this year’s budget. Rauner might need to take a multiyear approach to achieve what he wants with the budget, suggested a House Republican. It’s something Rauner himself hints at with his plan to slice the tax rate to its pre2011 level of 3 percent in four years. He would support tax changes to encourage business growth and perhaps a broadened sales tax. And the state could face an ever bigger deficit than previously anticipated. Rauner was steamed this
month when he learned state agencies are seeking an additional $760 million in supplemental funding for the remainder of the year. He contends the Quinn administration lowballed anticipated spending. “This type of fundamentally dishonest budgeting is the true cause of Illinois’ massive budget hole,” Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said Monday. Majority Democrats in the Legislature have told Rauner the state can’t meet its obligations if the tax surcharge expires, “I do not think we can,” said Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie of Chicago, the Democrats’ AP file photo No. 2 in the House. “Whether that’s the only source of rev- Republican Illinois Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner speaks with reporters Dec. 2 at the Illinois State Capitol in enue, that’s another question Springfield. Illinois taxpayers will have a little extra cash next year with the temporary income tax surcharge drops from 5 percent to 3.75 percent Thursday. Rauner supported the rollback while vanquished entirely.”
See TAX DROP, page A2
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn wanted it made permanent. Now Rauner said he’s finding state finances are worse than he had anticipated. That could mean lawmakers will eventually increase the tax rate again.
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