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With confidence and some good fortune, Bears could have strong opening game, season / C1
September 7, 2014 • $1.50
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Ire over project’s pace
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Changes coming soon for Huntley Pieces in place for downtown update By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Roadwork continues Wednesday near the intersection of Routes 31 and 176 in Crystal Lake. Work was set to finish by the end of last spring on the $10.2 million improvement to the intersections of Routes 31 and 176 in Crystal Lake.
IDOT projects October finish for mess at Routes 31, 176 More inside
By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – After two years of work, a four-lane bypass around Algonquin and a roundabout on improved Johnsburg Road are done. After almost a year and a half, the intersection of Routes 31 and 176 is not. The Illinois Department of Transportation now predicts the project will be finished by the end of October. But frustrated business owners, residents and commuters call that projection extremely optimistic. “Based on their progress to date, I just don’t see any way they’ll be done before the heavy [winter] weather,” said Tom Stall, a McHenry resident who com-
For more updates on local construction and detours, see page A4. mutes to his job in Crystal Lake. The $10.2 million project is rebuilding the former five-way intersection, accommodating two lanes in each direction, dual left-turn lanes, dedicated right-turn lanes and new traffic signals. The work zone stretches for more than a mile on Route 31 and more than half a mile on Route 176. Crosstown Auto owner Tom Snodden said the never-ending construction is hurting his business and others. His Route 31 shop is just south of the intersection.
See IDOT, page A8
HUNTLEY – In the works for nearly five years, the many pieces in the planned overhaul of downtown Huntley have reached a point where residents should soon start seeing many physical changes. During the last month, village officials acquired a 20,500-square-foot lot next to Parkside Pub for $90,000 that completes the expanded public parking included in their makeover. The added parking also will help accommodate the proposed Amtrak station, village officials said. Construction on the multi-tenant commercial space at the former Sawyer-Kelley Mill site along Main Street should start within the month after the project developer recently secured commitments from a local confectionery shop and eye doctor. Meant as a gateway to Huntley’s downtown square, the northwest corner of Route 47 and Main Street should see new walkways, park benches, trees and shrubbery by the winter. The exterior of the historic Hackett House near that corner should also be refurbished after village trustees recently endorsed $80,000 in upgrades to the roof, siding, gutters and windows. The village purchased the property last year specifically for its planned overhaul. “There’s been a real focus on the downtown,” said Village Manager Dave Johnson. “There is a lot of development going on throughout the community, and the downtown is a part of that.” In 2010, officials created a strategic plan that outlined the multi-million dollar makeover to the village’s historic downtown, but little construction activity has happened to date.
See HUNTLEY, page A8
Construction seen near the intersection of Routes 31 and 176 in Crystal Lake.
Moody’s Investors Service: State pension debt vs. revenue is worst By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ pension liability as a percentage of state revenue is far and away the nation’s highest, a major credit-rating agency says in a new report. Moody’s Investors Service reported that the state’s threeyear average liability over revenue is 258 percent. The next closest is Connecticut at about 200 percent. The report averaged the
Illinois percentage from 2010 through 2012. In 2012 alone, the state’s rate was 318 percent. The state has a $100 billion deficit in the amount of money that should be invested in the portfolios of five state-employee pension accounts. Lawmakers adopted an overhaul plan last fall that cuts benefits and increases worker contributions to significantly cut that debt. But the law has been challenged in court. A Sangamon County judge last week in-
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dicated he wanted the case moved swiftly to appellate courts, suggesting the Illinois Supreme Court’s rejection in July of a law affecting retiree health insurance could prove a model for the pension challenge. Moody’s pointed out that even if the pension overhaul gets constitutional approval from the high court, it still will take decades for the state to dig out of its financial hole. Moody’s first released a state-by-state ranking of what
it calls “adjusted net pension liability” in June 2013, when it put the Illinois rate at 241 percent. The latest report, focusing just on Illinois, doesn’t give specific percentages for those trailing the state, but Moody’s said 15 months ago that Connecticut was at 190 percent and Kentucky at 141 percent. The median percentage for all states at the time was 45 percent. In the latest report, Moody’s sets that level at 51 percent.
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Several larger states, similar to Illinois, are well below the median and rank in the 10 lowest percentages of adjusted net pension liability, including Ohio, Florida and New York. The group also includes Illinois neighbors Iowa and Wisconsin – the latter having the lowest level next to Nebraska. Only three other states – New Jersey, Hawaii and Louisiana – have rates higher than 120 percent. Adjusted net pension liability is a calculation Moody’s
uses to “achieve greater comparability and transparency” by recalculating state and local net pension liabilities based on a market-determined discount rate and the market value of assets. For the 2012 fiscal year, Moody’s said Illinois had an unfunded actuarial accrued liability in its pension programs of $93 billion and an adjusted net pension liability of $187 billion, yielding liabilities as a percentage of revenue of 318 percent.
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