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Wednesday, September 14, 2016 n SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON | SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
Schools hope time is on their side District’s budget is in the red, but by next year, it could be in the black BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 CHeimerman_SVM
DIXON – The school district’s business manager, David Blackburn, expects to again take his lumps when the school
board votes on a deficit budget tonight. The fiscal year 2017 budget projects a $279,000 shortfall in the education fund. Before you grab that pitchfork, bear in mind: Last year’s budget was $640,000 in the red when it was put on file in September. It was about $111,000 in the black as of June 30. “I’m not just throwing this deficit out there because I want to, and I know my credibility kind of gets beaten up when we project a deficit, and we end up in
the black,” Blackburn said. Myriad factors play into such a swing, but many share a common thread: conservative budgeting. For example, the school district is selfinsured: Rather than pay an outside agency, nearly all of the money the district spends on health insurance goes directly to claims. “You know you’re going to be paying all of it to health claims, and not an outside agency for advertising, fancy buildings and that sort of thing,” Blackburn said.
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The problem is, they have to estimate how much those claims will be, and illness is a tough thing to predict. “Aside from the budgeting side – you don’t know how much you’re going to pay – being self-insured is far and away the best way to go, but we sort of have to budget for the worst-case scenario.” Health claims in 2016 have been comparable to those in 2015, he said. BUDGET continued on A54
LEE COUNTY
Farms are a breeze, but upgrading them isn’t Board continues work on wind energy plan BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
Where the sidewalk ends, a new one begins ABOVE: Vernon Smoot (left) and Amy Scott throw bricks into a tractor bucket Tuesday afternoon at First Church of the Nazarene in Sterling. Smoot and Scott were among a group of church volunteers who removed the overgrown brick sidewalk along 13th Avenue near East Fourth Street to make way for a new concrete sidewalk. The church will use the bricks in its community garden. LEFT: Bob Wilcox picks away at edge bricks along the sidewalk. Read this story at saukvalley.com to see more photos on Tuesday’s work Photos by Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
DIXON – A first-of-its kind project to decommission a Lee County wind farm will catch its second wind in a few weeks, when the zoning board reconvenes, but in the meantime board members will work on the next steps in the lengthy process. The Lee County Zoning Board began the process Tuesday of drafting and approving pieces of the proposed project, which involves decommissioning an entire stock of wind turbines and replacing about half of them with larger, more efficient models. Tuesday’s 2-hour meeting was dedicated to finalizing the language of motions that summarized the evidence, testimony and public comment received during the past 2 meetings. The approved motions will be combined into the zoning board’s overall recommendation to the Lee County Board on whether to grant the wind farm a special use permit to undergo the project. WIND FARM continued on A44
The Black Hawk statue will wear a protective wrap again, as it awaits muchneeded repairs.
OGLE COUNTY
Statue going under cover again Iconic Black Hawk still awaits repairs BY VINDE WELLS Shaw Media vwells@shawmedia.com
OREGON – The Black Hawk statue, Ogle County’s most wellknown landmark, likely will spend another winter under wraps. “We anticipate wrapping
(winterizing) the statue in midNovember,” Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris Young said. The statue spent a year and a half encased in a green protective mesh wrapped around scaffolding erected in December 2014 by then-project conservator Andrzej Dajnowski, of Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio in Forest Park. That came down in June.
Because the 105-year-old Lorado Taft statue is in Lowden State Park, it falls under the jurisdiction of the IDNR, which has kept information on the fate of future repairs under wraps as well. All Young would say in his email Monday was that Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. of Chicago still is the architectural/engineering firm handling repairs to the weather-damaged statue. STATUE continued on A54
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media
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TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 166 ISSUE 95
INDEX
ABBY.................... A8 BUSINESS.......... A12 COMICS................B6
CROSSWORD.....B12 LIFESTYLE............ A8 LOTTERY.............. A2
OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2
Today’s weather High 75. Low 55. More on A3.
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