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The Public Building Commission is worried. They still have $30 million more in bonding capacity, and they might not get to spend it if District 150 doesn’t get its act together soon. You may recall that the Public Building Commission (PBC) was established in 1955, but school districts used it so much in the [...] Several days ago, I mentioned that audit reports the last several years for District 150 have been warning about inadequate internal controls. Things are no different this year, the Journal Star reports. The internal financial review controls at District 150 are at the very least inadequate, resulting in errors, unsubstantiated account balances and generally [...] A couple of bills are wending their way through the State legislature and are sure to find their way into your pocketbook soon: SB 2071 — School Construction Bonds. Sponsored by Senators Koehler and Risinger, this little bill gives District 150 even more borrowing power by letting the district exceed debt limitations if they [...] In an earlier post, I asked how the Public Building Commission’s bonding authority went from $60 million to $72 million in a short time. Journal Star reporter Dave Haney has the answer: The $72 million request would essentially put the PBC at the limit of its bonding authority, beyond the $60 million limit previously [...] Probably. After all, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 2477 at the end of 2006 in order to give District 150 the ability to access the Public Building Commission for five years. Or did they? They did amend the Public Building Commission Act, but they didn’t specifically name District 150. Instead, they changed [...] Tonight at the council meeting, Councilman Bob Manning asked the museum group what they would do if the New Markets Tax Credits funding didn’t come through, or if not enough of it came through for them to be able to move forward on the museum. As he put it, “What’s ‘plan B’?” The [...] …get ready for your taxes to go up some more, courtesy of School District 150 with the cooperation of the Illinois State Legislature. On Nov. 29, the Illinois House joined the Senate in overriding the Governor’s amendatory veto of SB2477 and allowing School District 150 to get bonding authority from the Public Building [...] Last time Rep. Schock spoke on SB2477 on the House floor, he said the City Council supported the legislation, which was not true. Yesterday, Sen. Shadid took to the Senate floor to argue for overturning the Governor’s veto (which is surprisingly easy in Illinois, needing only a 3/5 majority instead of the 2/3 required [...] The Illinois Senate today voted 45-11 to override Gov. Blagojevich’s amendatory veto of SB2477, and Sen. Shadid got a round of applause as this was his last public act before leaving office. SB2477 would give Public School District 150 the ability to use the Public Building Commission to raise funds for school construction. Blagojevich’s [...] Speaking of the Journal Star’s editorial yesterday, they sum up their case for PBC funding with this condescending paragraph: But again, the primary criticism comes from those who’ve never quite come to grips with the fact that they live in a republic, not a direct democracy. Should District 150 regain its PBC connection, perhaps [...] |
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