All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
City of Peoria, Museum Block, Peoria County, Peoria Park District

More than just sales taxes may support museum

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Did you know that your property taxes indirectly support Lakeview Museum? Karrie Alms does. She’s a community activist and frequent commenter here at the Peoria Chronicle. While doing her usual detailed research, she came across a property tax levy fund titled “Fund 123 MUSEUM PEORIA PARK.” That caught her eye, so she asked Park Board President Tim Cassidy about it. He explained:

Presently Lakeview museum owns and operates museum operations. The PPD [Peoria Park District] owns the land and building and allows Lakeview to use it under an agreement that is now several decades old.

Mr. Cassidy also confirmed that Lakeview does not pay rent for its use of the building, and “the amount of [the] museum fund levy going to Lakeview museum facility is $189,234 per the 2009 budget.” Not having to pay rent or upkeep on the building and grounds surely helps Lakeview’s bottom line and also explains why they didn’t include funds for capital improvement in their pro forma for the proposed downtown museum.

So, what happens if/when the museum moves downtown? As I reported in a previous post (“Is Peoria’s History Getting a Back Seat?” July 13, 2007) after talking to museum officials, “When the new museum opens, Lakeview is planning to hang on to its building at Lake and University to be used for storage because there’s not going to be enough storage space at the new museum. In particular, there’s not very much space planned in the new museum for special, climate-controlled storage of fragile pieces.” However, it doesn’t appear that the Park District has agreed to let the museum continue to use the building. Cassidy told Alms:

If Lakeview museum left the site to go downtown [its] continued [use] of present site would be subject to further agreement based on PPD needs for the facility. […] PPD has no final plans for Lakeview facility use if museum leaves. It remains open for discussion, although one use considered is a senior recreation/leisure facility for programming needs.

Cassidy also said that continued use of the Lakeview building “has never been approved by PPD. In fact specific request has not been made for PPD to formally act.”

If the new museum is unable to use the current Lakeview building for storage, they will have to find storage elsewhere. Without a rent-free (i.e., taxpayer-subsidized) facility to use, cost of that storage would impact the museum’s profitability. The Museum Collaboration Group can’t just assume they will be able to continue using that building (rent-free, at that) when their lease expires in 2012. Off-site, specialized storage costs should be figured into their pro forma.

The Park District/Lakeview Museum arrangement also raises another question. In the ground lease the Museum Collaboration Group signed with the City of Peoria for the old Sears block, it has this interesting provision:

11.2 Permitted Assignees. Notwithstanding anything in this Lease to the contrary, Tenant may assign Tenant’s interest in the Lease as follows:

11.2.1 Peoria Park District. Provided the District (“Peoria Park District”) agrees, the Tenant may assign Tenant’s leasehold interest in this Lease to the Peoria Park District, subject to the following: (i) Tenant shall not be relieved of any of its obligations under this Lease and Redevelopment Agreement; (ii) the Peoria Park District shall be obligated to observe the terms and conditions of the Lease applicable to Tenant; provided, however, that the Peoria Park District shall have no personal liability to Landlord, Tenant or any third parties with respect to the Lease, the Redevelopment Agreement or the Real Property, with such liability limited strictly to Tenant’s leasehold interest in the Lease; and (iii) the Landlord shall be entitled to enforce the provisions of the Lease and the Redevelopment Agreement directly against the Tenant, who shall continue to have available to it all the rights and obligations of the Tenant under this Lease and Redevelopment Agreement notwithstanding such assignment.

The “Tenant” would be the Peoria Riverfront Museum, and the “obligations under this lease” would include repair, maintenance, alterations, and additions to the building and grounds. If the museum were to assign its interest in the lease to the Park District, then the Park District could use its funds — i.e., Peoria property taxes — to maintain the building and grounds. Here you can check about student loan interest deduction with guide of an experienced firm like taxfyle. That would certainly be more than taxpayers bargained for if they approve the sales tax referendum on April’s ballot.

No deal has been made to assign the lease to the Park District at this time according to Cassidy. But the legal language is in place and could be acted upon if the sales tax referendum is approved and construction of the facility is allowed to proceed. It’s something to think about when you go to the polls on April 7.

City of Peoria, Comcast

Comcast gets raked over the coals

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Over 60 people showed up at City Hall on Tuesday evening for a chance to tell Comcast what they think of the city’s only cable provider. Comcast representatives Debra Piscola (Director of Government Affairs) and John Niebur (District Director) listened as over 30 residents — including six city council members — expressed frustration over service and pricing issues.

The most common complaints were:

  • No local customer service — When you need to call Comcast, there is no local number available; you have to call an 800 number and talk to a call center in some other city. There were also complaints over how long it takes these call centers to answer the phone.
  • Channel movement — C-SPAN2, EWTN, and other analog channels were reassigned to digital channels, and some channels such as National Geographic were reassigned to most expensive cable packages.
  • Pricing — When Comcast first took over Insight, they said they weren’t going to raise prices, then immediately raised prices. Then they reassigned channels, some to more expensive tiers, causing many residents to feel they were paying more for less service. One person reported that he was quoted one price, but when he threatened to switch to a satellite service, he received a lower price, prompting him to ask what the real price is. Another resident similarly asked for “transparency in pricing.”

One person requested the ability to choose which cable channels he wanted and pay only for those (also known as “a la carte” pricing). Another complained that he was given a 12-hour service window, meaning he had to wait around his house from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the cable company to do a simple installation; the cable technician showed up at 7:50 p.m.

The Comcast representatives answered some questions, but mostly just thanked the audience for expressing their concerns and promised to address those concerns in their franchise agreement negotiations with the city.

City council members in attendance were Clyde Gulley (1st District), Bob Manning (3rd District), Bill Spears (4th District), Pat Nichting (5th District), Ryan Spain (at-large), George Jacob (at-large), and Eric Turner (at-large). Gulley left early, but the rest of the council members in attendance said that they get numerous complaints from constituents regarding the cable company. Spain said the number of complaints he gets rivals the number of people calling about more expensive and controversial issues like the CSO project and the recent downtown hotel plans.

Turner said that he wouldn’t support a new franchise agreement if service issues aren’t addressed and improved. Unfortunately, that’s somewhat of an empty threat, since state law allows cable companies to get franchise agreements directly through the state, bypassing local municipalities completely. City Attorney Randy Ray says the public hearing Tuesday night is one advantage of having a local franchise agreement — if Comcast were to get a state franchise, local residents likely would have to trek to Springfield for any public hearings regarding cable service.

Original plans were to bring a new franchise agreement to the council for approval at the next scheduled meeting. However, due to the “level of dissatisfaction,” Ray said it may take a little longer to negotiate an agreement that the council will support. The last 20-year franchise agreement expired in April 2006, but has been temporarily extended multiple times during negotiations for a new agreement.

Peoria Public Schools

Audit shows budget errors and omissions at D150

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Holy Toledo. I don’t generally read the Peoria Story blog, but Billy Dennis quoted a portion of this post, and it was so shocking I had to read more.

I’ve read past District 150 audit reports (available here*), and they’ve always been bad — bad enough that it makes me wonder why in the world Guy Cahill is still employed by the district. For example, here’s a note from the June 30, 2007 audit report:

In an ideal control setting, the District would have personnel possessing a thorough understanding of applicable generally accepted accounting principles staying abreast of recent accounting developments. Such personnel would perform a comprehensive review procedure to ensure that in the preparation of its annual financial statements that such statements, including disclosures, are complete and accurate.

And this:

The overall internal controls over the District’s accounting system are not adequate to ensure that misstatements caused by error or fraud, in amounts that would be material to the financial statements, may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their assigned functions.

That was the second year in a row the district got that last note. The 2006-07 audit was also the one that reported the district’s misallocation of over a half million dollars in Title I funds. But evidently the latest audit report takes the cake:

“The November 14, 2008 audit report, prepared by Clifton Gunderson LLP, for the 2007-08 school year, shows the District #150 administrators failed to budget $10,410,849 when budgeting for Teachers Retirement Service (TRS) pension contributions. […]

“This was not a new expense – the district has been budgeting for “on-behalf of” contributions to TRS for years. Their actual expenditure for this item during the 2006-07 school year was $7,264,468. How did they “forget” to budget over $10 million in expenditures – and revenue – for the 2007-08 school year?

“Further, how and why did the TRS provision grow over $3 million in one year? Did teacher salaries increase so much in one year that 10% of that increase amounted to $3 million?

Since the revenues and expenses for “on-behalf of” contributions to TRS effectively cancel each other out, the issue is more about transparency than anything else. If the public were to see that this fund grew by over 43% in one year, they might start asking questions — like, “why is that amount rising so dramatically?” and “what other information is the district hiding?” With omissions this great, how can we believe anything the school administration says about the budget and the need to close a high school? Incidentally, the “on-behalf-of” contributions are not on the 2008-09 budget that was submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), either.

Something I’ve always wondered is how District 150 can keep sending incomplete reports to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). For instance, the last three years (2006-2008) of the district’s Annual Statement of Affairs (available here*) leaves required information completely blank, including salary schedules and non-salary payments over $2500. It is required by the State that the district report this information, and yet it hasn’t for multiple years, keeping taxpayers (and the State regulating agency itself) in the dark. With as many administrators and consultants as District 150 has, surely someone could be tasked with completing required reports.

These questions deserve answers. The information reported on Peoria Story has been forwarded to District officials. It will be interesting to hear their response.

*Note: If you want to look up the financial data or Statement of Affairs reports on the ISBE website, they’re listed by the district’s code number, which is 48-072-1500-25.

City of Peoria, Comcast

Tell Comcast what you think of them

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I have to laugh whenever I hear Comcast commercials “warning” people that satellite TV service may pixellate or completely lose its signal when there’s inclement weather. I laugh because Comcast can do that in all types of weather! Not only that, some channels may disappear because they’ve moved them from an analog channel to a digital one. And if you call to complain, you don’t get to talk to anyone locally, you have to call an 800 number and deal with some completely unhelpful wage slave in Who-knows-where.

Why not cancel Comcast service, you ask? A couple of reasons. First, they’re the only place you can see local access channels, including the Peoria City Council meetings and school board meetings. Second, they can be the cheapest service you can get, if you get Basic Cable. I only pay about $15/month. But just because I don’t pay big bucks for a digital cable package doesn’t mean I should get shoddy reception and poor service.

So, I think I’ll be attending this meeting:

The City of Peoria and Comcast Cable will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, February 3, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will take place at Peoria City Hall, in City Council Chambers (Room 400).

The purpose of the public meeting is to discuss the current contract with Comcast and the services provided by them. This will be an opportunity for the public to make comment and voice any concerns regarding Comcast.

The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

City of Peoria, Peoria Mayor

Words most used in Ardis’s speech

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I saw the Chicago Tribune use this feature called TagCrowd on Blagojevich’s speech, so I thought I’d use it for Mayor Ardis’s State of the City speech. It’s not a particularly meaningful feature, but it’s a fun novelty:

created at TagCrowd.com

Peoria Public Schools

Counter proposals offered for D150

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While Ken Hinton continues working on his plans to close schools and cut expenses, others have been trying to come up with counter proposals. There are two so far that I’ve been told. The first one comes from Board of Education member Jim Stowell:

Proposal

Purchase homes on Perry that front Lincoln

  • Build out a birth through sixth facility – beautiful new back entrance (or North end entrance to Woodruff campus)

Push up into Woodruff 7th and 8th from Lincoln

  • Mirror academy model @ Manual
  • Use best practices and cut contract and cost
  • Focus on technology (CISCO bias)

Close Peoria High; immediately begin:

  1. utilizing Peoria High as the much needed alternative school
  2. empanel group of Admin., etc. to begin planning for a better Peoria High

Planning and completion would take 3 probably 4 years – while it is being done – facilities are temporarily used as alternative school. Other programs might co-exist, but primary purpose is for much needed alternative school

Planning Part and Vision

Collaboratively with City and Park District acquire land from Peoria High North St. to Nebraska, and Nebraska to Herke Field

With city help – vacate maintenance and the two lane cut through to create Center Bluff Campus

Acquire homes on North St. to stop light. Close through traffic on North. The 74 overpass becomes gateway to new Campus.

Seen from I-74, it replaces cafeteria area and becomes a beacon on the hill.

Design curriculum to align with UIC College of Medicine and hospitals needs – have it be the choice school for a Medical Career path.

City concurrently working in planning phase to engage in the Impact Zone concept – on both sides of interstate.

North to Richmond becomes park like one-way exiting out on Knoxville.

Park-like campus helps shape revitalization of Sheridan North.

For 3 – 4 years we gain control over our costs by consolidating to 3 full service high schools.

We begin preparing what Peoria High School becomes.

oundaries for entering could be changed to south of Nebraska (McClure)?

  • go to Manual – Manual 1100, Richwoods 1400 and Woodruff 1400
    (Manual has been land-locked)

Redraw once new Central opened

  • also with academies
  • but potentially aligned with proposed Math and Science, which, should take on a lower priority currently than the needed alternative school environment

Back fill permanent alternative program into a vacated building that could be renovated

The other counter proposal comes from District 150 teacher Scott Donahue and is based on the 2005 Structural Budget Imbalance Task Force report. The SBI Task Force was made up of community members, D150 support staff, school principals, and board member David Gorenz. Many of the savings opportunities outlined in this plan were never implemented:

SBI Task Force Recommendations:
District chose to ignore these potential savings
Item Savings Recommendation
RIF Administrator $234,000 RIF Minimum 2-3 Administrators
Three Tier Bell Schedule $525,000
Eliminate Edison Contract $3,825,000 (2009-2014) Figuring district would pay $135,000 for benchmark testing each of the five years
Eliminate Department Heads @ HS $160,000
Eliminate Controller-Treasurer $150,000 Re-assign responsibilities to other central office administrators
Reduce Admin in Buildings $1,014,000 $78,000 per person for 13 positions
Eliminate Alternative High School $525,000
Eliminate Adult Education $171,000
Eliminate Transition to Success $184,000
TOTAL Savings: $6,788,000

This did not count more administrative cuts that could be made for additional savings if reducing programs and buildings.

Questions for the board:

  1. If most items from the SBI Task Force Document were implemented then where is money/savings?

    • Administration claimed to get a “Freeze” only to receive retroactive pay later on
    • The District got better than projected savings in union’s insurance package
    • The District got better than projected savings in previous teacher contract
    • The District got better than projected savings by limiting professional development for teachers thus no advancement on payscale

  2. What cuts has the District made to reduce the deficit?

My guess is that more questions and counter proposals will be coming forward in the next few weeks.

Museum Block, Peoria County

Sales tax referendum for museum will be on April ballot

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From Peoria County’s website:

Peoria County Board Approves Sales Tax Referendum for April Ballot

At a special board meeting earlier this evening [Jan. 27], the Peoria County Board approved the following resolution to place a referendum on the Consolidated General Election ballot this April that asks voters to raise the county’s sales tax rate by 1/4 of 1% to help fund public facilities. If approved by the electorate, the sales tax increase would be applied on retail sales of non-titled goods and would be the equivalent of twenty-five cents (25¢) for every $100 purchased. The referendum includes a sunset clause setting the tax increase to expire twenty (20) years from its effective date of January 1, 2010. Money collected from the increase would be used to help fund construction of the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Peoria County’s role through the April 7, 2009 consolidated election is not to advocate for or against the passing of this referendum, but rather to educate the public on the sales tax increase and its intent. County Board Members Andrew Rand and James Dillon will host an informational town hall meeting on March 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Bradley University’s Baker Hall Auditorium, Room B51. More information regarding this town hall meeting will be forthcoming.

The resolution is available for download here: www.peoriacounty.org/county/files/get/Jan09PRMrefe.pdf

For more information regarding the referendum, please call County Administration at (309) 672-6056.

I’m especially intrigued by the statement, “Peoria County’s role through the April 7, 2009 consolidated election is not to advocate for or against the passing of this referendum….” Does that mean that they will publish the pros and cons of the sales tax, the way the State published the pros and cons of holding a constitutional convention? Or does it mean that they will give multiple opportunities for the museum to sell the supposed benefits of the tax increase (without any counterargument offered) under the pretense of “providing information”?

Oh wait, I think I have the answer to that question:

Town Hall Meeting re Riverfront Museum Financing

Peoria County Board Members Andrew Rand (District 4) and James Dillon (District 7) will be hosting an informational town hall meeting regarding the Peoria Riverfront Museum and a county-wide temporary sales tax referendum at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 9 at Bradley University, Baker Hall Auditorium B51.

Jim Richerson, CEO of Lakeview Museum, will explain the Museum Project, and Erik Bush, CFO, County of Peoria, will explain public and private financing efforts. Scott Sorrel, Assistant to the County Administrator, will present as well. The intent of this town hall meeting is two-fold: to raise awareness of the Museum Project and to educate the public about a county-wide sales tax referendum that will appear on the Consolidated General Election ballot this April. All interested persons are encouraged to attend.

Nope, no advocacy there.

Blogosphere

“Journalism of regular citizens … alongside that of professionals”

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In my last post, I referenced an article on a Seattle website called Crosscut.com. Here’s a little bit about that site:

Based in Seattle, Crosscut is a guide to local and Northwest news, a place to report and discuss local news, and a platform for new tools to convey local news. The journalism of regular citizens appears alongside that of professionals. News coverage with detachment, traditionally practiced by mainstream media outlets, coexists with advocacy journalism and opinion.

  • Crosscut finds and highlights the best local journalism and the best local commentary, whether it’s the work of the biggest metropolitan daily newspaper or a part-time blogger. There is a multitude of worthy sources of information on the Internet, but few people have time to navigate them all.
  • Crosscut publishes its own journalism and commentary. These are stories and angles others have missed or ignored. Our news coverage aims to complement that of other providers, to extend exploration of events and issues, to possibly encourage resolution.
  • Crosscut embraces new tools and tries new things as technology evolves, mindful of the relative strengths of textual, photo, audio, and video journalism.

Is this a model that would work in Peoria? Imagine if we could aggregate the best of this area’s citizen journalism and put it up on a site along with professional journalists from the Journal Star and Times-Observer, among others. What a great resource that would be!