You won't find the Village of Lisle's announcement for a Budget Hearing posted on its Facebook page or on its Twitter page; you won't find the announcement on the "News" page of the Village of Lisle website, either.
But digging deeper, we find a Public Hearing notice on the calendar for March 4, 2013 - 7 pm at Village Hall.
The notice was also published in the Daily Herald recently. It was in one of those teeny-tiny-type legal notices in the back of the paper. The kind of notice that just barely meets the requirements of a "legal notice."
One has to wonder if the Village is using all of the communication resources at its disposal to inform its residents and taxpayers.
Is the Village really interested in what its residents have to say about how our tax dollars are spent?
If Mayor Broda wants input from residents, then why isn't this notice posted on the front page of the website, Facebook page and Twitter page like the announcement for input on the French Market?
Why are taxpayers paying the salary for a Marketing/Communication Director to utilize social media if its not to inform those of us who are footing the bill of the proposed increased spending plans for the next 5 years?
If the Village can pay hundreds of dollars for an ad on the back of a Pace bus to benefit a small group of local retail business owners, why can't the same ad be placed to advertise a public hearing?
If the Village can purchase $5000 of "gift cards" for the Board and appointed commissions, why doesn't the Village allocate funds to encourage residents' attendance and participation at a Budget Hearing?
After they see this blog, I won't be surprised if Village then posts the draft budget online with a link right on the home page!
Library also does not post meeting packets on its website and does not broadcast their board meetings. Take a look at your property tax bill to see how much tax you pay to the Library. Last thing they want at the Library is transparency.
The draft budget relies heavily on revenue collected from "Utility taxes." In fact, these taxes on our utility bills provides more revenue to the village than property taxes and sales taxes. Apparently the Village has so much excess revenue now, that the Village can buy "Gift Cards" and "Dinner Dance Tickets" for themselves and pay employees to come up with justifications for putting off road maintenance and installation of neighborhood sidewalks. And what about those levies? Here is the link to the Draft Budget. You have to get past the justification on road maintenance and sidewalks before you get to the budget ... http://www.villageoflisle.org/docs/20130211-vbpacket.pdf
There is no sidewalk and there are huge semi-trucks going down this narrow street. One side is residential and the other side is industrial. It is a nightmare - especially now with snowy, slippery streets. Kids actually have to walk on the street, shared with the semi-trucks to get on/off a school bus. Yup - Only in Lisle are Dinner Dances, Gift Cards, and rearranging office furniture much more important expenditures than putting in a sidewalk to keep kids safe.
$ 137.86 Food & Beverage Luncheon $ 55.62 Board Dinner $ 23.14 Trustee Breakfast $ 297.96 Food Holiday Luncheon $ 75.00 Martin Luther King Breakfast $ 281.27 Holiday Cards $ 593.00 Ad Space 2013 Visitor Book $ 995.00 Advertisement $ 25.12 Holiday Luncheon Supplies $ 125.00 Facebook Vouchers $ 1,700.00 Advertising Art $ 200.00 Advertising - Tribune
$ 899.00 New Christmas Tree - Lobby $ 102.30 Portillos Holiday Lunch $ 113.25 Coffee/Snacks Meetings $ 25.00 Chamber Luncheon - Mayor Broda $150.00 Quarterly Dues Rotary Club - Sgt Munson
By the way, little known fact, the Morton Arboretum is not within the corporate limits of the Village of Lisle. Most the of Arboretum's property falls within Downers Grove. Also, the Village collects no sales tax revenue from sales of food or merchandise at the Arboretum. I, too, have no beef with the Arboretum, rather with the Village randomly choosing to dole out our tax money to certain charitable organizations and not to others. I would much rather pay less tax and choose to give my money to the charities of my choice.
http://www.hundredclubofdupage.org/
$270.00 for Golf Outing Tickets for Broda & Young - Lisle Chamber of Commerce $45.00 for Golf Outing Dinner Clerk Seeden - Lisle Chamber of Commerce $55.00 for 2 memberships to Costco (what does Lisle purchase at Costco?) $77.16 - Parade car signs for Trustee Modaff
"We have received a grant for the installation of sidewalk on the north side of Ogden from Yackley to Schwartz... Other sidewalk gap projects are recommended for deferral again this year due to the overall budget..." But somehow they found $225,000 for a new community sign?!? Now to mention golf, gift cards, food, dinners, etc. Interesting to see the spending choices to push public safety aside.
As for new sidewalks... Odgen between Yackley and Schwarz already has a sidewalk on the south side. Why not spend the money to put in sidewalks on residential streets that have no sidewalk on either side?
Why should some residents receive less services than others? Is Lisle discriminating against some residents/residential neighborhoods? Did you know that the Yender area is listed as the lowest income area in Lisle on the DuPage Co maps?
Read these documents. The last pages of this... http://www.villageoflisle.org/docs/20130211-vbpacket.pdf And this.. http://www.villageoflisle.org/docs/20110613.vbw.min.pdf
The LVCB receives a lump sum from the Village quarterly and as ZERO accountability to how they spend it. LCVB does not provide detailed quarterly reports to the Village. There is NO report to show the LVCB actually generates any more tourism than if the organization did not exist at all. LCVB funds are supposed to be used to promote local tourism and they market Lisle hotels rather than the hotels doing their own marketing. Important to note - Naperville does not have the equivalent of a "LCVB" but their hotels each generate more revenue for the City than each of Lisle's hotels. Naperville's hotel tax revenue is increasing; while Lisle is currently budgeting for less hotel revenue in its proposed 2013/2014 budget. One might conclude that the LCVB might be directing tourism to Naperville... hum. Another chunk of the hotel/motel tax is used to pay the bond payments on the Benedictine Sports Stadium. That stadium is supposed to be used by local high schools to play night games. The deal was cut on that stadium after the uproar when Lisle HS wanted to install lights at Wilde Field. Now we read that Lisle HS is once again pursuing lights at Wilde Field despite the fact that taxes were specifically directed to pay about $6 M of the construction cost of this private stadium. http://lisle.patch.com/articles/lshs-teacher-sheds-new-light-on-wilde-field-talk
No public participation in the budget hearing. Is this because the Village failed to inform the public?
Oh, and the draft budget is posted online with a link on the Wheaton website. http://www.wheaton.il.us/ http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/2013/03/06/wheaton-to-host-budget-workshops/ajhyeog/
Who benefits from this "for-profit" publication? Why wasn't this expenditure subject bids? Why are taxdollars being use as a vehicle for Broda to publish campaign and promotional materials? Shouldn't we be reading a letter from the Village Manager about village matters? Isn't it illegal to use public funds for political purposes? Why does the Village post a direct link to a for-profit publication on its website?
Domain Name: NEIGHBORSOFLISLE.COM Created on: 26-Apr-12 Expires on: 26-Apr-13 Last Updated on: 16-May-12 Registrant: Emerald Marketing, Inc. 4739 Clearwater Lane Naperville, IL 60564 United States On the Illinois Secretary of State Business services website, a lookup of Emerald Marketing, Inc shows the President as Timothy Sullivan of Naperville. (same address as above) The company is NOT accreditied by the BBB http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/advertising-agencies-and-counselors/emerald-marketing-in-naperville-il-88203324 Emerald Marketing, Inc. is "NOT GOOD STANDING" with the IL Sec. of State. Yet, Lisle continues to funnel our tax dollars to this company. Is there any accountability for how our tax dollars are spent in Lisle?
The president of Midwest Marking Authority is Bruce G. Povalish http://www.mwmarketingauth.com/index.cfm?hot=cp&cpid=1542&cpp=1542 These records are readily available on the internet: Bankruptcy 2009 http://bankrupt.com/misc/ilnb09-37733.pdf BGP Enterprises (DBA Rapid Funding Corp) Same address as Midwest Marketing Authorityhttp://business.lislechamber.com/list/member/rapid-funding-corp-937 NOT GOOD STANDING http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController Is this fiscal responsibility?
Lots of unnecessary expense - tax money that could be used for necessary public improvements.. All of these gov't entities have websites allowing this stuff to be published online. The whole thing appears like a scam to me.
Naperville Sales Tax Revenue UP - exceeds expectations. http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/18700791-418/unexpected-success-of-food-and-beverage-tax-to-help-shrink-citys-pension-hole.html
$900.00 Rearranging Mayor's Office $ 55.00 Chamber Luncheons (names of persons attending omitted from voucher list) $474.15 Petty Cash expenses not itemized. (where's the transparency?)