55 Comments - hot chocolate - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:25 am: As long as the Gov. continues to demand the property tax freeze and the collective bargaining issues be married to each other, neither will happen. Is this Parkland guy even paying attention? - Shemp - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:26 am: If you know you are stuck with collective bargaining or pension increases and you are elected or appointed to run a county, college, city, etc, why would you not take the bigger hike now to ensure you can pay professors, deputies, firefighters, pensions without going further in the hole? One look at the downstate pension funds will tell you you can’t cap tax rates and survive. Maybe pension levies get exempted, but maybe they don’t, and who wants to be responsible to fund 50% funded downstate funds with frozen property taxes when the property tax is the main source for pension funding? - DuPage - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:30 am: It might not have been needed if Rauner would pay the college the state and federal money he owes them. - Norseman - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:33 am: We’ll see if this flies. The board is still made up of elected officials who have to face angry voters for a preemptive tax increase. - Mason born - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:35 am: It’s probably a smart idea on the college’s part. It won’t be popular but it probably is prudent. - illini - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:39 am: DuPage - exactly. And to my post yesterday. $10 million, in the case of my local CC is a big hole to fill. - zatoichi - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:44 am: So raise the property tax and then get money owed once a budget is done? Nice deal for them. They have to at least review that option. I assume Parkland is hammering on local state reps to get a budget done. Maybe the focus needs to stay on the state budget. Any property tax increase will lead to some seriously angry voters right now. - logic not emotion - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:46 am: The College President is taking the wise course of action. All taxing bodies would be well advised to do likewise. Call this an unintended consequence if you like; but it should have been entirely predictable that those taxing bodies who are paying attention and smart enough would be doing this. Unfortunately, a lot of them will be asleep at the wheel and those they serve will suffer (if the freeze happens). - BIG R. Ph. - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:50 am: Raise the tuition. The Feds are funding it anyway. Or live within your means. I am sure the College of DuPage has shown you where the cuts are to be made. - Nick Name - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:51 am: Look for a lot more of this if the property tax freeze proposal looks to become a reality. Taxing districts — schools, community colleges, rural fire protection districts, etc. — will all want to spike their revenue to make up for anticipated lost revenue during a tax freeze. If they don’t do it prior, they’ll do it once the freeze is listed. It shows, once again, that people who talk about freezing property taxes have no idea what they’re talking about. If you want property tax relief, the only real way to do it is for the state to assume more of the costs of local taxing districts, especially school districts. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:56 am: Given the political climate in this state, would any property tax referendums actually pass next year? Doubtful. And if a board attempts or actually does raise levies, I’m guessing the voting populace would remember that the next time any affirmative members are back on the ballot. Just my thoughts. - Robert the 1st - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:58 am: =why their tax bill for Parkland College went up 15 bucks. Because it will never go up again= Silly me. I thought most taxes where percentage based… Meaning they will organically increase to cover rising costs of government services. Tax receivers always seem to want to increase these percentages. Is the end game a 100% tax for everything in their minds? - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:58 am: ===Given the political climate in this state, would any property tax referendums actually pass next year?=== Well maybe. Unless the income tax increase gets passed. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:03 am: Most schools have nothing left to cut. When a person from a college asked Rauner if they will get the money owed to them when a budget is passed, the governor said, “I wouldn’t count on it.” The smart people will see the writing on the wall, and raise taxes before the freeze. It is doubtful the tax freeze will be temporary. - Austin Blvd - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:05 am: Everyone’s doing it. - nixit71 - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:06 am: ==If you want property tax relief, the only real way to do it is for the state to assume more of the costs of local taxing districts, especially school districts.== How will that happen if/when the state shifts pension costs going forward to the local districts? That may free up funds for education, but ultimately it will merely shift the burden from one taxing body to another. The end result will be a higher state income tax (inevitable at this point), less service for that higher rate (no more pension payments from the state), and higher property taxes to pay for the pension cost shift. And depending what district you’re living in, there’s a good chance state funding won’t increase at all (see SB1). - Red Ranger - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:07 am: I think this is one of the least talked about issues of the Turn Around agenda, and something the GOP parrots really need to think about, especially the suburban members. 2/3 of many suburban local property tax bills go to schools! Whats going to happen when little Johnny’s school cant hire that extra teacher, or update the school gymnasium or fix the playground. Hell hath no fury like an angry suburban mom, and when she hears at the local PTO meeting that her Blue Ribbon school can’t afford to do something because of the caps, she’ll will be very angry. - Ahoy! - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:11 am: –Ramage said he hopes Parkland’s board of trustees opts next month to raise the college’s property tax rate to the maximum to capture as much money as possible before statewide tax caps go into effect.– Most taking bodies do this anyway. Has anybody done an analysis of Parkland’s past experience with raising the property tax rate? I bet it’s pretty similar. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:11 am: This is what happens when you have an unstable gubernatorial administration ambling across our state shooting off their mouths on untested and unsold policies. The last thing we needed was more instability. Stability does not mean a lack of reform. Stability means that our interconnected governments, services and their funding remain constant as these same governments, services and their funding evolve into better governments, services and funding. We simply cannot have a modern government which operates with multi-billion dollar budgets, convulse into disorder like some kind of dot com business gamble. Government is not a business. It does not provide goods or services for profit for customers with cash or credit. Government is more important than that. It is the foundation upon which all transactions are conducted. This is because governments provide to all. Not just paying customers. Not just to tax payers. To all citizens. Citizenship binds us together and forms the entry point into government and the services governments provide. What we are seeing is how poorly a venture capitalist applies his personal interpretation of business practices upon the foundation of a government that impacts each of us. To Bruce Rauner, instability means opportunity, but as a governor, he ought to know that instability is the worse thing to inflict upon any government. By his actions, Bruce Rauner reveals to us that he doesn’t understand governing. Consequently, the reforms Governor Rauner wishes to bring about, are jeopardized by the very methods he employs. Even if he succeeds in enacting one of his reforms, he does so upon a convulsing government, so that the benefits he envisioned will struggle into existence. Without stability, Rauner creates more damage. Governor Rauner’s business methods exacerbates our fiscal dilemmas, not lessen them. It will take years to fix what Rauner’s instabilities have caused to Illinois bonds, budgets, funds and citizens. So, he might want a property tax freeze - but at what costs? Who knows if he will succeed, but what he is doing is succeeding in raising our property taxes - not lowering them. Did he campaign as a governor who will raise our property taxes into agreed-upon sustainable rates, then freezing them? I don’t think he did. But this is what happens when someone without a shred of understanding, tries to implement something that worked for him in a completely different venue. Bruce Rauner might have goals in mind to reform Illinois government, but after a year of watching him struggle to understand his job, it is doubtful his reforms will do any good for our state, even if implemented. - Ghost - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:13 am: this is just fear mongering. it also raises an interesting question about fiduciary responsibility…. raising taxes because you can without a need for the money makes me think they should not have such power in the first place. pretty blatant abuse of taxing aithority - GA Watcher - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:18 am: Been here before when tax caps were originally passed in the early 1990s. Proponents will use Parkland as an example for why the Governor’s property tax freeze is needed. - Juvenal - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:22 am: === Unintended consequences of the governor’s Turnaround Agenda? === An unintended consequence, but certainly not an unpredictable one, Rich. You could gather all the people who didn’t see this coming in the conference room of the Governor’s Office. Oh wait, somebody already did. /s Cullerton has been right to argue that what Illinois needs is not some phony property tax freeze, but real property tax relief. - JS Mill - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:30 am: =this is just fear mongering= No, it is reality. Fear monger ing is telling people everyone and all businesses are leaving the state because we aren’t competitive. We have issues in Illinois without a doubt but there is no mass exodus taking place. Schools have experienced funding reductions for the better part of 7 years. That is a fact. Ramage is simy being honest. Parkland is not COD. Their costs and expenditures are not in the same ballpark. He is making a fiscally responsible recommendation to his Board who must then decide the course of action. As it sits now we are all seeing rising insurance costs and they have been unpredictable. Costs rise, just a fact of life. The “live within your means” meatball crowd does not have the reponsibility of providing a mandated set of services while the politicians pander to both sides of the street - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:33 am: raising taxes because you can without a need for the money makes me think they should not have such power in the first place That debate was settled about two hundred years ago. Your side lost. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:33 am: Ghost - you and I disagree on many issues, but I agree with your take. I read an article about everything Parkland wants to cut. Guess what was missing?! Administrative costs and perks. I will give the U of I credit. President Killeen asked the trustees to cut his perks. It may not be much, but that is (at least) a token show of a willingness to accept some “pain”. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:57 am: Juvenal - then what is President Cullerton’s plan?! I really like President Cullerton, but he’s been Senate President for almost SEVEN YEARS and he didn’t propose anything of note until this summer. - Third Reading - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:10 am: Per the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), 2015 taxes (payable in 2016) will go up eight-tenths of one percent. http://www.revenue.state.il.us/LocalGovernment/PropertyTax/CPIhistory.pdf Because inflation remains essentially flat, the adjustment on 2016 property taxes (payable in 2017) likely will be about the same. Look at it this way. If we freeze property taxes for the next two years — so what? There’s really not very much to freeze! Let us remember Rich’s maxim: leave your opponent with a way out. And here’s a part of the way out. By passing a two year freeze, everyone in Springfield will become a hero. And local governments won’t end up writhing in much additional pain. I ask (rather cynically) — what’s not to like? A two year property tax freeze will be a very easy part of the Grand Bargain. Yes, Grand Bargain. Coming (someday, perhaps) to a statehouse near you. I’m outta here. - Arizona Bob - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:14 am: @JSMILL =Schools have experienced funding reductions for the better part of 7 years.= Fine, JS. Tell me, how much has spending per pupil decreased in YOUR district over the last 7 years? According to the ISBE report cards from 2007 to 2014, instructional costs per pupil increased from $5567 to $7094 per pupil, a 27.4% increase. Operational costs went from $9488 to $12,045, a 27% increase. What was the inflation rate between 2005 and 2012, the years reported in the report cards? 18%. Gotta love educrat “common core” math. Only there would a 27% increase be considered a DECREASE! - Keyser Soze - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:34 am: He is lucky that he doesn’t have to run for office. - Uncapped - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:39 am: I think much of the ire about property taxes comes from counties that are currently under the PTELL caps, where despite decreasing property values the districts have been able to always receive an inflationary increase in the amount of taxes they receive. Tax bills continued to go up even though we experienced a recession. A less discussed part of this property tax freeze in the turnaround agenda of the Governor is that the freeze goes in effect for the entire state, despite the fact that the voters of some counties have never chosen to have a tax cap. In many counties that have not been under the tax caps, they have seen property tax revenues decrease sharply in direct proportion to the property values of the district. The district here is receiving almost $4.0M less in operating tax revenue than we did 5 years ago due to our EAV going down. The cap would go into effect at the lowest part of our valuation cycle, just when property values have started to increase again. We need the ability to let our EAV recover for a few years and get back to an even footing. The statewide freeze casts a big net to solve a smaller issue. Let the counties that have chosen to be uncapped stay that way. - DuPage - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:41 am: @Arizona Bob 11:14 =(JSMILL)=Schools have experienced funding reductions for the better part of 7 years.= I think JS, like many others think of community colleges as “schools” and lump them in with K-12. Community college districts are NOT part of K-12. While state funding of K-12 has gone up, the state funding of community colleges has indeed gone down. - GA Watcher - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:49 am: Third Reading is absolutely correct. As long as inflation remains flat, a freeze will have almost no impact on property taxes over the next few years. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:54 am: Bob: What has been the proration amounts of funding provided to schools over the past several years? I’ll give you a hint. Schools have not gotten 100% of funds owed to them. That sir is a fact. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:03 pm: You’re going to see this happen more and more if the property tax freeze moves forward. Taxing bodies that have the ability to raise taxes are going to seek to do so. It’s a predictable result of any property tax freeze proposal. - Ramage - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:24 pm: A couple points: 1. Administrative Cost/cuts are part of the mix. Please see http://tomramage.blogspot.com/2015/05/happy-memorial-day-weekend.html for a detailed explanation. In 2012, Parkland employed 39 administrators. Today, we have 43. That’s an increase of just under 7% and it is temporary. Due to the re-organization of academic services, we are (for one year) overstaffed in administration. By July of 2016, our total count will be less that 37. Possibly as low as 35. The math: Using 2015 numbers, our ratio is 4.39:1 and in July of 2016, it will be around 5.7:1. The Senate Democrat’s report, however, uses a student to administrator ratio. “In 1975, colleges and universities employed one administrator for every eighty-four students and one professional staffer—admissions and communications officers, information technology specialists—for every fifty students.19 By 2005, the administrator-to-student ratio had dropped to one administrator for every sixty-eight students while the ratio of professional staffers had dropped to one for every twenty-one students.20″ For Parkland College, using 2013-2014 data, our credit student to administrator ratio is 497:1. This ratio does not include the 4000 or so non-credit student that enroll each year, yet our administrative count does include those that are responsible for the non-credit programs. 2. State Support - In 2008, Parkland College received 21.67% of its operating funds from the State. In 2015 that number dropped to 8.63%. That’s a reduction of $2,842,108. And we have received none of it this year. 3. Tax Rate - During the same time frame (2008-2015), our tax rate went up 1.49 cents (.511 to .525) due mostly to flattening EAV. 4. Tuition - In 2008, Parkland charged $82 per credit hour, yielding $20,141,227 in revenue. In 2014 the rate is $131.50 per credit hour and yielded $24,943,963. 5. The College has cut or reduced future expenditures by $4,000,000 over the past 3 years. Another $2,000,000 will come out this year. 7. Tax caps (PTELL), once enacted, are likely to be around for a long time. A 4.5 cent increase in the tax levy mitigates approximately 4 years of natural EAV growth. Our goal is to fairly balance tuition revenue, tax income, and a responsible/conservative budget for the good of the 16,000 plus students we serve annually. I am charged with operating the best Community College that I can. It takes people to do that and people are expensive. We do a good job. Our communities tell us this everyday. I stand behind my comments and my College. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:40 pm: ==So raise the property tax and then get money owed once a budget is done?== What money? Unless the state back taxes for 2015, the revenues will be going forward. All indications are that there won’t be any back payments. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:44 pm: ==Silly me. I thought most taxes where percentage based.== It’s more complicated than that. Local taxing bodies pass a dollar amount levy that is then converted to a percentage based on the EAV of the district. The maximum percentage that can be levied is set by referendum. Caps can be on the levy amount or the percentage or the percentage increase of the levy. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:51 pm: One more ==it also raises an interesting question about fiduciary responsibility…. raising taxes because you can without a need for the money makes me think they should not have such power in the first place. pretty blatant abuse of taxing authority== Who says there is not a need for the money. If you anticipate a flat or declining revenue due to the proposed caps (for example, a capped percentage combined with a declining EAV would result in a revenue decrease) and you anticipate increased costs (due to inflation, pay increases, a pension cost shift, etc.) the responsible thing to do is raise the levy as high as feasible. You then have the option to bank excess revenue in a rainy fund (very prudent in Illinois) OR decrease the levy in the future (caps do not prevent future decreases). Any district that does not lock in a higher rate is not being very responsible from a fiduciary standpoint. - thechampaignlife - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:57 pm: ===I stand behind my comments and my College=== As a resident of Parkland’s district, I stand behind Parkland as well. A $15 increase on my property tax bill is money well spent. - JS Mill - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:06 pm: =Gotta love educrat “common core” math.= Now there is an intelligent remark! /snark First, a matter of vocabulary- “Cost” does not mean the same as “funding”. In your own irrational manner you demonstrate that even you know costs do rise, not just salaries but the cost of “things”. Fuel costs, one of the biggest commodity purchases we make, have gone down. Most of the rest of what we purchase has increased steeply. Books for example (BTW- you should read one some time). Meanwhile…we are going to receive something in the realm of 25% of our funding for transportation. You won’t see that in the papers but you can see it in FRIS. We were cut down to 45% just by the formula and then we will only get 50% of that. Same with everything except special ed payments for these mandated programs. Bob, MANDATED means we MUST provide them no matter what. Transportation and special education are very expensive. Get out of the sun Bob, I worry about you. DuPage- you “think” wrong. Per the governor’s hand picked state superintendent K-12 has lost $3.5 billion in funding since 2009. Well Done @Ramage. - nixit71 - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:11 pm: Per the ICCB database, President Ramage receives Extra Duty Pay in the amount of $20K. What “extra duty” does the president of a college have that would fall outside the job description of president? Just taking a random sample of Parkland employees reveals some admins and professors receiving as much as 33% in “extra duty pay”. Perhaps the next cost savings would be to incorporate some of these “extra duties” into the job descriptions. - Arizona Bob - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:26 pm: @JSMILL = “Cost” does not mean the same as “funding”.= It does if you balance your budget, as all responsible schools do. If you’re spending 27% more and finding your expenses, the “funding” would have to match that increase, unless you were “funded” at much higher levels than you needed 7 years ago. Was that the case JS? =Bob, MANDATED means we MUST provide them no matter what. Transportation and special education are very expensive.= Right, and I have no doubt that those items are part of operational spending, which apparently is being funded at 27% higher levels than 7 years ago… =Get out of the sun Bob, I worry about you.= and I suggest you get out of the Illinois cold, JS. Apparently it’s giving you a “brain freeze” based on your inability to understand that if your expense meet your funding in Illinois, funding from all the sneaky, backdoor means made available from Springfield keep increasing your funding by about 50% above the rate of inflation based on per pupil spending in Illinois. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:38 pm: Nixit - that’s exactly what I was referencing earlier. Here’s the link to the initial article in the News-Gazette. President Ramage mentions almost no cuts at the top (save for “non-essential travel” and the potential “won’t fill vacancies” ploy) and the board president is quoted as saying he won’t challenge President Ramage. Way to lay down on that one. http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-11-06/parkland-plans-50-percent-less-state-funds-institutes-2-million-cuts.html And here are the openings at Parkland - all 8 of them. Most are part-time and it looks like none of them come with benefits. http://www.parkland.edu/facultystaff/EmploymentOpportunities - Dist 505 resident & employee - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:46 pm: I as well stand behind Parkland College. I’ve worked for the college 15 years, while I’m not exactly proud to be from Illinois I am very proud to call Parkland College my place of employment. We’ve all given up something to keep our college afloat including Dr. Ramage. I don’t trust easily but Dr. Ramage cares deeply about our college and the people who teach and support our students. I hate taxes as much as anyone but $15 is nothing compared to a 2% income tax hike….I firmly believe Parkland is in the financial condition it’s in because of the leadership we have at this college. - Ramage - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 2:22 pm: Extra duty is a “catch all” term. In the case of my contract, I do nothing “extra” for the $20k you point out. It is the sum of a car allowance, related expenses, and SURS contribution. If they were not separated from base pay somehow, annual cost of living increases (if any) would be based on base salary AND allowance/SURS/expense. That would not be right. Same deal for other administrators. I’ll anticipate the next bit: My total compensation is 5.4x the “average American worker’s salary”, all in. The national average wage index for 2014 is 46,481.52. Noted management consultant Peter Drucker thought an appropriate ratio for CEO pay was a around 25-to-1 (as he suggested in a 1977 article) or 20-to-1 (as he expressed in a 1984 essay and several times thereafter). 5.4x does not seem out of line. My contract is public information. No need to FOIA. Just ask and I’ll send it. The faculty explanation is simple; teaching extra classes above and beyond contractual obligations and/or summer teaching. I didn’t call out administrative cuts specifically for the newspaper. I should have. There are 2 planned reductions and an additional 2 possible. Proportional to the faculty and staff, 2 (or 4) admin reductions makes sense. Also, the Board Chair “won’t challenge” because I communicate regularly and often with the Chair and the entire Board. Had there been concern or adjustments needed, I would have made them long before I shared them with the newspaper. Thanks for allowing me to share this information. - downstate commissioner - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 2:57 pm: Went thru this when PTELL was adopted in our county. One school district raised its levy a bunch, and a lot of people were upset, including two of the County Board members were so vocal in support of it. Oh, by the way, I have levied at the maximum rates for years, with few complaints. All that is required to justify the money is do your job… - Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 3:13 pm: State CC’s and Universities should share in the pain that the rest of the state SHOULD undergo.. If there are no reductions in spending, then the cycle of raising taxes(property,sales, income) every few years will never end. It’s guys like Ramage that give the RAUN Man a political leg o stand on. Enough already!! - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 3:34 pm: If you are trying to manage an organization and somebody tells you that your ability to raise revenue from a major revenue source may be frozen in the future what would you do? And why is there this continued misconception that no cuts are occurring. If you think that you haven’t been paying attention. - Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 3:44 pm: Downstate commissioner-do you mid giving us the name of your county? Wouldn’t mind seeing how the last gubernatorial vote went. - Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 3:55 pm: Follow up. Poor Pres Ramage. Made $8K more in 2015 than in 2014. Man, these cuts are brutal. His poor CC is going to need all the taxes it can get to support his future $200k annual pension. - logic not emotion - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 4:24 pm: Third Reading 11:10: Are you assuming everyone is under PTEL? Lots of places aren’t. - "Lucky" - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 4:58 pm: How about some “Special” lottery tickets for the states community colleges?? It would work like this, The state sells lottery tickets and keeps all the money! - JS Mill - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 5:01 pm: Parkland is not perfect, no one or place is. They do provide a great service to K-12 schools and the U of I along with thousands of students. They provide dual credit programs at a ridiculous value and are great to work with from the K-12 stand point. The parents of kids that take advantage of dual credit opportunities save tens of thousands of dollars. Far out stripping the cost of the property taxes and saving the kids and parents from untold amounts of student loans (no loans for high school students getting dual credit). Kids in certification programs save bundles of money too and can leave high school career ready. Parkland is a great pipeline to the U of I and, again, saves families tens of thousands of dollars. That does not apply to area residents alone. Suburban kids come down and enroll at Parkland as a gateway to the U of I. The parkland credits can turn into a U of I transcript very seamlessly. Too few understand this process of the benefits of schools like Parkland that have relationships with 4-year universities and high schools. They are one of the best deals going. @nixit71- Tom Ramage has responsibilities on par with a large corporation. His compensation is well below the CEO level. I am not a friend of his but I have worked with him in the past and he is very good at his job. His compensation is reasonable by any standard. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 5:14 pm: My family has been involved with Parkland since they operated out of temporary space in Downtown Champaign in the late 1960’s. We made a major (for us) financial commitment to the College a number of years ago. Ramage is a class act who is working with an excellent Board of Trustees along with a very dedicated staff to run one of the best CC’s in Illinois. Check the stats on student satisfaction and outcomes-they’re very good. If you’re looking for admin bloat and places to cut in Champaign, drive across town to the Big U. Plenty of low-hanging fruit there. - Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 5:35 pm: JS Mill. I am glad your experience with an Illinois CC has been so positive. Our family(s)have Been awful. Lousy advisors, horrible credit transfers, and tone deaf,far removed from the real world faculty. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.