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Blaming the state

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Illinois

* From the Pontiac Daily Leader…

With warm weather fast approaching, pool season is on the horizon. However, Chenoa sees a major source of summer income in doubt, with its pool liner in a state of disrepair and the time window to fix it closing. The Chenoa City Council talked at length Monday night about how best to go about fixing the pool.

Parks, Public Health, and Safety Commission Gary Dreher intimated his distress with the pool situation, noting how numerous calls out to third parties were rebuffed or otherwise unanswered. […]

A manager of the pool, Stephanie Smithson, expressed doubt that another patching job would tide the pool over this year as it had in years past. Dreher subsequently pushed blame on to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget cuts.

“This whole thing with the governor not wanting to give communities money for projects such as this, for getting any money through a grant, has really thrown a monkey wrench into things — not only here in Chenoa, but all through out the state,” Dreher said.

* According to the comptroller’s website, Chenoa, population 1,788, was sitting on $558,172 in general cash reserves at the end of last fiscal year, up almost $28K from the prior year. It had another $317,040 in “special revenue” reserves, up about $3500 from the previous year.

Also, last fiscal year Chenoa received $173,942 from state income tax revenue sharing, $186,009 from its share of the state sales tax, another $31,176 from the state’s personal property replacement tax and $40,396 from its share of the state video gaming tax. It also has a TIF district.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:36 pm

Comments

When you give away money, it becomes expected. An entitlement. The government has spoiled a lot of people.

Comment by Peoria Guy Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:39 pm
I find it odd that they can’t even get businesses to call them back about installing a pool liner. It sounds like they are not trying too hard.

Also, the article does not list a price, I’m guessing because the city council had not done enough to know what it would cost. If you don’t know how much something costs, how can you blame the state for not paying for it?

Basically this is a bunch of people not doing anything and sitting around gripping about someone else not fixing their problems when they haven’t done enough work to figure out what their problems really are.

Comment by Ahoy! Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:44 pm
I’m pretty liberal, but the expectation of Chenoa for the State Gov to sweep in and ‘rescue’ their pool with those cash reserves on hand is the very definition of egregious.

If they are building a new highway bypass, a new fire dept, police station…fine, asking for a grant would be acceptable.

When we’re cutting services to children on vents, and autistic kids, fix your own darn pool.

Comment by How Ironic Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:46 pm
Pipe down and fix the pool. Your priority isn’t even in the top 10,000 state wide. It’s not a state asset. Just fix it and cool off.

Comment by A guy Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:48 pm
Rauner can’t expect to march around the state trying to create a straw man without turning into one himself.

Comment by chi Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:50 pm
maybe the city members in charge of all that money do not like the pool, and do not care if it gets fixed. Also maybe all those funds have a spoken for purpose and can not now be used to fix the pool. You can not double spend money. If the city really has that reserve and is not using it to fix the pool, shame on them.

Comment by hhood Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:51 pm
The article mentions that the pool is “a source of revenue,” meaning, I presume, that they charge residents and/or non-residents to use it and/or they have concessions stands.

And they still can’t fix their own pool??

No doubt there are municipalities in real pain from state cuts. But there are probably thousands of unnecessary hands out like this too.

Comment by gopower Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 12:58 pm
OK, a pool is crazy, but half a million in General Fund reserves probably isn’t far from GFOA recommendations and unlike the State, locals don’t “sweep” a wastewater fund to pay for park projects.

Muni’s balance a budget and it’s a bad thing. I don’t get it. Bond companies demand you have a fund balance to get any kind of decent rate for the community.

Comment by Shemp Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:00 pm
The news here seems to be that a local official decided to blame a leaky community pool on a new governor. It appears that no one looked at the cost of a pool fix, whether a patch could work again, or had any experts weigh in on the issue at hand.

A whole lot of local sincerity, and ignorance. It isn’t unusual for someone at that level of a government rant against a situation they wish hadn’t occurred. Nor is it unusual for an official at that level of government to be misinformed, under-informed or ignorant.

It just seems that his rant caught the ear of a reporter from Pontiac who was interested in creating a story about a local official blaming a governor over a pool’s lining costs.

A lot of silly.

Now - what I would do if I was governor is show up in Chenoa with a nice check, spend the day visiting the local businesses, speaking to a group of school kids and then make a sales pitch over shared sacrifices.

This could be a win for everyone.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:04 pm
I do know of one huge expense that has been plaguing Chenoa since 2009- removal of 100s of dead and declining ash trees due to the Emerald Ash Borer (and replanting with other tree species as they can afford to do so). Their community, for its size, was very hard hit- both city trees and homeowner. Removal of just one ash tree can cost over $1000. Replacement can cost another $400-600. They are having to spread this cost out over years, but are also under the gun once a tree succumbs to this tree pest. Ash trees become brittle and dangerous to life and property as they die. So, don’t be so quick to judge their reserves. There is no money out there to help them with this “community” project. If they had a grant lined up for the pool, and it was pulled, it may not be that easy to come up with the needed funds from their GRF, TIF, etc.

Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:11 pm
I think it’s terrible the way that some people, instead of doing their jobs, just go around demonizing others.

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:12 pm
Just a point - take a look at the link to state regs on swimming pools (link is to IDPH):

http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/swimmingpools.htm

Note that the time required for the plan review is eight (8) weeks. And if it’s not perfect the first time, it’s another eight (8) weeks. That’s four (4) months if you screw up.

So, if you screw up once and then get it right, you can start work (bids) sometime in September…..

You could open the pool up in February, 2016……

Comment by Judgment Day Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:17 pm
There’s a former statewide elected official from Chenoa who might be able to help them with fundraising. Maybe a social media campaign.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:21 pm
JD, I guess that explains the lack of public swimming pools nowhere in the state.

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:22 pm
Getting public pools—such as in a hotel–is a nightmare. I have had experience with that.

Comment by Peoria Guy Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:33 pm
I think it’s terrible the way that some people, instead of doing their jobs, just go around demonizing others.

Ha!

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:36 pm
How long has it been since Lake Springfield Beach was open? Didn’t it close because there wasn’t enough money?

Comment by Rufus Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:36 pm
“JD, I guess that explains the lack of public swimming pools nowhere in the state.”
————

No. Just means you can’t get them fixed fast. Everything ends up having a case of the ’slows’

Actually, there might be a solution out there. I know that at least one of our 4 year universities here in Illinois has a small company that does work for them that has put in place a system for doing web based plan reviews for all their food locations (remodeling/new locations) on campus. It’s all digital, and it’s pretty slick.

Might be able to be work for swimming pools with some modifications. Just got through giving them a ‘heads up’. We’ll see.

Btw, eight (8) weeks for a plan review is pretty crazy. And another eight (8) weeks if you don’t get it right the first time. Wow. And not in a good way.

Comment by Judgment Day Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:41 pm
Rufus-

Another link that’s on the link JD sent earlier. You should be able to find it the info there:

http://ehlicv5pub.illinois.gov/Clients/ILDOHENV/PUBLIC/Swimming_Verifications.aspx

Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 1:45 pm
I deal with a lot of small town governments. With the right mayor, expenditures are a big pain in the butt. With the wrong one, nearly impossible. Towns about that size usually have a good source of reserves, but don’t tell that to a city council.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:22 pm
Who wants to be the city official who has to explain to explain during the next year’s budget discussions that the city is broke because it decided to fix the pool instead of heeding Bruce Rauner’s plan to cut funding to cities. Who wants to be that person?

Comment by Open Book Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:22 pm
Quinn? Rauner?

Doesn’t matter. It’s always the Governor’s fault, for a lot of locals.

Comment by walker Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:48 pm
Hmmm. Reminiscent of my Westmont park district’s “dance studio”. If someone else won’t pay for it it won’t get done. When will the state recognize that “free” money encourages boondoggles.

Comment by Catrike Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 2:51 pm
Sorry, but whenever some community starts talking about their public pool, my mind goes to Dixon, Illinois, closing its public pool because of Rita Crundwell.

Comment by Cheswick Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 4:34 pm
Dixon’s pool closure had nothing to do with Rita Crundwell. The pool was operated by the park district and was a WW2 era relic. Wholly separate from the City.

Comment by Shemp Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 5:13 pm
@Shemp - Thank you for clarifying that.

Comment by Cheswick Tuesday, Apr 14, 15 @ 9:32 pm