CU-CitizenAccess.org (https://www.cu-citizenaccess.org/category/government/)
Champaign County officials say they are facing a host of critical repairs and improvements that need to be made at county buildings but have been deferred for years.
In response, they have proposed a 0.25 percent sales tax referendum they say will cost a median-income household only $20 per year.
“I think our patrons are pretty used to how the system works,” said Kelly Strom, collection manager at the Champaign Public Library. “If they don’t want to wait on a holds list, then they can get a rental book if it’s available for that particular title. Otherwise, they seem to go pretty quickly because we buy so many copies.”
“The state of Illinois expects us to spend more than half a million dollars and maybe – or maybe not – get reimbursed for it in this fiscal year,” said Isak Griffiths, the executive director of Courage Connection. “That’s a huge burden to put on a social service agency.”
If you want to watchdog your local or state government, using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act is one of the best ways to go.
So CU-CitizenAccess.org is offering how-to guides on how to file effective Freedom of Information requests.
Four of the seven Illinois governors elected from 1960 through 2006 went on to serve time in prison, so it’s no surprise that Illinois has developed a reputation more criminal than credible.
Nor is it surprising that Illinois earned a D+ in the State Integrity Investigation, an assessment of state government transparency and accountability by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity.
Champaign County landlords are reaping more than $20 million in tax exemptions a year by taking advantage of a loosely written state law and an interpretation of that law by the county supervisor of assessments.
The Illinois State Board of Elections web site is packed with data on contributions to state and local candidates and on how those candidates spend their money. So we thought that CU-CitizenAccess.org would offer a quick tutorial in how to find that information yourself. First, go to the State Board’s Web site at http://www.elections.il.gov/ as shown in Figure-1. Figure 1Move your cursor towards the top middle and click on “Candidates” to get going. When you click on that, you will get this screen as show in Figure-2.Figure 2Move your cursor towards the middle of the page and click on “Campaign Disclosure”, located within the “Welcome Candidates” list.
Despite a 2003 effort to limit the number of unused vacation days employees can carry over, Champaign County workers have accumulated more than 62,000 hours of unused vacation.
And that total will cost the county at least an estimated $1.6 million as of the last fiscal year, according to County Administrator Deb Busey.
Illinois state law requires government officials in Champaign County to file forms disclosing financial dealings that might lead to conflicts of interest in their official duties.
But a review by CU-CitizenAccess.org of over 9,000 forms filed by officials over the past five years found that an average 16 percent of officials reveal any specific information.
