Ding! Ding! Round Two

click for larger view

DeKalb County taxpayers might be in a precarious position. Much of the Ray Bockman led county board has been in such a hurry to approve the Mega-Dump in Cortland that they’ve already spent the money.

Their intent is to sell General Obligation Bonds so they can spend the money NOW, darn it. The problem is GO Bonds pledge the full faith and credit of DeKalb County taxpayers to the debt issuer.

Bockman engineered a “regular Board meeting” a week before the regular Board meeting so he could keep the plan on track. That way at the regular regular Board meeting they can move ahead with the approval to sell the debt bonds, now that the Mega-Dump has been approved.

The tipping fees from the Mega-Dump is what they’ll tell taxpayers they are going to use to repay the debt bonds. Keep in mind, however, that they are pledging to bond buyers the full faith and credit of the taxpayers of DeKalb County.

If something were to go wrong with collecting the tipping fees then property taxes would have to be raised to make the debt payments.

What could go wrong with collecting the tipping fees? Well, the objectors to the Mega-Dump might win their appeal, either to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, or the Illinois Supreme Court — if necessary.

If the 16 County Board members actually based their decision on the full parameters that the law afforded them in siting applications they might have considered WMI’s past record. That includes a plethora of lawsuits by other communities who felt that WMI wasn’t fulfilling their financial promises.

The fiscally responsible thing to do is to put their pet projects on hold at least until they get their first tipping fee check.

But taxpayers should take note that the Courthouse and Jail expansion plans are the highest priority of the Bockman Band of 16.

It doesn’t matter that the recent earthquake placed the landfill site in a seismic activity zone BEFORE the public hearing and WMI’s paid experts said that it wasn’t.

It doesn’t matter that there are kids living and attending school close by and the ONLY non-WMI paid expert (and non-paid by anyone else) to testify at the hearing warned of the dangers of H2S and the Illinois Dept. of Public Health backed him up. Heck, one of the board members taught chemistry in class! What’s a PhD in chemistry and the IDPH have to do with anything?

And who needs any credibility when it comes to a major landfill expansion plan that straddles the headwaters the East Branch of the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River that runs through Sycamore? Certainly not a “traffic expert” who repeatedly told the Pollution Facilities Control Board that cops would write tickets to any trucker for “Failure to Use WMI’s Designated Route” and who testified that his professional experience with farm traffic was limited to driving behind one a couple of times.

Never mind that WMI can appeal any of the feel good amendments the Board slapped on the siting application… without fear of losing the siting approval they were granted. If safety was of a real concern, well, throw money at it. WMI has a lot of money. They’re almost as big as BP!

Only a fool would think that even the fact that taxpayers have rejected the jail expansion plans in not one but two referendums would give the Bockman Band of 16 cause for pause.

There has been enough “pandering” to constituents.

Fortunately, not all is lost in DeKalb County. There is hope for the near future.

First, Bockman is set to retire in a couple of years. His absence will be worth the pension we got gouged for.

click for larger view

Eight members of the Board thought enough of their constituents, and of our future generations, to vote no to the twisted notion that WMI met the burden of proof on each and every one of the nine criteria specified in 39.2.

These eight and those elected to replace the 16 who sold their integrity in the next two Novembers can turn Bockman into a lame duck for a few months, maybe even fire him, and then really turn this County around. Who knows, maybe the elected will dictate to the staff for once and, oh my, one of these “revenue streams” will get designated for property tax relief!

Aren’t you excited?

More than a thousand DeKalb County residents have been communicating on social networks and email and that number is growing. About 500 different taxpaying properties put up a No Mega-Dump sign and we could have easily added a few hundred more if had enough signs. Several hundred people have met for the first time in various rallys and meetings. Many from this growing group read more of siting application and public hearing transcripts than a significant portion of the County Board.

This is the good fight. Join in.

Those voting against the Mega-Dump

Ken Andersen, Kevin Chambliss, Eileen Dubin, John Gudmunson, Pat LaVigne, Mark Todd, Scott Newport, Derek Tyson

Those voting for the Mega-Dump

Marlene Allen, Larry Anderson, Jerry Augsburger, Sally DeFauw, John Emerson, Julia Fauci, Michael Haines, John Hulseberg, Jeff Metzger, Riley Oncken, Paul Stoddard, Mike Stuckert, Ruth Anne Tobias, Anita Turner, Pat Vary, Steve Walt