Orland Park Officials Pass Resolution Asking State Legislators To Restore Full LGDF Funding To Municipalities

Orland Park IL

06 May, 2021

11:28 AM

Description

By Jon DePaolis, the Richard Free Press: ORLAND PARK, Ill. – A proposed cut to municipalities' portion of the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) is being rebuked by Orland Park officials. The Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees voted 7-0 Monday, May 3, to pass a resolution asking state legislators and Gov. J.B. Pritzker "to protect and preserve existing levels of LGDF revenue and any other state-collected local government revenues that are shared with local municipalities to provide appropriate levels of service to their residents." The resolution also asked them to "completely restore the distribution of LGDF revenue to local governments to the original percentage share of 10% that was agreed to over 50 years ago." The resolution comes after Pritzker proposed a state budget that would cut the LGDF by an additional 10%, which has already been reduced over the past decade. "This revenue reduction is being proposed at a time when local governments are already expending additional funds on the COVID-19 emergency response," Mayor Keith Pekau read from the resolution. The resolution stated that "another decrease in LGDF revenue will have an adverse effect on Village residents and other residents throughout the State of Illinois." "This is yet again another example of the State of Illinois moving the finish line," Trustee Michael Milani said after the resolution was read. "The distributions have been constantly reduced, and it's really becoming a joke at this point." Milani said he saw that Mokena will lose $225,000 if the reduction is approved and asked what Orland Park would be out. Pekau responded that the reduction would be about $400,000 for Orland Park. Trustee Brian Riordan said some surrounding communities may be impacted worse than others because of the proposed reduced funding. "This would be a significant impact on them, so I fully support this [resolution]," Riordan said. During his comments on the item, Pekau mentioned that the Village was supposed to receive around $9 million in COVID-19 relief funds. "We got $450,000," he said. "To put it in perspective, Mokena got $900,000. That's double [of our share], and they are one-third of our population." Pekau said that happened because Mokena's share was distributed by Will County, not Cook County or the State. "In this case [of the LGDF], it is the State again keeping the money to themselves," he said. "Because they cannot balance their own budget, they are balancing it on the backs of municipalities — which really means they are balancing it on the backs of you." Pekau said Orland Park has a robust economy, so it has been able to absorb the reduced funding from the LGDF over the years. But not every community is as fortunate as Orland Park. "Think about some of our neighbors to the east who are losing $2 million a year in this revenue and have had to eliminate their police departments or fire departments, and the County now has to pick that up," he said. "That's because of the LGDF. It hurts all of us. It hurts us in ways because of all of our neighbors having those issues, what do you think happens with crime and other things? It just feeds on itself all the way through the suburbs through downstate. Every community gets damaged by this. The State is doing it because they mismanaged their own funds." Subscribe Richard Free Press is a one-stop destination for the news that most affects you, the southwest suburban resident. Be an informed citizen of the town you live in and love.