It has been one year. One whole year and 15,000 words later since I collaborated with the Rock River Times and wrote the Contract with the Community. After one long year, the primary election is in three short weeks. Early voting was delayed by many election commissions.
I will conduct a review of the Contract with the Community, discuss local government actions, inform you which candidates and officeholders have signed the Contract, and fully analyze ballot initiatives you will be voting on when you go to the polls.
The first point of the Contract with the Community is a commitment to Transform Government Processes: There is too much opportunity for public officials to acquire power and use it to allocate privilege. Transforming the process exposes the back rooms to the light of day. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Open government is the right of the people.
The elephant in the room in any conversation about responsible government is Home Rule. I will be discussing the merits and liabilities of Home Rule next week. Today I will review the three initiatives Mayor Mcnamara proposed to limit Home Rule powers.
A few weeks ago, Rockford’s City Council enacted a series of ordinances including recall, a more restrictive debt limit, and a series of changes to how sales or property taxes can be increased. All three initiatives fundamentally transform Rockford government.
First, I applaud the debt limit. Choosing to be responsible when borrowing money is a virtue for any person. It is especially virtuous of government.
Second, I would prefer shorter office terms to recall. Recall is a difficult process to navigate. The burden is on voters to initiate and fulfill the process to remove a public official. The city’s recent effort to make recall even more difficult also speaks volumes.
On the other hand, elections are familiar and a shorter term puts more burden on the elected official and less on the voters.
Third, I applaud special notification of any sales or property tax increase. There should be the notification equivalent of a tornado siren every time taxes may go up.
Notification is not enough. I would prefer a 60 day automatic layover instead of the 7 days passed by the City Council. 7 Days are not enough time for constituents to meet and for neighborhood associations to discuss the proposed increases.
The supermajority requirement is excellent. I question whether it will serve as an adequate protection of taxpayers in the face of arbitration. I foresee an arbitrator ordering a wage increase or denying increased health care premiums, effectively forcing City Council to increase taxes, rendering the supermajority requirement meaningless.
There will be another referendum on your primary ballot when you vote. The proposed Consolidation of the Winnebago County Recorder and the Winnebago County Clerk has the potential to fundamentally transform County government and save significant money. However, there is no information available detailing the volume of records processed by the Winnebago County Recorder’s office compared to the significantly smaller counties with combined offices.
Voters should have a clear understanding of the reasons why Winnebago County currently has separate offices. Moreover, voters should be aware of any potential challenges to be faced along the way. It would be good to see more of this information provided by supporters of the consolidation before we vote. Voters deserve details instead of slogans.
There should be data provided to voters that fully details any larger county’s attempt to fully integrate the two offices. I hope to enjoy a deeper discussion along those lines to be better informed before checking yes on our ballot.
Lastly, the referendum is not worded in such a way to guarantee any savings. The county could consider following the city of Rockford’s lead and pass an ordinance requiring a minimum net savings of $100,000 once the elected Recorder is replaced by a County Clerk appointed Recorder. This would avoid just swapping the elected Recorder with an appointed one, instead of subtracting the elected Recorder.
It is important to note that i do not necessarily agree that more patronage jobs available by executive appointment are better than jobs occupied by those duly elected by “we the people.”
This is not a specific indictment, more a general concern. Elected officials rarely have an opportunity to review an appointee’s qualifications or whether a candidate violates any nepotism ordinances. Taxpayers have even less opportunity.
I have also reported the Airport Authority’s effort to increase taxes on Winnebago County residents. The Authority borrowed millions from local banks and are paying almost 1 million dollars in interest every year. Ironically, this tax is estimated to take in an additional 1 million dollars from county taxpayers.
I believe Authority officials should explain what happened to their multi million dollar reserves before asking for more tax dollars.
As always, the Contract is available for review on our website. Feel free to contact me at John@johnmguevara.org or on my cell at 815-978-8171. I will spend the next several weeks discussing additional points in the contract and sharing feedback from primary candidates.
