It is official. Cook County certified the election results confirming my re-election and the election of three new trustees Sean Kampas, Joni Radaszewski and Brian Riordan. Joni won by just 43 votes. A reminder that every vote counts and your efforts mattered. Every little bit helped to overcome the Chicago Machine and Chicago unions that pumped over $230,000 into the race to try to defeat us – they failed!
Orland Park is a great place to live and is a thriving community. I am committed to seeing that continue. To do that, I will, from time to time ask for you to help by contacting your state legislators about pending legislation.
Currently, there are two issues that I need your help on. The Illinois House has passed HB2789 and the governor has threated to decrease the Local Government Distributive Fund yet again.
First, HB 2789 would give control over how both public and private schools operate to the Illinois Department of Health if there’s a public health declaration.
Springfield legislators think that this inept agency knows more than school boards, principals, teachers and families about what’s best for their community. A one-size fits all approach will not work for Illinois. And it certainly won’t work for our students.
The unions are backing this bill. We have witnessed first-hand as CTU and IEA tried to keep our kids out of school as long as possible. They are trying to take even more control over our children’s education from local boards, schools and parents.
Please contact your state senators and ask them to vote no on HB2789.
Also, the governor is threatening to yet again reduce LGDF. In 1969, when the state implemented an income tax, it agreed to share 10% with local municipalities on a per capita basis. In 2011 the state reduced the sharing to 6%, taking those funds to dump into the state’s mismanaged budget.
Now the governor is threatening to slash the LGDF even further, impacting municipal budgets. The state continues to try to fill its budget holes on the backs of residents, businesses and local municipalities. To put this in perspective, last year alone, the 40% reduction in the LGDF from what was agreed to a half a century ago, had a $4.05 million impact on Orland Park’s budget.
Because of our strong local economy, Orland Park has been able to survive this annual hole in our budget. Many of our neighbors are not as fortunate as up to 20% of their budget relies on this funding. In turn, many have been forced to eliminate police, fire and other services. The county and neighboring communities must now fill that gap.
It is time to put an end to this and demand that state officials stop taking our money because they are incapable of managing state finances. Please contact your state representatives and senators and demand that they fully restore the LGDF to 10% as was agreed to in 1969.
You can find your state legislators here. I appreciate your help.
Keith
P.S. A reminder that I will be hosting a fundraiser to celebrate our victory on May 27th at 6PM at Elements by Odyssey. You can get tickets or sp
