FS_092117

8 | September 21, 2017 | The frankfort station news
frankfortstation.com
Will County Board speaker
proposes hiring freeze
Submitted by the Will
County Board
Will County Board Speaker
Jim Moustis (R-Frankfort)
has called for a countywide
hiring freeze for the 2018
fiscal year. His announcement
was made in the wake
of the recently passed state
of Illinois budget, which reduced
funding for local governments.
He has also asked
county departments to hold
the line on personnel hires
for the remainder of this
year’s fiscal budget.
“It would be financially
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prudent for the county to
take steps now to compensate
for expected funding
cuts from the state,” Moustis
said. “We have to plan accordingly
and not outspend
our revenues. I believe we
can make our hiring choices
more efficient without impacting
any vital services to
the people of Will County.”
Local governments across
Illinois, such as Will County,
will see less funding from
the state of Illinois as it keeps
a greater percentage of local
sales tax receipts and decreases
replacement tax allocations,
local distribution
funds, sales tax surcharges,
and regional transit authority
dollars. Will County specifically
will see $2.4 million
less. Finally, county health
insurance premiums for employees
are expected to rise
by an estimated $2.3 million
next year. In total, Will
County will have to make up
for a $4.7 million reduction
in revenue. The total county
budget for the current fiscal
year is $570 million.
“We will see less money
next year, but nothing we
can’t handle,” Moustis said.
“I’m just asking the county
executive and all other departments
to plan ahead so
they don’t get stuck in a tight
spot next year.”
Along with a temporary
hiring freeze, Moustis asked
departments not to increase
their budgets for personnel
during the next fiscal year.
Essential services, such as the
Sunny Hill Nursing Home,
would be exempt from the
freeze. Individuals currently
in the hiring process would
also not be affected
d161
From Page 4
does not represent our STAR
scores.”
District 161 will bring another
report on PARCC to the
board in November.
Also at the meeting, the
Summit Hill school board
took a moment to examine
the potential impact of the
newly signed into law education
funding formula, also
known as the evidence-based
funding formula.
“The base minimum funding
formula is what is being
disbursed now, and there
[are] other distributions
irma
From Page 3
know that, to start stocking
up,” he said.
“The week leading up to
it was pretty chaotic. Anywhere
you can think of that
sells batteries or flashlights
or water, whether it’s CVS
[or] Ace Hardware, any of
the little places you would
think about, somebody had
already been there, and it
was just wiped out. Even
when they got them in stock,
as quick as they could bring
pallets out, people were just
grabbing them.”
Michor mentioned the bizarre
happenings in Tampa
Bay, where it and areas along
the coast ran dry because of
strong winds pushing the water
away from the coast. Other
areas experienced a rare
phenomenon meteorologists
call hurricane bulge, where
the low pressure from the
storm is so strong it actually
sucks water vertically, creating
a bulge in the ocean beneath
the center of the storm.
In preparation for the
storm and the possibility for
storm surge and flooding,
areas along the Gulf Coast
were evacuated inland, and
schools were canceled and
used as secondary evacuation
shelters.
Michor said people were
based on the evidence-based
piece of the formula that are
going to come later so that
it’s coming in little by little
as the formulas are developed
and allocated to the
districts,” Rains said. “That
will be probably a standing
item as we find out more
about what the allocations
are and how we can utilize
them in our budgets.”
In August, District 161
received two categorical
payments from the State of
Illinois for the 2016-2017
academic year. That provided
$237,837 to account for a
portion of the funds owed.
The State is behind in
for the most part compassionate
about stocking up,
and some families even took
in people and pets after the
shelters filled up.
People in their neighborhood
cleared debris around
their houses and walked the
neighborhood to prevent
any stray items from becoming
projectiles in the strong
winds, and everyone stocked
up on nonperishable food
items in case they lost power.
There was a lot of uncertainty
between meteorologists
and weather forecasts
about the path of the storm,
which made it stressful for
people all over the state.
The storm ultimately took
a turn to the East and curved
inland, missing Lithia, but
not before being projected to
send a direct hit their way.
“At one point on the news,
they actually mentioned Fish
Hawk, that the eye was going
to go over there at one point,”
Michor said.
Michor said his wife, who
works at an area hospital, was
required to be in the area to
relieve the teams who stayed
during the storm after it was
over.
Once the storm arrived
around midnight on Sunday,
Sept. 10, Michor's children,
Haley and Ethan, slept in an
interior room in their house
where they had put a mattress
up against the exterior wall
payment by approximately
$730,000, to date. That
amount is to be accounted for
in the district’s fourth-quarter
installment for categoricals.
“I think we’ll eventually
get it, it’s just a matter of
when,” said Doug Wiley, director
of business and transportation.
Wiley referenced a recent
news article he read and
said as a provision of the
new budget bill, Gov. Bruce
Rauner had until Dec. 31
to issue some debt. The action
later taken by Rauner is
mostly believed to help pay
off the backlog of bills, Wiley
said.
and stashed their emergency
supplies.
Their dogs — Boomer,
Baxter, Dakota and Sadie —
waited out the storm as well
and were well-equipped with
a tarp and sod that the Michors
set up in the garage for
them to do their business during
the storm.
While the Michors had
no damage to their home or
yard other than a broken tree
branch, areas near them experienced
flooding, power
outages and downed trees,
and schools were closed the
following week because of
water damage sustained during
the storm.
Michor said the news stations
were all predicting different
paths for the storm,
which was extremely stressful,
but said it was a whole
different experience leading
up to the storm as a Florida
resident.
“Because this is our first
[hurricane], I can tell you it’s
much different being down
here versus being up there,”
Michor said. “Like how my
family saw it versus how we
actually were in it was a lot
different.
“I know that the State of
Florida was very much ready
for it, probably because of
the problems with Houston...
Down here, they’re working
pretty quickly to get everything
restored.”
Borgens questioned if the
checks cleared.
Wiley said payment was
directly deposited to the district
without issue.
In a related development,
the district’s first September
payment for general state aid
came in.
“They’re actually caught
up with their general state aid
the best they can right now,”
Wiley said.
Wiley noted that General
State Aid payments in years
past are generally paid on
time and said the issue continues
with the categoricals.
“More on the funding formula
as it unfolds,” Rains
said.