BBCHS Salaries BBCHS Property Tax History Village of Bradley TIF Scam
Largest Donor To Friends of BBCHS Gets 23 Year TIF District Tax Break!
BBCHS Board Meeting Agendas and Minutes Including Check Register Monthly Spending The posting of the monthly check register with board meeting minutes came about because of the work of www.forthegoodofillinois.org.
June 30, 2008
BBCHS held a special board meeting to announce funding for their latest proposed expansion. For details on the latest proposed expansion plan see the June 9 article below. Funding will come from $2.1 million in current cash saved, $2.3 million from adding additional bond debt to the property tax roll and $10 million of debt which will not be added to the property tax roll but instead be paid from TIF dollars currently being deferred from the district by the villages, small impact fees now being collected from a small portion of the residential developers in the area and the rest from current revenue received from property taxes. The bottom line is, with this year's property tax bill, they are receiving 112% more then they received in 1996 a 12 year period while enrollment is up an estimated 32% over the same 12 year period. Final enrollment numbers will be know when school starts in late August. They can easily fund this project. No referendum was ever need! Thankfully the voters were wise enough to say enough is enough!
June16, 2008
Property tax bills are out. BBCHS will be collecting $10,649,505 for operating the district. This is a 6.6% increase over last year. They will also collect $590,521 for debt service. This is a 0.22% increase over last year. Please click BBCHS Property Tax History for all the details.
June 9, 2008 Update:
BBCHS Superintendent Hogan's Story Changes Again!
At the March 10, 2008 BBCHS school board meeting, Superintendent Hogan announces there is no need for passage of a property tax referendum. Further more BBCHS can meet their needs by building 5 new classrooms, a new restroom and a weight room. Superintendent Hogan's story changed again at the June 9 BBCHS board meeting. Now the proposed expansion would include construction of fifteen new classrooms; one large physical education room; two new bathrooms; parking lot on North Grand Avenue; infrastructure work including new boiler, piping, electrical wiring, upgraded sprinkler system and components for the future addition of air conditioning. The total cost would be around $14.4 million. The parking lot would be on the east side of the present building. Five homes have been purchased and three more will be purchased for a total of around $1,000,000.
Where is the funding going to come from? Few details were given but the public was told approximately $12,000,000 could be secured by borrowing against future revenue from impact fees on residential developers and TIF district property tax revenue now being taken away from BBCHS by the villages of Bradley and Bourbonnais and given to commercial developers for retailers that would build here anyway without big tax giveaways. Looks like Hogan is finally listening to OUTRAGE. OUTRAGE has been saying all along the funding for new classrooms must come from impact fees and the TIF districts. The 120 acres purchased east on Larry Power Rd. was a huge mistake. Thankfully the voters felt the same way and voted down the referendums in 2006 and 2007 by a wide margin.
March 12, 2008
BBCHS Superintendent Mike Hogan Changes His Story On The Need For Passage Of A Multi-Million Dollar Referendum! OUTRAGE Proven Right!
Funny how the truth comes out in the fullness of time.
BBCHS Superintendent Mike Hogan, without public input, spent $3,000,000 of taxpayer money on 120 acres of farm land several miles east of Route 50 on Larry Power Road. Land, which according to the drainage district in the area, would require a huge lake to be dug because 4000 acres of farm land drains on to the property. Then Mr. Hogan put two huge property tax increase referendums on the ballot in November, 2006. One for borrowing $41,000,000 to build a freshmen only building and a second question asking for on told millions to increase spending on operating the district. All the while telling the voting public how dire the need was for millions of dollars in property tax increases. Statements were made about student enrollment growth projected to be 100 students a year and up. More money would be need for teacher salary increases, pensions, etc.. More teachers and administrators would be needed. Thankfully the voters and OUTRAGE did not buy into the hype. Both referendum questions were voted down.
Superintendent Hogan came back to the voters April, 2007 with a single referendum asking for $41,600,000 for a new school while telling the voters the same stories as he told in the fall of 2006 accept no property tax increase would be needed for increase spending on operating the district. Once again OUTRAGE and the voters did not buy into Mr. Hogan's hype. This time turning down the referendum in every precinct. Fall 2007 enrollment only increased by 17 students. No where near the 100 plus the voters were told would happen.
Now at the March 10, 2008 BBCHS school board meeting, Superintendent Hogan announces there is no need for passage of a property tax referendum. Seems they have plenty of money coming in under their current level of taxation. Further more they can meet their needs by building 5 new classrooms, a new restroom and a weight room in 2009 at the current location on North Street. Funny how the truth comes out in the fullness of time!
What will happen with the 120 acres of farm land the taxpayers have $3,000,000 invested in at $25,000 per acre? With the bursting of the real estate bubble and farm land selling for farm land use at around $5,000 per acre, taxpayers are likely to take a huge loss on this deal. Superintendent Hogan has misled the voters about the financial needs of the district and his action, without voters consent, to purchase farm land for $3,000,000 is likely to be sold at a huge loss. In the private sector when a CEO misrepresents the financial needs of the company and makes bad investments with company funds, the board usually asks for the CEO resignation. The same applies to the BBCHS Board and Mr. Hogan. Time for him to go.