Mayor’s Row……..by Ned Mitchell
Now that all the editorial writers, commentators, politicians, employees, and coffee shop experts have had their say about the Maytag closing in Herrin, I’ll have mine. Business as usual is exactly what we see in this case! Another factory joins General Henry Biscuit, Joy Manufacturing, Roundys, and several others as they move their operations and jobs out of this state and into another. Notice I did not say these jobs are being lost to Mexico or China. They are not; they are being lost to neighboring states that are eager to grab the jobs. Let’s examine why that is happening in Illinois from a small town mayor’s perspective.
The first thing Illinois leaders, and I use that term loosely, should do is investigate why an Illinois factory that has been here for 60 years would suddenly pull up stakes and move to Ohio. I’ve done some limited research and found that Ohio has a much lower cost as far as worker’s compensation and unemployment rates. Ohio is also on an active hunt for factories wanting to relocate. They pursue every lead and hunt down every prospect. I’m sure we in Illinois are also in pursuit of jobs but do we have the tools in place to land the project? It appears to me that we do not.
I have the unique situation where I am not only an elected official I am also a small business owner. In Illinois for instance my unemployment contribution has doubled within the past year or so. Even though one of my employees is at the age if he were laid off he would not be able to draw unemployment, I still have to pay into that system. This same employee, due to his age is Medicare eligible, but I still have to pay high worker’s compensation rates on him even though if he is injured on the job Medicare will be his primary insurer. Seems a bit unfair to me, but that is how the system is set up in Illinois. I’ll admit that doubling my unemployment contribution is small potatoes to me and is only a drop in the bucket but it is still a 100% increase. I can absorb that rate increase because I only have two employees. Just south of us in Herrin Maytag has 1,000 employees. Double their unemployment rate and we are talking huge amounts of money. On top of the unemployment and worker’s compensation rates being way out of line Illinois has one of the most regressive property tax systems in the nation. Businesses are taxed out of the state in this most unfair of all taxes.
To add insult to injury though is a problem that most economic gurus in this state fail to publicly mention and that is our vastly under funded pension system. This is a huge problem for prospective businesses. Let’s say you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company looking to expand your operation. You put out feelers from prospective states looking for the best deal for your company. Illinois comes to mind and your developers study the prospects. Almost immediately you read financial reports from bonding companies and they have less than flattering things to say about Illinois’ fiscal health. Glaring under the spotlight of financial mismanagement is the under funded pension plan in Illinois. Today there is a $44 billion dollar hole in this fund alone. Make no mistake about it, someday somewhere somebody will have to pay this debt. A shrewd business owner will quickly assume, and rightfully so, those goofs in Illinois will turn to businesses to pay off this debt in the future. Illinois is already labeled as one of the worst states to business in and this is one example of why. Is it any wonder why our businesses are packing up and leaving before they have to pay for Illinois’ mismanagement?
Sure we still land some factories here and there but we are lagging so far behind the rest of the Midwestern states that it is troubling to me. Now if I can sit in Sesser and see that why one earth cannot our elected officials in Springfield see that? I suspect they can, and to quote our famous reformer/unreformer governor, they just don’t have the testicular fortitude to do anything about it.
Sen. James Meeks of Chicago folded his campaign for governor last week after announcing that he and the reformer/unreformer governor had reached an agreement. That’s great news for those guys but what about the rest of us? In the works is a massive cash influx to the Illinois education system. Make no bones about it that needs to be done, however the devil will for sure be in the details on this one. The rumor being reported is that the Illinois Tollway system will be sold or leased to come up with the money. That idea creates a lot of problems for a lot of people. It is also being said that property tax relief is not a part of this plan. Great!
Consider that Chicago schools are going to try and grab most of this money on the table and as usual brush a few crumbs off on the floor for the rest of us. The main problem with this idea is that the Illinois Tollway system operates outside of Chicago and Cook County for the most part. The system is mainly in the surrounding counties and has been paid for by those folks and not the Chicago residents. Is it fair to take something that has been paid for by residents of DuPage County, sell it and give most of the proceeds to Cook County or Chicago schools? I’ll say they get that done after the fight and many court battles.
Let’s just give that concept the Sesser test though to be sure. How about we sell Broadway Street in Sesser? It is a main avenue in Sesser dividing the town east and west. We could sell it to a foreign company as Indiana has done on their tollway system. Once we sell it the new owners decide who can drive on it, how fast you can drive and maybe even start charging to drive on it. After the sale we take the money the city got for the road and we give it to Christopher so the Bearcats can have a new football field. I don’t think that would be too popular here in Sesser and I doubt that the reformer/unrefomer’s idea about selling something that taxpayers and users in Du Page County have paid for and giving the proceeds to Chicago will be very popular either.
Another concept being looked by the state is to sell some buildings to private enterprise and we need to give that the Sesser test too. If we were to sell the city hall and then rent it back from the new owners, would that make sense? Quite simply no it would not and why on earth would the State of Illinois even entertain such an idea? Would it make sense is they key question that apparently everybody in Springfield is missing.
Sesser’s employee pension plan would be in bad shape too if we conducted our business like the State of Illinois does. What is so difficult about collecting money from taxpayers to fund an employee pension fund? We collect the money as do all units of local government and we put it into this fund. We LEAVE the money there; we DO NOT borrow from it! If we were to start borrowing this money and spending it elsewhere we too would soon be in a huge financial mess and looking to the taxpayers to bail us out. I know, it is another simple concept from Sesser; it just amazes me that folks in Springfield cannot seem to grasp these facts.
You still have time to get a trivia team together for the Maple Hill Trivia Night fundraiser coming June 2nd. The event will be held at Valente’s Terrace on Sesser’s Main Street and ALL proceeds will go toward installing a new vinyl fence on the north side of the cemetery. If you cannot play, you can still donate to the cause and help us keep Maple Hill Cemetery looking good!
If you need us or have a suggestion to make Sesser a better place, (other than running me off) give us a call at 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write to us at nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org
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