TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF FEBRUARY 6, 2020
COMMITTEE ON STATE LEGISLATION AND RULES
The Honorable Kari K. Steele, President and Members of the Board of Commissioners
Title
Recommendation for the State of Illinois 2020 Legislative Program "ADOPTED AS AMENDED REFER TO FILE ID 20-0053A, 20-0053A-1 and 20-0053A-2" (Deferred from the January 23, 2020 Board Meeting)
Body
I respectfully submit the following legislative initiative and recommendation to the Board of Commissioners for their consideration and guidance.
Legislative Initiative No. 1
Amend the District’s Act to allow the District’s Board of Commissioners the authority to transfer excess revenue from any source legally available for that purpose to the District’s pension fund. Currently, the District only has the statutory authority to transfer property tax and interest income sources to the District’s pension fund. There are times when excess revenues become available from other sources such that it would be helpful for the District’s Board of Commissioners to decide to transfer these excess revenues to the District’s pension fund.
For example, the City of Chicago has announced that it plans to declare a surplus in certain tax increment financing (TIF) districts in 2020, such that the TIF surplus declared will be re-distributed to the units of government whose revenues have gone into the TIF districts. Other examples of revenue sources that may occasionally provide excess revenue, include but are not necessarily limited to personal property replacement tax and resource recovery.
The goal of the legislative initiative would be to amend the District Act to provide the District’s Board of Commissioners with the flexibility to make decisions on excess revenue as they come up from time to time in the future. If the District’s Board of Commissioners decides to transfer excess revenue to the pension fund, such an action would be brought forth at a public meeting of the District’s Board of Commissioners and would require a two-thirds vote approving such action.
Legislative Initiative No. 2
Amend the District Act and other sections of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, as needed, to extend the right to vote for the District’s Board of Commissioners to all registered voters in Cook County. Currently, the right to vote for the District’s Board of Commissioners is limited to those registered voters within the corporate boundaries of the District.
The District has the legislative authority for stormwater management throughout Cook County while only extending the right to vote in Cook County to those registered voters within the corporate boundaries of the District, thereby creating a disconnect wherein registered voters within Cook County but outside of the District’s corporate boundaries cannot vote for the District’s Board of Commissioners. The rationale for this legislative change is to bring the District’s political boundaries into line with its stormwater management boundaries.
Recommended, Brian A. Perkovich, Executive Director, BAP:STM:BO’C:mmv
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for February 6, 2020