JJC Levy Going Up, But Where is the Money Going?

Dear Editor,

The Joliet Junior College Board unanimously approved a tax levy hike on Dec. 13. Board members Jeff May, Bob Wunderlich, Susan Klen, Dan O’Connell, Mike O’Connell and board President Barbara Delaney voted yes to the 16.94 percent increase. 

The levy increase was $8,008,978. Last year’s levy was $47,287,997; the levy for fiscal year 2012 is $55,296,975.

This early Christmas present will significantly affect each taxpayer’s property tax bill in the new year, including those who live in . Add this to the levy increase of about $2 million in 2010 and $5.5 million in 2009, and the total JJC levy increase since the 2008 levy -- the start of the recession -- is approximately 41 percent.  

This is a large tax burden while private sector wages have remained stagnant and unemployment has increased dramatically.

Two incumbents were re-elected to the board last April: May, who said his primary issue was “keeping tax rates and tuition low,” and O’Connell, who said his most important issue was “keeping property taxes down.” O’Connell also said at the time that “people are being taxed out of their homes” and that he voted against fiscal year 2011's $2 million levy increase.

However, now newly re-elected, both voted for the nearly 17 percent increase. That’s going to hurt folks who were being “taxed out of their homes” only nine months ago.

The board has managed to find the loophole around the tax cap. The special purpose portion of the levy is subject to a cap of 5 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. Currently the CPI is 2.7 percent. The levy for debt service and building commission leases is not subject to the cap. They used that loophole to levy more property taxes and spend more money in 2012.

What are they spending the increase on? One good bet is the new culinary building they intend to build in downtown Joliet on the location of the old White store.

In May and June 2011, the board was set to approve what was slated to be a $43 million project for this building. Members of the public came to those meetings and addressed the board, asking why no studies had been done to determine if jobs existed in the district to support such a huge expansion of that program. They asked why JJC didn’t track graduate success of that program to determine if those students were getting any jobs in the district or any jobs at all. 

The board’s response dismissed the public comment and confirmed there hadn’t been any significant research done to justify the massive expansion. The next thing the board did was start discussing how they could add an additional $8 million to finish out the upper two floors of the building, which were supposed to be left unfinished in the plan. 

The board then changed the $43 million plan to $50.5 million plan and voted to approve it. Even the $50.5 million plan does not cover all the operating and maintenance costs and other costs for additional staffing for the building. The taxpayers will be on the hook for that

Taxpayers should note that when the culinary building was approved, JJC still didn’t have the majority state portion of the money in hand. Now more than six months later, they still don’t have that money and some board members are pushing for a January vote to physically start the project. 

Approving such a multimillion dollar project, let alone physically starting it without having the majority of the money for it, is playing risky with taxpayer money at best. 

Brad Baber, Joliet