New Avon Township officials return pay raises
Lake County Eye Sees a Unicorn: A Township Lowers Taxes!The rest of the people posing are other Avon Township elected officials. The check represents the amount the Avon Forward slate is returning to the Township. If you can't read the pic, the amount is $3399, which is the accumulated total of their payraises. The memo on the check says Promises Made, Promises Kept.
However some are grumbling that promises were either not made and/or kept. One person conspicuously absent from the photo is Avon Township Assessor, Bryce Carus. Carus, a member of the Avon Forward slate, has not, and has not indicated he will, return his pay raise. The Daily Herald took notice:
Carus also, after taking over the Avon assessor's office, fired some people while hiring his community-college-attending son. Which, if you think about it, is more disturbing than reneging on a promise to return some salary money to the Township.At an Aug. 10 meeting, five of the newcomers - all but Carus - posed with an oversized check payable to "the people of Avon Township" for $3,999, representing the collective return of the raises. Yingling explained to the audience Carus was not yet in office and intended to return a scheduled 15 percent raise on the assessor's $65,000 salary that became effective when he started Jan. 1. The raise amounted to $9,750. But Carus stressed in interviews this week he never said he planned to return this year's raise and that Yingling knew where he stood on the issue.
Avon Township assessor criticized for hiring son, keeping raise
Carus won his Assessor's race easily in 2009 by running against a discredited opponent. Will history be repeating itself in Avon Township in 2013? One thing to bear in mind: in Illinois it is generally pretty easy to qualify for elected office. However the requirements for Township Assessor are anything but easy. To qualify to be a Township Assessor in Illinois, various certifications and/or course credits are expected of you. For all practical purposes, hardly anyone qualifies.
If you're looking forward to 2013 in Avon Township -- with eyes on the Assessor's office -- you better get to work now! It's not as hard as it looks for people who could qualify to be Assessors. After all, they like fine print and numbers. Come on, who'll step up for that good-paying job? Don't live in Avon Township? The job pays a lot more in some townships in Lake County!
ASSESSOR QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:
All candidates for township or multi-township assessor must file a certificate of qualifications with or prior to their filing of nomination papers pursuant to the provisions of Section 2-45 of the Property Tax code [35 ILCS 200/2-45]. Candidates for township assessor or multi-township assessor cannot be appointed, file nomination papers, or participate as a candidate in a caucus, primary, or general election unless a copy of the certificate of his/her qualifications is filed with the township clerk, board of election commissioners, or the election authority as required by the Election Code [10 ILCS 5/1-1 (et seq)]. Any candidate can qualify by meeting a higher qualification or designation than the minimum requirement for the office for which he/she is a candidate. Candidates who are filing nomination papers in the year 2008 for the 2009 election, participating in a 2009 caucus or participation as a write-in candidate must meet one of the following minimum education requirements. The educational qualification for township or multi-township assessors is generally based upon the equalized assessed value (EAV) of the assessment jurisdiction.
In an introductory assessment jurisdiction with $10 million or less in non-farm EAV and less than $1 million in commercial and industrial EAV a candidate must possess one of the following qualifications:1. Passed the Township Assessor-Introductory Course offered by the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR).In an intermediate assessment jurisdiction with more than $10 million in non-farm EAV and less than $25 million in non-farm EAV and less than $1 million in commercial and industrial EAV, the qualifications will be based upon whether the candidate was previously elected in any such jurisdiction.
2. Passed the Basic Course offered by the Illinois Property Assessment Institute prior to January 1, 1997.
3. Possess a designation approved for larger assessment jurisdictions.1. If the candidate has not been previously elected to office in an assessment jurisdiction that in 1994 had more than $10 million and less than $25 million in non-farm EAV and less than $1 million in commercial and industrial EAV in Section 2-45 (d) of the Property Tax Code [35 ILCS 200/2-45 (d)] the candidate must meet one of the requirements for an introductory assessment jurisdiction.In a larger assessment jurisdiction with more than $25 million in non-farm EAV or more than $1 million in commercial and industrial EAV a candidate must possess one of the following designations in Section 2-45 (c) of the Property Tax Code [35 ILCS 200/2-45(c)]:
2. If the candidate was previously elected to office in an assessment jurisdiction that in 1994 had more than $10 million and less than $25 million in non-farm EAV and less than $1million in commercial and industrial EAV in Section 2-45 (b) of the property tax Code [35 ILCS 200/2-45 (b)] the candidate must meet one of the designation requirements for a larger assessment jurisdiction.1. A Certified Illinois Assessment Officer (CIAO) or the Certified Illinois Assessment Officer-Associate (CIAO-A) from the Illinois Property Assessment Institute.Candidates who are planning to use either the Introductory Course in Assessment Practices or the Certified Illinois Assessing Officer designation will need to contact the Illinois Department of Revenue at (217) 782-6958 for a Certificate of Qualifications. Candidates who are planning to use one of the other approved designations in Section 2-45 will need to request a letter of qualification from those organizations. The letter of qualification from other organizations should specify the type of designation, membership status, and the time period for which the candidate qualifies.
2. A Certified Assessment Evaluator (CAE) or Residential Evaluation Specialist (RES) designation from the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO).
3. A Residential Member (RM), Member Appraisal Institute (MAI), Senior Real Estate Analyst (SREA), Senior Real Property Appraiser (SRPA), or Senior Residential appraiser (SRA) designation from the Appraisal Institute.
4. A Member (IFA), Senior Member (IFAS), or Appraiser-Counselor (IFAC) from the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers.
5. A Member (ASA) designation from the American Society of Appraisers.
Anyone with questions regarding the educational requirements for township or multitownship assessor may call the Illinois Department of Revenue at (217) 524-5263.
State of Illinois Candidate's Guide
22 comments:
After the article in the Daily Herald and all of the comments that appeared on the online version, I called Supervisor Yingling yesterday afternoon and asked him if they really gave back their pay raises. He informed me indeed they had and that he had even provided the Daily Herald with a copy of the his canceled check. So that debunks any negative comments questioning whether the elected officials lived up to their promise.
I was at a HOA meeting where Mr Carus and Assessor Dishman debated the assessments in Avon Township. Mr Carus was on the campaign trail looking to unseat Assessor Dishman and at that meeting Carus said he would give back the 15% pay raise approved for the Assessor's office. Now Assessor Carus owes it to his constituents to live up to his WORD!.....but what do we expect from an old time Lake County Republican.....self above service and doing what many high paid Lake County officials do...hire family members to line the family coffers with our tax dollars.
Do we have a recall process????? I say let's not wait to 2013 and in all seriousness with Carus' age I doubt he will run again.
I am afraid the residents of Avon Township have been duped by yet another greedy Republican.
This is the very thing that has turned me away from supporting any candidates. How many really do what they say the would after elected? How about the Eye researching that?
I don't have a problem with Community College, but at 29 and the only job is the one his Daddy gave him?????
What about the promise of transparency?
Why is Yingling making HIS trustess use FOIA to get PUBLIC information?
Why don't they just ask for the information! A little grandstanding by a certain Trustee.
Yes indeed grandstanding...a trustee has all the information at their finger-tips. Talk about a waste of resources.
Anon:
Certainly Mr. Carus is going against his word and should be called out. The fact that he is a Republican is incidental. He ran on a slate that is aligned with the Democratic Party in Lake County. If you want to talk about elected officials keeping their raises then go after the Democratic County Board members that have kept theirs.
Also, there is no recall provision for elected officials in Illinois because a constitutional amendment to allow this vary provision was defeated in the Illinois Senate last year. Guess you voted to not allow recall of local elected officials like Bryce Carus? That would be none other than Sen. Michael Bond, a Democrat.
ANON 7:33,
Sorry, forgot to identify which anon I was addressing.
Also, Carus votes republican but is not a republican elected official.
Talk about grandstanding! Why is the supervisor trying to block the FOIA? What is there to hide?
How do you block a FOIA? With the new rules that is impossible. That post really is stupid.
The Eye stated about the Assessor's job: "The job pays a lot more in some townships in Lake County!" Although that may be true, I recall the Avon Forward slate committed to cutting salaries to elected avon township officals. I spoke with a person who says they are close to insiders of avon township and they said that the current elected officials are prepared to massively slash salaries to the avon officals at the first moment they legally can. It will be interesting to see what happens when these traditionally well paying jobs no longer pay out.
FYI, the Avon Forward slate did not raise their own salaries and then give them back. They gave back the raise voted by the previous board.
Suzi Schmidt on the county board did exactly the opposite: she voted herself a raise and then, anticipating running for the Senate, she gave it back. Can you say hypocritical and self-serving?
No, the post isn't stupid, the fact that the township supervisor thought that he could block the FOIA only to find out he couldn't is what is stupid.
It is stupid. How do you block a FOIA? With the new rules the attorney general makes the decision. What evidence do you have that something was blocked or are you just making things up to stir the pot? Sounds like you have a score to settle and you will lie to accomplish it.
Like the rest here who are talking about Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the logical posts are correct, you CANNOT block a FOIA request, certainly not a Township Supervisor. Clearly these negative posts about blocking FOIA requests here and online at the Daily Herald website appear to divert the attention from the reality of both the DH article and this blog...an elected official reneged on a campaign promise to those who elected him into office.
The sidebar comments about a certain trustee can be reserved for another blog in the future.
I don't have a score to settle. I support what the new admin is doing as a whole. I admit that I cannot document my claim. But, I know what I know. Take it FWIW. I know the FOIA rules, that what made it stupid to me.
My comment is no more inane or insipid than the one accusing the trustee of grandstanding. Unless one is a trustee one doesn't know what they have access to nor does one know what prompted the trustee to FOIA.
You only claim my comment to be stupid because you don't like it. That logic and practice of capricious judgement is stupid.
Sorry DMAC, but I felt the need to stand up and defend my statement.
I agree that the discussion here and on the DH has gotten way off track.
The new assessor lied and is guilty of not performing a proper search for the best talent available. He is guilty of not holding himself to a higher standard as we wish all of our elected officials would but rarely do. Its such a terrible way to start his term. The sad part is that assessed valuations will go down, which they would have naturally to a lesser degree anyway and he will look like a hero for really no reason and get re-elected or his son will get annointed.
The new regime has done some really good things thus far. Lets hope that they can heal these wounds, not make things any more personal and petty than they have already become, and continue their good work.
Anon 11:24- Get your facts straight, deary. The constitutional convention was voted down by the PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, not the Illinois Senate. They voted it down because Con-Con had more to do with gutting pensions than recalling elected officials. The original gubernatorial recall bill that Bond voted against would not have applied to a township assessor, but would have allowed for endless elections and millions in added state expenditures every two years. The smarter bill, the one that protects Illinois voters from being inundated with endless campaigns by interest groups long after elections are over Bond DID vote for. But it still wouldn't have helped here.
Clearly Sam Yingling has exercised some sparkling good judgement as Supervisor. One can only wish he'd exercised better judgement in choosing the members of his slate.
Wrong-I don't like your comment because it is factually incorrect. I will stand by my decision to call you and the posts you make stupid, when you have absolutely no facts to back up the statements you make. What is "But, I know what I know." ?? Have just a little integrity like Mr. Yingling, and enlighten all of us as to what you know about blocking a FOIA. Until you do so, you are just an ignorant poster with no legitimate value-just stirring the pot.
Blue Prairie,
Bond voted against the constitutional amendment in the IL Senate that would have allowed the recall of any elected official in Illinois, including Judges. My comments have nothing to do with the CON CON.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/chi-0106edit1jan06,0,2448999.story
Anon 1:55 -
The bill that Bond voted against would NOT have allowed the recall of any elected official in Illinois.
http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09500HC0028eng&GA=95&SessionId=51&DocTypeId=HJRCA&LegID=34048&DocNum=0028&GAID=9&Session=
Instead of passing this legislation in advance of an attempted recall of Blago, which recall would have immediately cost the state almost million dollars to merely draft, print, publish, certify and then conduct an election, all of which would not have been completed by March of 2009, the Illinois Senate conducted a trial and impeached the Governor. And they did so in less time, and at 15% of the cost of a recall. But make no mistake, the 2008 recall bill would NOT have applied to a township assessor, nor, pity the omission, a township trustee. Buffalo Grove itself is passing their own recall provision, which you could do as well in Avon if you so desire. The Supervisor, Clerk, Assessor, and Trustees are NOT executive branch elected officials as defined by the Illinois Constitution. You fail to note that the Senate did pass, and Bond did vote for a recall provision that shields Illinois voters from unfettered lobbying from special interests groups 6 months after an election. I find it curious that you seem to support the reduction of Avon Township cost cutting measures and yet wished the State of Illinois to be on the hook for millions of dollars in extra election expenses and endless campaigns every two years. I think perhaps you just have a bone to pick with Senator Bond and it's clouding your judgement.
Anon 11:24/1:55
It's interesting that you fail to mention that Democratic County Board member Diane Hewitt returned nearly $9000 in unregulated expense monies rather than the pay raise that Suzi Schmidt whined that 'she deserved.' The tellers of half-truths rarely win elections, as Schmidt and the Lake County GOP Board members will learn in a wee longer than 7 months.
Speaking of half truths, the recall provision passed by the House in 2008 would definitely not have allowed the recall of all elected officials. Only State Board of Election regulated officials, which are statewide executive officers (Gov, Treasurer, Comptroller, etc.) State Senators and Representatives and judges were covered under this bill. You are dead wrong, or, more likely, one of those tellers of half-truths. Get it right or get lost.
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