After being divided 10-4, favoring allowing marijuana dispensaries (“pot shops”), the Batavia City Council decided to put the issue to referendum on the November 2020 ballot. Kudos to the Council for letting the people decide.
Up for discussion at the Batavia City Council Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday night (1/14), 7pm, are marijuana dispensaries (“pot shops”). It is #19 on the agenda.
Should the City of Batavia allow drug dealers to establish marijuana dispensaries in Batavia? While marijuana use may be legal for adults in Illinois, dispensaries must be approved by city governments.
Mayor Schielke has said he will veto any pot shops, requiring a 2/3 majority (10 out of 14 aldermen) to override the veto. At the last discussion, it appeared a majority of aldermen would approve pot shops, maybe even a 2/3 majority. Please give your aldermen (and the whole Council) direction how you would want them to represent you.
Some cons and pros of recreational marijuana dispensaries:
Cons
Pros
Please come to the meeting if you are at all able. If you are unable to attend, please email your aldermen/Council (contact button at right).
There is a public hearing on the City of Batavia’s 2020 Proposed Budget on Tuesday, 11/12, 7pm, City Council Chambers.
Something has happened to the City Council’s secretary, because the minutes from meetings have gone from fantastic to practically useless. Agendas have also become less informative. You have to watch the BATV videos to know what is going on.
From the budget presentation (https://www.cityofbatavia.net/DocumentCenter/View/4365/2020-Draft-Budget-COW-10-29-19) and Tuesday’s agenda item (https://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/14431?fileID=10645), it appears there were several proposals for the budget, most raising taxes far above the Consumer Price Index (the limit had there been no home rule). It looks like City Council requested the property tax levy increase be kept to CPI, which will result in some cuts, some staff and project requests postponed, and the reserves being drawn down. Pensions are an expensive problem that will not be fully addressed if taxes are to increase only by CPI.
Additionally, it looks like they will be authorizing a 3% water rate increase and a 4% sewer rate increase (items 10 and 11 on the agenda: https://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11122019-1462?html=true).
I really wish there were more information in the minutes of the past meetings where the budget was discussed. There are also no memos on the past agendas to indicate what they will be talking about. If you have the time, you can watch the discussions on BATV on
Nov. 5 starts at 4:46 https://youtu.be/VQDFrt-iMJM?t=286
Oct. 29 starts at 51:12 https://youtu.be/yNxa50CH3gc?t=3072
Please attend the public hearing. When no one shows up, it may be assumed no one cares.
Regarding tonight’s School Board meeting, please attend if you are able, or you can use the button at right to submit comments to the Board.
If you haven’t had a chance to read the documents before tonight’s meeting, one of our BRG members submitted a summary review, pasted below:
September 30th Bullets
First, Tony [Inglese—Finance Director] and whoever helped him has done an outstanding job of creating a transparent, plain language budget document. Good Job!
Second, I noticed that no Tax Anticipation Warrants were needed for the second year in a row. Again, Good Job!
Third, I remember a 2 million dollar surplus – again a good job!
Fourth, I’m glad to see you have held the line on overhead costs, with very small increases in administration, buses, etc. Good job!
This translates to an argument for local control by local community school Boards. If you have a good Board and a good staff, good things can happen. (Of course, we can’t forget engaged citizens who serve as, I have to say it, watchdogs of the district operations and budgets). I’ve always said everybody needs a watchdog to provide challenge to ideas and debate over direction.
Now to the BEA contract – for the most part the District does have hard working and dedicated teachers.
Now for the Shoe to Drop:
Everyone who isn’t a teacher in Batavia would love to have a work contract with the salaries and benefits in this contract.
Nobody I talk to in my neighborhood has a contract close to this.
Social Security has had many years without any raise in the last ten years. Medicare and supplements are taken right out of their base monthy payment, thereby reducing their paycheck. They lose ground to inflation and rising costs every year, raises never keep up, let alone exceed inflation every year like in the proposed BEA contract.
Are the teacher paid enough now? Not to be facetious, but, I see the teachers driving very nice cars and dressing very nice.
Also, for residents in the 10,000 plus homes in Batavia, most are paid based on a measurement of their performance and value added to the company.
I read the proposed BEA contract and then searched for the word “evaluation” and no word “evaluation” was found in the document. I noticed raises and increases for “actions”, but, saw no raises or rewards for performance. There is an old saying that “activities” are not a true measure of “accomplishments.” Is it hard to do an evaluation of a teacher’s accomplishments with objective measurements?
And is the great work environment considered when negotiating the contract? The teachers get to drive into a safe town, work in safe schools, and have students that mostly come from stable homes to teach. And I would guess most students have been taught ethics, values, and morality at home verses some other student populations in Illinois.
A couple comments on the budget. I noticed that percentages either way can be deceiving and require some analysis. A big percentage hike on small amounts could be insignificant.
I did notice though on page 17:
| Data processing services [4] | 188,850 | 238,045 | 829,283 | 248.4% |
and I find that footnote: ” 4 Increasing technology maintenance and student software; reclassification of software supplies to professional services” was a little short on detail for such a large change in expenditures.
Has this been planned and discussed and approved by the Board?
And from another BRG member:
Included in the BEA contract is pension-spiking of 6%/year in the final 4 years before retirement. The Teachers’ Retirement Service pays a pension of 75% of the average of the highest 4 years of salaries in the last decade of employment (plus 3% annual compounding COLA increases!). Pension spiking only adds to Illinois’ pension crisis and further burdens taxpayers.
Tomorrow, Monday 9/30, 5:00pm —a loaded school board meeting: teachers union contract, health insurance contract, district budget. If you plan to attend, NOTE THE TIME is 5:00pm.
Here are the district’s summaries—
Union contract:
The recommended Negotiated Agreement would create a new 4-year contract with the BEA running from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2023. The tentative agreement contains total salary increase of 3.7% in the first year and approximately 2.5% in subsequent years. On average, individual educators are expected to see an increase of approximately 3.6% each year.
Key highlights include:
Health Insurance:
Last April, the Board approved the renewal of various insurance contracts and converted the plan year to coincide with the calendar year instead of the fiscal year. As we conclude the resulting interim six-month plan year, we must once again hold open enrollment for the new plan year that will begin on January 1.
After much review and deliberation, the Insurance and Benefits Committee has unanimously decided it is in the best interests of employees and the Board to take a new approach to medical insurance offerings (Attachment A). Further, the Committee recommends that all employee classes receive the same Board contribution rates, which will require conversions for some exempt staff. A summary of the recommended plan designs follow:
Traditional PPO
The traditional PPO has been revamped to encourage employees to seek more cost-effective care through a higher deductible, now $625. With lower premiums and maximum out-of-pocket costs, most employees will experience an overall annual savings.
|
Tier |
Annual Premium |
Board Contribution |
Employee Contribution |
|
Employee |
$10,394 |
80% |
20% |
|
Employee + spouse |
$20,593 |
80% |
20% |
|
Employee + child(ren) |
$19,762 |
80% |
20% |
|
Family |
$30,576 |
80% |
20% |
Savings PPO+HSA
With the same network as the traditional PPO, the savings PPO+HSA plan offers a high deductible plan paired with a health savings account (HSA). With the Board contributing cash toward deductibles and allowing employees to keep any money they save, employees will likely make more cost-effective decisions that balance care and convenience. If the deductible ($3,000) is exceeded on this plan, all additional costs are covered at 100%.
|
Tier |
Annual Premium |
Board Contribution + HSA Contribution |
Employee Contribution |
|
Employee |
$8,341 |
85% + $1,500 |
15% |
|
Employee + spouse |
$16,526 |
85% + $3,000 |
15% |
|
Employee + child(ren) |
$15,859 |
85% + $3,000 |
15% |
|
Family |
$24,537 |
85% + $3,000 |
15% |
To help employees convert to the savings PPO+HSA plan, the Committee recommends the Board offer the following incentives in the first year only:
In future years, the Committee recommends that HSA contributions will be paid in equal installments based on the employee’s pay periods.
https://go.boarddocs.com/il/bps101/Board.nsf/files/BGERK86BEF62/$file/Attachment%20A.pdf
Budget:
Attached are two documents that comprise the FY20 Budget:
On Tuesday nights’s 7pm City Council Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting agenda is a discussion whether or not to allow marijuana dealers to establish store fronts in Batavia.
Starting Jan. 1, 2020, recreational marijuana will be legal in Illinois. Anyone 21 and older will be able to legally smoke pot. But cities can choose whether or not to allow dealers to sell the drug in their communities.
Here’s the agenda item with more details: https://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/14108?fileID=10472
If you cannot attend the meeting, you can contact the City Council and Mayor through the button at right.
They plan for the maximum property tax increase as usual (Consumer Price Index, 1.9% projected this year), while enrollment is declining. Health insurance benefit costs are out of control (with $250 deductibles, of course they are; hopefully ongoing contract negotiations will fix that).
Brief summary of meeting: Council likes unlimited tattoo parlors and bees, logo uncertain
On Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole (COW) Agenda are tattoo parlors, logos, and beekeeping, among other things: https://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08132019-1421?html=true
Regarding the logo, the City spent near $50,000 on a branding project that returned a tagline and logo that the City Council ultimately rejected. They’re taking another shot at it with the new Communications Coordinator, Griffin Price. This is what was offered, in black and white or blue and white (black and white shown here):
More details can be found in the agenda item (agenda linked above).
What do you think of this one? BATV has yet to post the video of the Aug. 6 COW, as of this writing, but they apparently approved it 11-1 at the last COW. This week’s COW is to send it on to Council the following Monday for final approval.
Property tax bills are out. Once again, Batavia’s property taxes are higher than both Geneva and St. Charles. To see where we rank in Kane County, and for a link to view your taxes, please see the article on Kane County Connects.
The Batavia School District will vote on a health insurance contract tonight (4/23/19). This represents a large cost to taxpayers, one that keeps going up every year, even as enrollment is declining. Details are here. Sheet 1 has a summary of portions paid by taxpayers and employees. The 2nd sheet has the finer details.
In short, taxpayers pay 80-100% of the premiums for Cadillac health insurance plans that have deductibles as low as $250 in their “Standard” plan, with a $650 Out-of-Pocket maximum. $1000 is considered a “high” deductible. For one Standard Family Plan, the premium cost amounts to $26,160 paid for by taxpayers, $6540 by employee annually.
How does that compare to your insurance? Feel free to write the school board today, or attend the meeting tonight, and ask them to bring their health insurance plans into the real world with plans comparable to the private sector.
School Board
City Council
Short summary of the meeting: Mayor Schielke will veto any ordinance that proposes allowing marijuana dispensaries in Batavia, necessitating 10 aldermen (out of 14) to override him. Most aldermen seem to favor pot shops. A couple of aldermen want to wait and see what the consequences are for St. Charles and other towns before moving on it. At least one doesn’t want to wait and wants to get in line for a dispensary. Aldermen sent the issue back to legal counsel to better define terms for more discussion at a later date.