Proposed legislation was introduced in Springfield last week that could give enormous new powers-and perhaps a king-sized headache-to DuPage County Board Chairman Gayle Franzen.
The measure, which was introduced by Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale), would allow the chairman of the DuPage County Board to wield line-item veto authority over the budgets of at least a dozen public agencies.
If the legislation were approved by the General Assembly, the County Board chairman essentially could mandate revisions to the budgets of a variety of mostly independent commissions and districts, including sanitary districts, some fire protection districts, the DuPage Airport Authority, the DuPage County Health Department, the DuPage Housing Authority and the DuPage Water Commission.
A spokesman explained that Philip proposed the measure because the governor has had line-item veto powers and “he thought it was a good idea for the second largest county in the state.”
The initial draft of the bill is written to apply only to DuPage. It would require that the airport authority, the county public health department and other agencies whose boards are appointed by the County Board or the County Board chairman to submit their budgets to the board chairman.
“I don’t think that we should allow non-elected people to raise taxes,” Philip said. “An entity appointed by the County Board should have its budget voted on by the County Board. And they shouldn’t have to accept or deny the whole thing.”
The legislation was not introduced with the knowledge of Franzen, Philip said.
Franzen was out of town and would have no comment until he had a chance to see the proposed language, according to an aide.
The state legislature can override the governor’s use of a line-item veto, but it is unclear from the initial draft whether there is any similar provision in Philip’s bill for overriding a chairman’s veto, which worries some County Board members.
But board member Michael Formento (R-Glen Ellyn) said the proposal appeared to be a good idea because it would bring the spending and taxing plans of a variety of agencies under the review of an elected official.
“It sounds to me like an attempt to consolidate all of the responsibility in the chairman’s office,” Formento said.
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Embers: There’s little fire left to the dispute between DuPage and Wheaton officials over the placement of smoke detectors in the lower level of the much-delayed $45.8 million addition to the county jail.
But some County Board members continued to smolder this week over additional payments sought by architects and contractors as a result of the dispute, which eventually was resolved, for the most part, in the county’s favor.
DuPage saved an estimated $600,000 to $700,000 when Wheaton officials agreed that the smoke-detector installation met fire-safety codes. At one point, though, officials had suggested that existing smoke detectors would have to be moved and others added to meet Wheaton’s requirements.
What irked board member Lloyd Renfro (R-Glen Ellyn) was a request from architects Wight & Co. and Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum for an extra $133,061 in fees for services that included revised drawings, which were no longer necessary when Wheaton accepted the existing configuration.
The board’s Public Safety Committee, of which Renfro is a member, recommended paying the architects.
“Ultimately our view prevailed, but unfortunately, we had to jump through some hoops to get to that point,” said board member William Maio Jr. (R-Itasca).
Committee members, though, reduced a similar request by contractor Paul H. Schwendener Inc. for reimbursement of the costs of extending the job while the smoke-detector dispute was being resolved.
Events: The DuPage County Health Department and its 50 years of service in the county is the topic of a talk by Lee Lewis, department director of administration, at a meeting Monday evening of the Downers Grove Township Republican Organization. The Downers Grove GOP meets at the Holiday Inn in Willowbrook.