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| DAVID HANKS, Mayor of Sauk Village
©2014 Sauk Villager News
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By Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |
Rumors of village vendors not being paid for months and the village not being
able to purchase the necessary equipment it needs to keep the village
functioning have led to yet another Freedom of Information Act Request(FOIA).
The Village is currently delinquent on paying its vendors to the tune of
$724,352.39 according to the FOIA request received on Friday morning.
With the village’s recent borrowing, the Village is currently more than $1.3
million short in funds to pay its bills; $500,000 more than when Lewis Towers
left office in November, 2012.
Mayor David Hanks has
transferred so much money from the Water and other Village Funds to
pay employee payroll, the Village cannot make the necessary payments to
the Water Department's vendors. As a result, some vendors have stopped extending credit to the Village until consistent
payments can be made, making it virtually impossible for Public Works to
perform any normal maintenance or critical repairs. Because Sauk
Village is now on a "cash and carry only" status with many of its
vendors, the Water Department cannot purchase the critical parts needed to make
needed repairs to fire hydrants and buffalo boxes, according to one
vendor.
Of course, Hanks has pledged, with insistence from the Village Board,
to repay the $600,000 owed to the Village's other funds by the
end of March 2014. This deficit was not planned as a contingency in
the 2013-14 budget process and as a result has unbalanced the Village's General Fund entirely.
The cash strapped village
has been hemorrhaging money since Hanks became interim Mayor in November
2012 and has not offered any recommendation or plan to curtail
spending. Hanks touted in his 2013 campaign bid for
mayor, that as interim mayor, he had successfully reduced the amount
of outstanding bills owed to vendors to just $300,000. However, since the
election, that number has skyrocketed yet again and this time Hanks need
only look in the mirror to assign blame. Hanks has doled out raises retroactive
to 2011 to some employees, increased payroll and fringe benefits expenses to the
general fund despite the warning from former Village Manager Richard
Dieterich in 2011 to not do so without "corresponding increases in revenue to
offset" these payroll expenses.
With his abacus battery on
the blink, Hanks has been continuously transferring money from various village
accounts including the water fund just to meet payroll. To date, the
Village's water fund has been depleted by several hundred thousand dollars
which contributes to much needed water related repairs to go undone. Hanks has also
hired a lobbyist, unlike any of the neighboring towns, costing the village
an additional $36,000 per year. "Generally, the mayor of the
community serves as the lobbyist in Springfield when they need something
done" said Gene Williams Mayor of Lynwood at the recent Economic
Forum hosted by Sauk Village.
Hanks' unabated overspending
has added tremendously to an already strained budget and growing
deficit. Yet Hanks failed to acknowledge the Village's true picture in
his recent State of the Village press release painting a less than rosy
picture “The village is currently averaging three months behind in
payment to our vendors; however, we have reduced that from the average of five
months in the past. The village remains in debt but we are currently working on
ways to reduce increased debt and searching for ways to address that which has
already occurred.” The facts are that some
vendors get paid much quicker than others, while others go unpaid for several
months beyond the 90 days Hanks acknowledged in his press release.
Hanks stated several weeks ago
that now he and the entire Board of Trustees will have to make “tough
decisions” on how to manage the Village's mounting debt and inter-fund
borrowing practices now that the Village's financial crisis of 2009
has returned with a vengeance!
HERE IS A BRIEF SUMMARY OF
THE VILLAGE’S FINANCIAL WOES:
- · The Village is currently 60 days delinquent in paying for the lobbyist Alfred G. Ronan, Limited, that Hanks wanted and put on the payroll this summer to the tune of $36,000 per year
- · delinquent in paying legal bills for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission actions brought by employees to the tune of $27,929.00 from as far back as July, 2012.
- · The Police Department vendor, John’s Arrow Transmission shop is owed $6,802.44 for work it did on three police vehicles going back as far as September, 2012 according to the FOIA request.
- · The Police Department Brackman & Company is owed $4,465.78 in repairs on the Village’s police squad fleet.
- · delinquent in its membership dues to the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association to the tune of $3,778.00 which was billed in September, 2013.
- · The South Suburban Emergency Response Team membership dues of $1000 invoiced to the Village in July, 2013.
- · $137,872.50 is due to Robinson Engineering. It is expected that this vendor will be paid from the IEPA low interest loan the Village just received. The loan is to be repaid over the next 20 years.
- · The biggest single vendor who has not been paid since June, 2013 is the Village’s law firm Odelson and Sterk, LTD. Invoices show the village is delinquent to the law firm to the tune $226,674.27, however, these do not include services for December and January which could likely balloon the bill to near $310,000 for 7 months service. Hanks and the Village Board only budgeted $500,000 and the Village is likely to exceed this amount despite the fact that the litigation with the village has decreased since Lewis Towers left office.
- · The Village is also delinquent to Municipal Code Corporation for codification of the Village’s Municipal Code book in May, 2013. Municipal Code Corporation is owed $7,118,76 which was suppose to come from money set aside and earmarked when Winpak reimbursed the village for expenses in 2012.
- · Kane McKenna and Associates, who has helped David Hanks with his Economic Development is owed $13,437.75 for their services since the summer of 2013.
One of the village’s vendors
is not happy with the way the Village is paying its bills. “In Sauk Village if you get a water bill and don't
pay they will shut off your water right? ‘AHHH We will pay them later’.
Now 30 days goes by and still nothing” the frustrated vendor said.
HERE IS THE LINK TO ALL VILLAGE VENDORS NOT PAID: ***CLICK HERE***
Original material, and photographs, copyright 2014 Sauk Villager News; all rights reserved.
