If Home Rule had not been allowed to be approved in Peru years ago, we would not be faced with allowing our politicians, the Mayor and those who sit on the city council to institute a sales tax increase. Sure it is only 1/2% but the residents of this town should have the right to decide about that. And our Mayor and City Council are taking advantage of Home Rule. Since a referendum will not be taking place, only a survey inserted in your utility bill, make sure you do get your opinion to the city. This will not be binding but it should encourage them to do what you believe is right for Peru, pro or con.
Our infrastructure is aging and needs repair, there is no question about that but our population is also aging and for most of them that means less money for them to live on and with reduced incomes you will be asking them to give the city more money again. This also hits the families in town with children who are now counting their pennies in order to give their children a little bit extra.
And please don't compare Peru to Ottawa that has a higher sales tax as they also have a larger population, they are a county seat and look at their downtown. Sometimes esthetics do matter.
31 comments:
FYI: While studying our 2012 budget I came across several salaries that I thought were questionable.
1. Recreation director (this is a summer position) $9,900.
2. Fire chief and fire marshall $4200 each for a total of $8400.
3. Assistant Zoning Inspector $47,800 salary. A total budget of $80,770. How can we have an "assistant" when there is no one for him to assist?
4. A budget of $75,000 to the Recreation Commission that we have been told does not have to answer to our council.
5. A budget of $34,000 to the Director of Community Development who volunteered for the position.
I'd like to remind our residents that this budget is available for you to see on the Peru City Web site to verify and discover how our city spends its funds. You will be surprised.
Another negative aspect of Home Rule allows the governing body to move money between funds however they choose. This practice enables city officials to subsidize one ailing fund with cash from another. To the uneducated observer this may seem like harmless accounting practices. But, in the case of Peru, it has encouraged an atmosphere of irresponsible financial decisions over the past two decades which has essentially crippled our ability to maintain our infrastructure, let alone improve it.
Here is how we have arrived at this point.
The Electric Light Fund has been the one and only positive cash flow entity within city government for at least the past twenty years and thank goodness for that. Contrary to popular opinion, Peru's sales tax revenue has for many years consitently struggled to just keep pace with employee payroll and the ever increasing demands on the General Fund. There is no "Rainy Day Fund", there never was. The final nail in the coffin comes in the form of that "mis-managed money pit" known as the Water and Sewer Fund which continues to run a huge deficit rapidly approaching the magical negative mark of $1,000,000.
The mind-set or "strategy" for the past twenty years has been "We will maintain our city's infrastructure only as absolutely necessary". "We will fund no long-term plans". "We will not increase water or sewer rates in order to properly finance the Water and Sewer Fund". "We will not raise taxes or fees in order to properly fund any city services". To do so would shatter the myth that we are "Leader of the Valley". "We will simply subsidize all city funds with proceeds from our "Cash Cow" aka The Electric Light Fund. This approach appears successful until you realize the long term effects it has had on Peru. There is no accountability. No committment to pay as you go. No honesty in how your city provides and pays for the services they provide to its citizens.
Home Rule allowed previous city leaders the "option" to mis-manage city funds and neglect their responsibility to the citizens of Peru to maintain and have an actual long- term "plan" for future infrastructure improvements. Then, add on top of it all a massive debt obligation, including the recent purchase of $3,000,000 in Diesel Generators that has jeopordized the cash cow's ability to pay all the city's bills.
Make no mistake. This is where we are right now. It has taken a long time to get into this mess and it will take a considerable amount of time to get out of it.
You can cut costs, raise taxes, raise user fees for city services, lay-off half the city employees and it would barely qualify as a good start.
Other than that, Have a nice day!
Peru approved Home Rule in 1970.
An excellent post 1:08. You have reiterated my sentiments and expressed fluantly my thoughts and concerns about the past administration and how we got to where we are today. I still cannot understand how the aldermen who sat on the council during these years did not have the ability or the foresight to see these problems unfold before their eyes. Why did they, and we, let things get so out of hand? It seems that the one and only concern in the past was businesses and industry But, it is my opinion that government has to stop relying on the people to bail them out. Government needs to establish a budget and live by it.
Getting back to the budget, I hope you will get $20,000 worth of enjoyment from our huge fireworks display again this year. We don't need to eliminate but certainly we need to cut back on this very large expense.
That little man on the left side of this blog is scarying me. I have no more money to give my city, state, federal, county, or township government.
Did you see the pamphlet "50 Nifty Things To Do in the City of Peru"? What did you think? I don't consider a bank, the hospital, the eye doctor, IVCH Fast Care, etc. "NIFTY THINGS TO DO". I'm also curious as to what we will do with 78,000 of these pamphlets.
Where does HOME RULE end and FRAUD begin?
6:30PM
I just couldn't decide what to do with all those choices, so confusing. I solved it by going to LaSalle and ate at Dennys.
7:04PM
I don't think there is any dividing line. With home rule, there doesn't seem to be many boundaries. It seems to leave the people out of many decisions.
Does anyone know what is would take to get home rule government overturned in Peru?
This is a very good question and a question which would not be asked if the administration of Peru had a plan which they would set forth to the citizens and give them the opportunities of referendums on major decisions.
Peru's problem does not appear to be home rule as much as the administrations forceful use of it.
In regards to your question I do not know the answer and I am as interested in knowing what it would take to get home rule government overturned in Peru as you are. Anyone who does know please answer.
Home Rule can only be overturned by referendum.
As the last 2 years of the present administraton have been entered isn't it time for the proposal of term limitations to be considered for key political positions in the city. Also a better wage equalization between the part time position of mayor, city clerk and city treasurer. I don't mean a increase of the lump payment of the three positions combined, approximately $91,000.00, but a fairer division of the $91,000.00 too the 3 positions achieved by input of responsibilities and hours on the job.
There definetly should have been and presently should be a wage freeze of all city administators and dept. heads until the current recession is over and social security increases benefits which it has not done for the last two years and most likely will not next year. More than 18% of Peru is over 65 years of age and many of Peru's population are collecting social security at the age of 62 and above plus there are many people collecting benefits because of medical reasons.
Peru's unemployment rate is another negative aspect of the times and some form of trying to reduce it should have been offered to those unemployed before the hiring of 39 students as summer help. What is the criteria of judging how much summer help is to be hired? Doesn't 39 seem to be extremely high since Peru no longer has a swimming pool? Does anyone have the wage per hour range of the summer help and could you address the blog with it?
I have been informed that the pay scale ranges from $8.25 to $8.75 for the workers and $11.00 for the leaders. I also do not believe there is a wage freeze in place as rumor has it that the finance committee has been approached regarding possible pay increases for several employees.
I believe that this proposed tax increase will also apply to you price per gal at the gas pump.
Just curious...do we know that all of the summer help is that of our community's young adults/teenagers? I'm all for the summer jobs to be filled by unemployed men & women of Peru; those that are trying to pay bills and raise families. Howvever, I'd be curious to know how many of such people applied for the temporary, summer positions and were overlooked or turned down. I'm hoping if they were not offered a position, that the decision was justified be that through a reference/background check or unfavorable, historical work performance.
Does anyone know what happened to all the concrete tables and benches that were at the swimming pool? They're gone!
There's one sitting outside the north entrance of City Hall.
Now that one of the concrete tables location has been made known how many more were there and where are they?
1:10 PM How many of the summer help are making $11.00 per hour? Does it make sense for someone to approach the finance committee regarding possible pay increases for several employees when the Mayor is presently asking for a sales tax increase and in the past has asked for a increase in the utility tax so that he could meet payroll?
Who is this someone who has asked for a pay increase for several employees?
How do we get it on the ballot?
I hope someone is keeping close watch on the items at the pool. The city should have an auction and put the money into the pool fund. But for now collect all the keys that are floating around.
I would be very interested in knowing how summer jobs were advertised and if there was a different application utilized for summer jobs and full time jobs which may lead a adult to believe they would not be considered for a summer job.
ANON 6:46 In answer to your questions: 6 - the mayor and the city clerk.
I would be very interested in knowing who took the concrete table and chairs from the pool and where they were distributed (we know 1 at city hall). Doesn't something like this have to go before the council for approval? If not, who had the authority to remove them? It seems as though subjects are touched upon at council and committee meetings and then action is taken and then the public finds out. In my opinion it doesn't make for a community atmosphere and it doesn't make people take pride in their community.
10:09 Thank You for for the reply that the mayor and city clerk have asked for pay increases for several people. Why are the mayor and city clerk asking when the city has a full time human resources employee with more experience in this profession or the city business than either of them or the two of them combined.
I would think that the mayor and city clerk should realize what each department and its personnel are responsible for.
No one in the City of Peru should be asking for a increase in pay. They are all highly rewarded in pay, benefits and conditions. If they don't believe this they should compare their jobs with others in the surrounding community. With the financal condition this town is in and its continuous problems in meeting its payroll the Mayor and City Clerk should be thinking of the taxpayers rather than where to distribute the next $$$$$$$$$$$$$$'s
which the city doesn't have. If the city was a corporation or managed as a business it would be looking at job cutbacks not asking for pay increases.
interesting that the recreation mananger makes more than fire commissioner... and what exactly does that recreation manager do???? and why is she still employed? serious issues with this, where were the jobs posted? i saw nothing posted anywhere-i guess nothing did change did it?
I don't recall seeing vacant city positions posted either. But if interested, anyone can walk in to the city hall building and fill out an application. Not sure if the city differentiates full time/part time employment with different applications or not.
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