Vote getter move $1.2 million Joliet learns lesson ?

Joliet’s opening a contract for bids, the city of Joliet says they will be saving $1.2 million in the next three years. What Joliet learned by having bids for its health insurance broker is a lesson for the city as well as any other taxing bodies that are looking to save as many taxpayer dollars as possible during these tough economic times. Things aren’t supposed to get much better next year for local governments because the cost of living index is projected to be around 0 percent, and many taxing bodies must abide by a tax cap for their levies. That state-required tax cap is 5 percent or the cost of living index, whichever is less.

 So, governments are going to face even more pressure to cut expenses, and one potential area is in professional contracts. Joliet’s open bidding for health insurance brokers resulted in ProSource Financial, of Westchester, being awarded the contract for $78,600 annually for three years. Last year, the city paid $480,000 and will this year pay about $450,000 to John Manner Insurance Agency, of Joliet, a local division of insurance giant Brown & Brown. Joliet had been paying the John Manner agency a 3.1 percent commission on every health insurance claim. Starting next year, the city will be paying just a flat rate. Councilman John Shetina said, “I like the three-year contract and I certainly like the dollars.” Well, what took so long?  The bait and switch type of politics in Joliet has been going on for years and now that the elections are right around the corner, is there any wonder to why this is coming about.

Joliet polititions have screwed up big time to the Joliet residents; Incompetence from our Joliet politicians is wholesale….. How long will it be before they are back to the same old politics in Joliet, I know one day fter the election

The Independent Voter.

The goal is to reach 10,000 troops

Cantigny VFW Post 367 will host a Spaghtetti dinner benefit for Operation Care Package. The goal is to reach 10,000 troops this Holiday season with packages, Handmade Christmas stockings and letters of support.
Tickets are $8 per person or carryout. 1400 meals will be available. Spaghetti, salad, and roll. Cash Bar.
For advance tickets call Debbie at 815-723-6960 or Ted at 815-274-3828

Cantigny VFW Post 367 │  826 Horseshow Drive│Joliet, IL 60435 │ Nov 18, 2009 at 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Ps. Get a Grip, Jan Quillman Joliet City Council

The current parking rates and fines “ridiculous. I’ve been preaching about this for a couple of years.”  Said Jan Quillman – Joliet City Council

City officials are looking into raising the parking rates at meters and in parking garages as well as the price of parking tickets.

Let’s see how this affects down town Joliet Illinois:

Union Station train lots would increase from $18 now to $40. Do us tax payers just stop going to work or do we travel to another area to get on a train. Lets see isn’t that lost revenue for Joliet. Monthly permits in the Ottawa Street and Scott Street decks would rise from $25 now to $40 and parking meters going from 25 cents an hour now to 50 cents in some areas and $1 in others.. Downtown businesses will surely suffer because if I am going to have to pay $40 monthly which is $480 a year and if people are going to have to pay up-to $8.00 a day for parking at meters, I wonder  long it will be before people just stop coming to the downtown area.

What I should say to people Like Jan Quillman is get off your fucking High horse and ask some body with common sense and intelligence what she as a council member should do, clearly she doesn’t represent the people that elected her, what she does do is represents her pocket book and her bank account which clearly is the Joliet city treasury. I bet these city and county officials look out their windows and they drool to the thought of “walking pay checks”

What’s next, place Fines on people that are homeless or continue to increase the burden on the Joliet tax payers back.

Parking tickets at the meter Current fines (in place since 1981)

$3 if paid in 48 hours │$5 if paid between 48 hours and 30 days │$10 if paid between 30 and 60 days

Proposed fines

$15 if paid in 10 days │$30 if paid between 11 and 30 days│$75 after 30 days

To me it sounds like a juice loan from a loan shark, when it comes to the fees that Joliet wants to collect.

What’s next sells the rights to city parking meters like Chicago did? Or rent out our parks to lumber jacks.

Is Joliet trying to drive more people away from downtown? Maybe the rumors I hear are true, there is some developer trying to buy down town property and there is a need to lower property values. Because adding additional costs doesn’t raise property values does it?

Suggestions to Joliet City Council: Maybe instead of raising the rates on the parking meters you should extend the times when the meters are in use.

How about “no free days of parking or even better make all city employees and county members have to pay instead of getting free parking”…Bet that adds up to boo”ku”bucks.

Joliet Illinois¦Heres a buck theres a buck.¦

Spending more than $5 million to refurbish the former Herald-News building was a cost that in no way improves the teachers or students of the district. I am sure the administrator of this district would disagree. Office space that existed in the building could have afforded an adequate area to make administrative decisions and hold board meetings. The other thing that makes no sense is these offices are not located near any high school in the district. This locations makes logistics a time-consuming effort for administrators and staff to visit district high schools. The addition of a day care center for staff and children in the area is a splendid perk for administrators and should be offered to district teachers as well. In the business world, plush offices indicate how well the business is doing. In the academic world, student accomplishments are the only indication of how well administrators and teachers are doing. A very smart administrator once told me that the further away the office is from the problem, the problem will always seem smaller.

What I find to be extremely wierd is that now this puts the administration farther out of reach of the tax payers and further alienates the parents.