In advance of the March 17 primary, the Naperville Sun asked the Democratic candidates running for the four-year DuPage County Board seat representing the Naperville area’s District 5 to answer a series of questions on the issues. This is the last in a three-part series.
Both previously published articles are available online. The first includes biographical information and asks candidates to explain what they think is the biggest issue facing the county and how it should be addressed. The second covers the topic of affordable housing.
DuPage County is in the midst of an ongoing legal battle with the county clerk over fiscal management. Should the DuPage County Board be seeking to implement guardrails to prevent a similar scenario from happening in the future. If yes, what would you recommend? (Answers edited lightly for clarity.)
Sadia Covert: So, I’m going to be honest with you, I cannot comment on this because we are in the middle of a lawsuit. The county board is involved. We’ve been named in the lawsuit so I’m not allowed to talk about it.
Ian Holzhauer: I think it is very clear that spending decisions should be coming from the county board. I think that is very clear in statute. I think it’s clear in historic practice, and I think the legal argument is very clear there. My strong suspicion is that every level of the Illinois court system that looks at this issue will agree, and that in the very near future we will be following the historic and legal practice of the county board appropriating funds before a department spends them.
Marylee Leu: I think that unfortunately the situation has been flushed out in an area of the public that wasn’t maybe necessarily needed, or not needed. It wasn’t the right venue. But going forward to prevent it for other areas (we need) to make standard operating procedures clear. I don’t think they are written currently, and (they should be) applicable to all other departments, such as the sheriff’s department. So, if we’re (applying) certain treatment to the clerk’s office, we need to apply it to the coroner’s office, the sheriff’s office, the other (countywide offices). Not that we should micromanage any department themselves, but if we expect it from the clerk, then we should also impose it on the rest.
Do you support keeping the county property tax levy flat, even if it limits growth in social services and infrastructure spending? How do you decide how and where to draw the line? (Answers edited lightly for clarity.)
Covert: I have good news on that. We have not increased significantly. We have not increased our property tax levies. It has been pretty much consistent over the years. Now, we have done this while still funding social services and we’ve done an amazing job in funding our social service programs, even though there was acute federal cuts that we had to face.
I think this is because of a couple of reasons. We’re not home rule. A majority of our revenue comes from sales taxes, and we are in the surplus right now. And what I’m proud to say is that as a county board member since 2018, I have always looked for ways in increasing our revenue at the county board (level). One of the things that I did was the cannabis initiative. … Early on in my career, I initiated the passing of cannabis recreational facilities and that brings in significant amounts of sales tax, so that’s one way of getting more revenue.
Another thing that I did is a diversity inclusion imperative, which I got passed. … That led to tapping into newer markets for women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses and is tapping into newer talents and new markets to provide them those contracts and opportunities in the county that they otherwise wouldn’t have. That, in turn, is a benefit to us.
Holzhauer: I’m going to push back a little bit on the framing of that question, because I think freezing anything, it may have sort of a veneer of cost discipline but in actuality that might be an illusion.
I’m going to give a very concrete example from my time in elected office. Naperville approved the hiring of six full-time mental health police officers in our crisis response team, which, on its face, costs over a million dollars a year. So one could argue that that is an increase in taxes to pay for that. On the other hand, all you have to do is look at the statistics. Last year, we had over 900 mental health calls, each lasting … over two hours for our police department to respond to, and typically with an officer and a sergeant. So when you look at the cost savings that are going to come in the big picture from having a dedicated mental health team, the overall budget impact is going to, I’m confident, have a more efficient government that runs better in the future, even if there’s a short-term impact on taxes.
Leu: I would absolutely want to keep the taxes flat. I do think that reassessing priorities, utilizing, let’s say, the allocation of (American Rescue Plan Act) funds or some of the other funding, that we look at those routes first. However, if there ever would be a time where an investment does save us money in the long run, that would be not my last resort. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but it would be something I would consider.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
