Bid tabs for the 2013 Lake County Municipal League Co-Operative Purchasing Program are available. For Crack Sealing, click here. For Pavement Marking, click here. For Street Sweeping, click here.

Golf season is fast approaching and the 2013 LCML Golf Outing is scheduled for September 4 at Deerfield  Golf Course.  Sponsors and golfers are needed as well as raffle prizes and goody bag donations. If you would like to donate a prize or a goody bag item, please call Chris Gentes at (847) 270-3126.

This year there will be a helicopter ball drop with a cash prize. Click here for a brochure.

Michael Stevens, Lake County Partners, discusses the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy

DATE:            Thursday, January 17
TIME:            6:30 pm carving station buffet, 7:00 pm program
LOCATION:   The Forge of Vernon Hill,  634 S. Milwaukee
COST:           $30 per person

Please email to lcml@sbcglobal.net, call (847) 270-3126 or click here for credit card reservations. Reservations must be made by January 14. No-shows will be billed without cancellation.

SWALCO has launched a brand-new recycling campaign, “Recycle First. Trash Last.” The campaign encourages all Lake County residents to place a priority on recycling first, and trashing what’s left. Instead of immediately thinking about throwing away that empty shampoo bottle, for example, ask yourself “is that recyclable?” (The answer, by the way, is yes!) For a full list of what is accepted in Lake County, click here.

While many residents in Lake County already do a good job at recycling, we can always do better. Check out the campaign at www.RecycleFirstTrashLast.org and learn more about curbside recycling in Lake County, the campaign and what you can and cannot recycle.

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority Strategic Planning Committee Supports IL Route 53/120 Blue Ribbon Advisory Council’s Recommendations.

Lake County Board Chairman, David Stolman, attended the August 15 Strategic Planning Committee of Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. At the meeting, tollway staff presented the Committee with a summary of the IL Route 53/120 Blue Ribbon Advisory Council’s key recommendations and began discussing next steps for the corridor improvement.

The committee supported the Tollway beginning the process of engaging consultants to develop a more detailed design concept for the 53/120 corridor. This would include developing details regarding design, traffic, cost estimates and financing options. The committee also supported working with CMAP, Lake County and the communities along the 53/120 corridor to initiate a corridor land use plan.

The Senate Democratic Caucus has proposed their version of a FY2013 budget. The proposal includes a Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) freeze that would prevent municipalities and counties from capturing any income tax revenue growth during the next fiscal year. Based upon IML estimates, holding back LGDF growth will cost municipalities and counties approximately $20 million to $50 million. The breakdown is below

• 2% growth equals $20.9 million or $1.63 per capita.

• 3% growth equals $31.3 million or $2.44 per capita.

• 4% growth equals $41.8 million or $3.26 per capita.

• 5% growth equals $52.2 million or $4.07 per capita.

When the General Assembly and Governor increased the income tax, they reduced the overall share received by cities and counties from 10% of total collections to 6%. It was widely understood that municipalities would receive a full 6% share of total collections – including any growth in income tax collections. The latest proposal by the Senate Democrats would prevent cities and counties from collecting their full 6%.

Any loss of state-collected local government revenues is harmful to communities. Municipal leaders need to fight back on behalf of their communities!

Contact your State Legislators by using IML’s e-mail messaging system to Oppose LGDF Reduction. It takes only seconds!

Senator Durbin (center) enjoyed a lunch meeting with members of the Lake County Municipal League. Also pictured from left to right are Mayor Rich Hill (Round Lake Beach), Mayor Mark Knigge (Wauconda), Mayor Joe Mancino (Hawthorn Woods), Chairman David Stolman (Lake County Board), Village Manager Michael Talbett (Kildeer), Mayor Terry Weppler (Libertyville), Mayor Jim Barkemeyer (Bannockburn), Mayor Glenn Ryback (Wadsworth), Village Manager Moses Amidei (Wadsworth) and Noelle Kirscher-Lepper (Waukegan Mayor’s Office).

A recently enacted law in Illinois allows the State Comptroller to deduct debts to local governments from a person’s income tax return or other payments from the State. This new law provides that, if a person is entitled to a warrant or payment from the State treasury and if that person owes a debt to a unit of local government, school district, or public institution of higher education, then the State Comptroller may deduct, on behalf of that entity, the amount owed from the warrant or payment.

When processing the deduction, the Comptroller must inform the person in writing and give that person an opportunity to protest the debt. The Comptroller may also charge a processing fee to cover the costs of that Office’s activities in making the deduction.

In order to have the Comptroller’s Office deduct payments on its behalf, the local government must enter into an intergovernmental agreement concerning the administration of the offset system.

For more information contact the Illinois Office of the Comptroller’s Government and Community Affairs Department at (312) 814-2488 or click here.

The Working Groups are continuing their discussions on the Route 53/120 Blue Ribbon Advisory Council. A final draft Resolution and Report with a comment log is expected to be ready between May 18-June 1.

For a look at possible road scenarios, click here.

The U.S. Census collected a wide range of data that can be useful to municipalities. A new link give searchers the data in a much easier format. Click Quickfacts.census.gov to see how easy it is to find demographic information on your community.