Illinois taxes. Where do they go? (Chicago, Rockford: real estate, 2009, insurance)

[linicx]

First of all this post is no designed to start a war. Illinois taxes are ghastly. Chicagoans do pay more taxes; I do not understand why. On the other hand, I pay my fair share. The real estate taxes on my small one bedroom house are over two grand and I live in rural area in the middle of the state. And I am going to guess your gas and lights are as obnoxious as mine which are close to $500 per month for a four room house. We all seem to be in the same boat - just differing degrees

Recently a poster asserted 60-80% of Northern Illinois taxes go south to southern Illinois to support their schools, etc.. I found nothing on any Illinois state site to support the statement. but it did make me wonder enough to call Springfield. A person from the Governor's Office of Budge and Management returned the call today.

I asked if it is possible to A- determine the exact amount of taxes collected from Northern Illinois, and B- if is possible to determine what amount of those taxes are dispersed to a particular section of Illinois for education. I was surprised at the reply.

Yes it is possible.

1- The state would want a very compelling reason.
2- The state would need special computer software.
3- It would take the allocations department more than 200 hours to collect, compile and collate the results - if the department did nothing else. (Allocations pays state warrants.)
4- Is that how you want to spend Illinois taxpayer dollars?

For any individual who would like to continue this conversation with the state, you can DM me for the information.

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[jtjmom]

Wow. Just wow.

[chet everett]

That is sorta silly. I mean yes, the share of taxes collected "downstate" relative to the amount spent downstate is out of balance. You know where the downstate money is spent? Prisons, medicaid, state colleges and roads.

The schools downstate have the same "student need" based formula as the rest of the state which means that the more well off districts hardly get nary a penny from the state and the less well off districts get perhaps few hundred dollars per child. Whippty freakin do...

When you see the giant amounts of money that the state of Illlinois spends on road building it no surprise that those firms also give huge sums to politicians.

The cost of staffing and maintaining prisons to lock up criminals in far away towns is also staggering -- tens of thousand per inmate.

The sad reality is that lots of poor sick people live out in the boonies too, if Illinois cuts back on medicaid anymore than it does the few hospitals spread out over hundreds of miles downstate would close and people would die in ambulance rides...

Without subsidy from the general state budget the choices that kids in Illinois have for college, especially affordable broad Universities, would fall dramatically. And of course that also gives the lawmakers another fanfuntastic opportunity to abuse their clout!
Testimony before UI clout commission continues - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

[linicx]

I think it is unlikely the little hospitals downstate will close as most are connected to larger hospitals. Our 25 bed is connected to a Springfield monster hospital. The schools are getting clobbered, too. One of he local hospitals in Peoria is freezing 12,000 salaries and reducing management pay. Personally I am more worried about cut backs in the health departments that inspects any place in Illinois that serves the public including meat plants, restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, etc.. Sanitation is more important than ever.

The lousy economy is touching every section of American. Seniors will not see a COL intil the economy turns around even though gasoline, groceries and utilities continue to climb.

[chet everett]

Your're kidding right? The hospitals downstate are in terrible shape, regardless of size.
Even in places where there are University hospitals and pretty decent wages the hospitals provide tons of care to the poor

If it was not for medicaid they would be impossible to keep open:
Reimbursing Hospitals

[linicx]

Let me qualify my statement by saying I've lived in rural areas for the last 25 years, and I've dealt with rural hospitals on a more or less weekly basis due to being married to a critical care patient. Not all rural hospitals are created equal. Not all rural hospitals in all states offer quality care. The hospital where I live does. The hospital is located in a city where there is a high unemployment rate and therefore a high uninsured rate. I am reasonably certain due to the unusual amount of rain and lower temperatures the county bushel per acre harvest will be lower this year. It impacts everything in the county including the hospital. .

The biggest barrier I see to quality medical care is the hospital owned HMO clinic that charges $175 to see a doctor and $135 to see a PA for a cold, the quality of care is pathetic. IMHO, this is why the poor and uninsured go to ER as a last resort when their children are sick. On the other hand I've also been to clinics own by doctors who did not accept insurance or medicare, nor did they do hospital rounds or rotate in and out in hospital ER rooms. They played the game for X number of years and quit.

These doctors charged $25, gave donated medicine and supplies as needed, and had a full waiting room every day. He was my doctor because I prefer a DO to a MD. He did minor surgery in his office, sent me out with arm full of bandages and it still cost $25. IF I had gone to the HMO, I would have been sent to the hospital for surgery, and I would had gone home with prescriptions for drugs I didn't need. I wasn't about to have surgery in a dirty hospital. I threatened one day to remove my spouse AMA because of it and had a screaming match with the Chief of Staff over it - because he was hung over and did not want to be disturbed on Sunday morning. Spouse picked up MRSA in that dirty hospital, too.

The website mentioned is DFS and it is has not been updated for two years.

[Jons99]

Originally Posted by linicx

Recently a poster asserted 60-80% of Northern Illinois taxes go south to southern Illinois to support their schools, etc.. .

That is not even close to what I said.

What I actually said is that most central and southern Illinois school districts rely on state aid for 60-80% of their revenue.

[linicx]

Mostly Jons99 complained about southern Illinois and education funding. I'm not going to rehash it.

One of the things the OMB employee did say is that "Illinois tax dollars go where the people are". Northern Illinois, of course, has the largest concentration of people in the state. The employee also indicated the "more affluent counties, such as Will County. *do not* receive much money from the state for their schools due to the amount of real taxes they pay".

Compare this to Kankakee which joins the southern border of Will County. It received nearly 100% in Education funding from the state for school year 2009 - which I think was $28M. Peoria County. 100 miles farther south, received about 84% from the state for Education - which I think was about $68M. Peoria has a larger population and nearly three times the number of schools than Kankakee.
Cairo received 5M, or more than 100% of the real estate taxes collected.

There is a diversity in the amount of monies school districts receive from the state for education.

[Jons99]

Originally Posted by linicx

Peoria County. 100 miles farther south, received about 84% from the state for Education -

Another incorrect statement, Peoria is only about 20-25 miles south of Kankakee, its more west of Kankakee.

The number that really matters is what percentage of a schools revenue is coming from state aid, most districts in the central and southern parts of the state are at 60-80%, a few less and a few more. The rural district I am in is around 35%, so its not a rural issue.. Most suburban districts are between 15-30%..

[linicx]

In the event that any one cares about sources, I used what Jons99 provided in another post.