I am humbled by the opportunity to serve as your new Vernon Township Supervisor upon the resignation of Representative Daniel Didech. I would like to congratulate Representative Didech on his election to the Illinois General Assembly. We know that Dan will serve his constituents well in Springfield and I look forward to working with him to service our community.
When the board and the administration began our journey two years ago, we had lofty goals. I am proud to report that we were successful in bringing transparency to our operations, tax relief to our citizens and greater efficiencies in our operations.
We were successful in reducing the tax burden to our residents by reducing the township levy by 5.86% and the highway commission levy by 10% in our first two years. The Board achieved this by increasing operational efficiencies, opening up our bidding processes and reducing wasteful expenditures.
We have worked hard, in conjunction with the highway commissioner, to lower our operating budgets and created a 3-year roads plan for capital development to more accurately forecast our community needs for the future. The township will also be doing a 3-year capital development plan in fiscal 2019.
Finally, we brought about needed savings to the township by passing a referendum that will consolidate the highway commission into the regular operations of the township completely by 2021. This will bring significant savings by removing operational overhead of more than $100,000 and bring further efficiencies and transparency to the function.
As Supervisor, I plan to continue our mission of openness, transparency, and helping to reduce property tax burden on our residents. This year, the board will be delivering on our promise to make a 5% reduction to the budget. I firmly believe that our ultimate mission is to deliver efficient government operations that still provide important and needed services for the community.
To further transparency and service, beginning March 5, the township administration offices will be open until 7:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This will allow more of our working residents to take advantage of passport services, parking permits, social service applications, our medical lending closet and more. I will be personally holding Supervisor’s office hours on Tuesday evenings so that constituents can meet with me to discuss their issues and concerns. Please call the township to schedule an appointment with me or any of our Trustees.
I look forward to serving our community more effectively within the coming months and years.