Lake Zurich deserves the truth
After six and a half years, and some $32 million in public investment, downtown Lake Zurich just isn't the thriving village center we were promised.
Of the seven development phases that were contracted for in May 2005, only half of one phase has been completed. Foundation pads for the remaining Sommerset Townhomes have been covered over as if left for dead. And now comes another nail in the coffin - Bank of America has foreclosed on both the townhouses and surrounding village properties, seeking more than $7 million from the village and the developer after the developer defaulted on its construction loan.
Lake Zurich residents are outraged!
While some have attempted to blame this latest insult - foreclosure on village property - on what Alan Greenspan called "a perfect fiscal storm," the sinister truth, and the reason residents were taken completely by surprise, is that the village never bothered to ask their permission, much less even tell them, that a large chunk of their downtown had been put up as collateral for the developer.
On June 9, 2006, then-Village Administrator John Dixon signed a mortgage in the amount of $6.5 million to secure the developer's construction loan. On March 27, 2007, then-Acting Village President John Tolomei upped the ante to more than $9.1 million.
So why the outrage?
The Illinois Tax Increment Financing Act sets out very specific procedures that municipalities must follow whenever they take out mortgages on property, including an open, competitive bidding process, opportunity for public input, and formal approval of the municipality's board of trustees by ordinance.
The record in Lake Zurich is clear: no bids, no public input no ordinances passed by the board.
There are obvious questions here: "Were these the acts of two lone gunmen, or was the entire village Board (including currently sitting Trustees Callahan, McAvoy and Taylor) in on it?
What would possess village officials to secretly give away the store in support of the developer they now so despise? Are there other land mines lurking in the village's path?
Now the village wants authority for another $16 million in debt; again on the backs of the taxpayers. The last time they did this (2005), the village promised us the money would be responsibly used to pay down debt. And we know all too well about that broken promise.
From those who put them into this miserable situation, the taxpayers of Lake Zurich deserve much more than an apology.
Once, just once, they deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Rich Sustich
Lake Zurich