Ed Young: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: LisleWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Lisle Village boardAge: 61Family: Married, two children, three grandchildrenOccupation: CPAEducation: BBA Ohio University Economics ConcentrationMBA Ohio University Accounting Concentration Civic involvement: A founding member and 1st President- Citizens for Responsible and Appropriate Development in Lisle (CRADL), Trustee Lisle Village Board 1999 to presentBoard Member Lisle Convention and Visitor Bureau 2000- presentElected offices held: Trustee Village of Lisle 1999 to presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Fiscal responsibility. During these difficult economic times we have had to address falling revenues while facing increasing costs. We've been successful in balancing the budget through a combination of a small increase in revenue combined with significant cost reductions. We have been successful each year in reducing the property tax rate which has been offset by growth in property valuations. Like our residents, significant portions of Village expenses are beyond our control, gasoline for the Police public works vehicles, salt for the roads etc. Consequently, deeper cuts are required in the remaining areas. Unlike many neighboring municipalities we haven't cut any services to our residents. We have excellent Police protection and Lisle's roads remain in excellent condition. In addition, the Village remains one of the least taxed municipalities in DuPage County. For the past two years Village employees have not had any increase in pay and their benefits have been cut. We have overhauled the health care program by shifting to a high deductible plan with preventive benefits which will reduce cost and make our employees better consumers of health care.Key Issue 2 Economic Development. The Village had a great year with the landing of Navistar and Sun-Coke as the site for their world headquarters. These entities will bring in excess of 2,700 new jobs to our Village. In the future we must ensure that our processes are equitable for the residents as well as the entities wishing to locate within our Village. Vacancy rates along the east west corridor remain excessive so there is ample room to bring additional entities to our great Village. I think we have to be creative in how we approach granting assistance as we were in the Navistar TIF. The mechanics of TIF's are difficult to understand and the Navistar TIF even more so because of the surplus declaration --that is the first major distribution each year is to the affected taxing bodies. Navistar agreed that property tax distributions would be based on the 2008 fair market value which is approximately three times the purchase price- the normal benchmark for establishing value for property taxes. Incorporated into the TIF are certain safe guards for the Village as well. If the jobs fall below specified levels the TIF distributions are reduced accordingly. If the site does not remain as Navistar's World Headquarters the TIF is dissolved and no additional distributions will be made. Under certain circumstances the Village will recoup prior distributions for the prior two years. I believe using creative incentives structured in a similar fashion will bring new economic growth to our Village and provide protection for all the Village stakeholders.Key Issue 3 Maintaining a local government that is for one Lisle, open to all and keeping us moving in the right direction. When I was first elected Trustee, open discussion at Village Board meetings by residents was prohibited. Further at the open forum portion of the meeting no comment was permitted on agenda items. Today, anyone can make comments at the time the item is discussed and before any vote. I know some residents who opposed Navistar have stated that the Village is not transparent, but if you examine the record closely you will find the opposite. The residents were given unprecedented access to records and the Village Board did not intervene in the zoning process even when subpoenas were issued to individuals who had no involvement with the issues before the zoning board. As a result of the Navistar public hearing process, I am concerned that the hard fought rights gained by the Meijer case will be lost. The State has already changed the standard of review by the courts making it more difficult and costly for residents to participate in the process. I believe that an unanticipated outcome of the Navistar public hearing process will be State legislation that will place further restrictions on resident participation and the hard fought gains from the Meijer case will be lost. I will ensure Lisle residents always get to ask questions and get answers in zoning matters and will work to see that these rights are not overridden by State legislation. Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Experience and leadership. I have been a Trustee since 1999 and during that time I have accomplished the following:Maintained fiscal responsibility.Maintained corporate reserves. Led the fight against a big box store on the Meijer property.Initiated the ability for residents to speak at Board meetings. Initiated the leaf brush pickup.Helped transfer the land for Peach Creek Park.Developed the financing method for the Lisle/Benedictine sports complex without any increase on Lisle residents' taxes.Extended sidewalks on major arterials to permit safe passage throughout the Village.Led the TIF negotiations with Navistar. Given the delicate balance between the need for revenue and over-taxing local businesses, what is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.I don't believe the sales tax burden should be increased. The Illinois rate coupled with the DuPage County rate make our rate one of the highest in the country. It would be very beneficial if the State would remit the municipal portion on a timely basis. Although Illinois already attempts to tax online purchases by requesting residents to pay the tax at the time of their income tax filing, few do. Collection of sales tax for online purchases at point of purchase would greatly enhance State revenue and should be collected in a manner that permits remitting the appropriate municipal and county portions. Talking with your friends and neighbors, what seems to be their biggest public safety concern? Explain the concern as you see it, and discuss how you think it should be addressed.I don't believe I heard from my friends and neighbors about any one single issue regarding public safety but I do believe we have a national substance abuse problem that we must never lose site of. The toll this problem takes on our society is incalculable. Although the Village still sponsors the DARE program, we rarely have meaningful discussions of these problems. Greater awareness and participation in discussions on an ongoing basis with all government entities, schools and religious organizations needs to occur on a regular basis in an attempt to curtail the problem.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?I believe we have made all the cuts we can without cutting services. The budget setting process is going to be very difficult for fiscal 2012. With respect to areas where we don't allocate enough resources, I have two. First, the Village's most important assets are its employees and this will mark the third year without any compensation adjustments of any kind coupled with a reduction in benefits. Second is our marketing. The Lisle Convention and Visitor Bureau (LCVB) does a great job of marketing Lisle hotels as well as the image of Lisle. Even with an increase in the percentage of funding from the hotel motel tax receipts personnel cuts have had to be made. I fear that once the economy starts to come back the current cuts will have a long term adverse effect. If possible I would like to find a way to devote more resources to these areas.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?A pedestrian bridge/bikeway over the Tollway providing safe access to the Arboretum from downtown Lisle. Picture new development surrounding Garfield Pond with 3-4 storied mixed use buildings, retail and office on the first and second floors with residential on the third and perhaps fourth story. Main Street is completely populated with local merchants and a variety of restaurants. From the Metra station through downtown and Garfield Park is a unified safe walkway/bikeway that extends down Main Street to Warrenville with a bridge over the Tollway providing pedestrian/bike passage to the Arboretum.