Michael Danforth Profile

Bio

Name: Michael Danforth

City: Fox River Grove

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Party: Republican

Office sought: Lake County Board - District 17

Age: 56

Family:

Occupation: Lawyer

Education: BA, Political Science, Northern Illinois University - DeKalb, Illinois (1986); JD, Regent University School of Law - Virginia Beach, Virginia (1994)

Civic involvement: 1st Vice-Chairman - Lake County Republican Central Committee, Lake County, IL., April 2016-present.

Precinct Committeeman - Cuba Township Republicans (Vice-Chair), Cuba Township, IL. Elected April 2012-present;

Board of Trustees - Trinity Oaks Christian Academy, Cary, IL., 2009-2013.

Teen Court Judge, Lake Forest, IL., October 2008-present.

Elected offices held: Lake County Board Member - District 17; Lake County Forest Preserves - Commissioner

Questions & Answers

Question 1: If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led?

As the incumbent on the County Board, appointed in February 2017, I have led the initiative to hold County Board members responsible for the use of their county issued procurement card (P-cards). I initiated a review of expenditures made by Chairman Aaron Lawlor on his P-card and came to the conclusion that the matter needed to be reviewed by the States' Attorneys' Office for further investigation and initiated that investigation. While I serve as the 1st Vice-Chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee - politics must never get in the way of serving the public trust. Additionally, I recently voted against an increase in the property tax levy and I originated and have been working on the implementation of a Tax Accountability Reference Service (TARS) which will be included in residence tax bills outlining the names, phone numbers and e-mails of the heads of each taxing district so county taxpayers can have easy direct contact with the taxing district to express their concerns and opinions regarding their property taxes. Additionally, In August 2018 I introduced a resolution that passed the County Board placing on the November ballot an advisory referendum calling for the Illinois General Assembly to amend the Illinois Constitution banning the implementation of state property tax.

Question 2: What is the single biggest need in your district?

Property tax levies continue to rise every year and state cuts continue to strain the available resources of county and local government. I want to lead the county forward in addressing fairer taxation across all taxing bodies. Residents need to be educated on how the independent taxing bodies levy taxes and must be informed of how they can hold accountable these taxing bodies. All increases to property tax are regulated by the PTELL law which limits annual property tax levy increases to be no more than the CPI or 5%, whichever is less before a proposed tax increases would have to go to voter referendum. However, there is no similar mechanism to reduce property tax levies using a voter referendum. Senator Dan McConchie has looked to introduce such legislation that would give residents of Lake County and opportunity to force taxing district to

reduce their respective tax levies.

Question 3: Should the county government eliminate procurement cards, or p-cards, for county board members? Should county board members even have expense accounts? County board members in some other counties don't, their salaries cover work expenses. Should employees' p-cards be eliminated, too?

While I believe that "responsible county officials" should be able to maintain and utilize a county procurement card (p-card), the county board is now seriously considering what measures need to be taken in order to correct discovered mis-use and abuse regarding the p-card system. While most members of the county board and most county government officials are responsible in their use of taxpayer funds, the problem of any mis-use or abuse must be immediately addressed. I have personally never used my county p-card and I would be in favor of a measure in which any allowable governmental expenses would first be paid from a personal account by the county official and then a vetting process in which receipts are produced and justification of the expenses are made. I believe this would make each official much more conscientious before they spend taxpayer dollars.

Each county board member is allotted $7000 on an annual basis to be use for the purposes of constituent services. Like most elected bodies within the state of Illinois and on a national level having funds available for constituent services is normal and necessary in order to effectuate good communications/government between the elected public official and the residents in their respective districts.

Question 4: Is the county doing enough to control expenses? What additional, specific steps do you recommend?

The county for the most part does a very good job of governing itself by sound financial principles. This is quite evident with our AAA bond rating as well as the thoughtful budgetary process that we go through on an annual basis. However, as with any government entity operating under the states PTELL law, we also need to have a mechanism established in the law that allows citizens by referendum to instruct all taxing districts within the county to cut their respective spending. Furthermore, there are some departments within the county in which we should have an across-the-board 5 to 10% spending cut, in order to bring some tax relief to the taxpayers. However, it must be remembered in order to have true property tax relief, it is necessary to go to the taxing districts, like the school boards, that comprise 70% of Lake County residents' tax bill and demand that they cut their budgets. Only then will we see sufficient property tax relief in Lake County.

Question 5: Historically, county board meetings have been free of partisanship and political antics -- but party-line fighting has become more noticeable in recent years. How do you feel about that?

For the most part both sides of the aisle on the county board get along extremely well. Obviously, during election cycles the differences in our political ideologies are much more prevalent in our discussions. While this may seem to be unfortunate it certainly is an opportunity for the residents to understand the differences these political ideologies make in running county government and in setting forth future new policies that directly impact Lake County residents tax burden and quality of life. Because of these election cycles, part of the apparent political partisanship comes from top state political party leaders peddling influence over local elected officials. We must resist the over politicizing in the policy deliberations that we engage in on the Lake County Board as blatant partisanship negatively impacts on an overall ability serve the practical interests of Lake County residents.