Judy Martini: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Judy Martini

City: Fox Lake

Website: www.judymartini.com/

Twitter:

Facebook: @JudyMartini

Office sought: Lake County Board District 5

Age: 66

Family: One son

Occupation: Public servant and community activist

Education: Former real estate agent studied at CLC and UW. Also attended Illinois Appraisal Institute in Chicago. Studied horticulture, which is my hobby, at CLC.

Civic involvement: As a 40-year resident of Lake County, I have been very active as a past member of YMCA Camp Duncan Director, former member of Fox Waterway Advisory Board, past member of Lake County Affordable Housing Commission and past commissioner on Lake County Housing Authority. I have served on over 20 committees in my life. I actively attend many community events that our Chambers, Township and Villages hold to support their efforts.

Elected offices held: 2 years as Lake County Board member for District 5. Previously Fox Waterway Agency director, Lake County Housing commissioner, Lake County Board member District 1, Fox Lake planning, building and zoning commissioner; currently director on Lake County Visitors Bureau Promoting Tourism

Questions & Answers

If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions.

I was able to help Baxter get hooked up to sewer. The effort was a good business decision for Baxter, so that they can grow, and a good environmental decision to help water quality issues on Long Lake.

I was instrumental in getting the water quality issue fixed and an emergency backup system in place for the Prairie Pointe subdivision, which had problems with iron in their water.

I am working on getting SMC to change the rule about funding on flood needs instead of EAV within a watershed for WMB funds. This issue over time will help the Fox River Watershed homeowners who have experienced repetitive flooding and are seeking assistance.

I also have been very active in water quality issues for the Squaw Creek Watershed and trying to help improve water quality for the Long Lake and Duck Lake areas.

I have been actively involved with the Lake County Visitors Bureau, promoting tourism for our area, which started a website called BoatingLakeCounty.com, helping to promote tourism for the Chain O' Lakes area.

Furthermore, I am asking for additional funding in the budget for signage along Chain O' Lakes area for no-wake notifications to make our waterways safer.

I am also seeking more funding to help the veterans through the Veterans Assistance Commission. Lake County has more veteran's assistance calls than any other Counties and we have less employees than those.

What is the single biggest need in your district?

The biggest need of District 5 is sound, effective representation. The district is vast and diverse: from affordable housing to large homes, from tourist areas to Fortune 500 companies. I receive many calls from residents, mayors, and businesses seeking help. I feel I have served the district well and am very responsive to their calls for help. Many of the issues are infrastructure needs of the villages; a need to provide economic development, zoning violations in the unincorporated areas, to protect character of neighborhoods, to address flooding concerns and water quality issues within our watershed all while keeping a lid on taxes.

Should the county government eliminate procurement cards, or p-cards, for county board members?

I believe the PCard issue for county board members has gotten out of control and should be eliminated. Many used the cards for the intent that they were issued, some did not.

Should county board members even have expense accounts? There needs to be a clear description of what constituent services should be covered as a reimbursable expense and what are not. I personally have used the expenditure for constituent services and mailings into my district to inform my residents of important issues, such as services, flood information, health services, and road projects. These mailings have been popular with residents to ensure they can have the resources they need. The mailing service could still be provided through a line item in the budget, not with a charge card.

Should employees' p-cards be eliminated, too? There are way too many employees with charge cards, which could be reduced to just department heads, then providing more interdepartmental oversight and stop any abuse.

PCard expenditures should be posted on our website to provide transparency to our taxpayers. Elected officials and board members' expenses should be reviewed and approved by the Finance Committee to provide more oversight and stop any abuse or questionable expenditures. This would also provide more accountability to the taxpayers if any questionable expenses where made instead of FOIA requests.

Is the county doing enough to control expenses? The county is currently reviewing all PCard expenditures of county board members and coming up with more oversight and recommendations by the end of September.

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

I have several recommendations to the board, including travel expenses that show up under the general operation fund.

As one of the few AAA credit rating counties in the U.S., we have tried to be fiscally responsive to the taxpayers. We need to focus on more shared services and purchases with other governments and increase cross training of employees and put more stringent limits on contractual services.

We need to keep a lid on taxes. Even though Lake County governments' portion of tax bills has stayed steady at 7 cents on the dollar, we spend it wisely.

We need to re-evaluate the current process of property taxation. We are the only county in Illinois where the chief county assessment officer reverses arbitrarily the assessed valuations put on by township assessors, which has created infighting and lawsuits. Lake County has had over 53,000 tax appeal cases in the past three years, three times the amount of all collar counties combined. An overwhelming amount, 75% of those cases that are brought forth to PTAB, are being settled prior to any hearing. It is not fair to have property owners go through all the work of an appeal process when they are not being fairly taxed. The 1970s tax code is ambiguous and vague on interpretation of what the authority is of a CCAO and the township assessors. Because the county never ordered one, I have asked a state legislator to order an attorney general's opinion on this interpretation to stop the infighting between CCAO and assessors, and to have fair property taxes for residents.

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?

I have always tried to put the people's needs above politics. People deserve better than political bantering. Our taxpayers deserve results and sometimes those results come from compromise and negations. Obviously every campaign time has come with disagreements and some political attacks, but I will stay focused on the issues and be fair. I will continue to work hard with whatever party affiliations my other board members might have for the betterment of Lake County.