Townships collect tax money to help needy, but most goes to salaries, overhead
Of the $152,062 spent by Avon Township on its charitable initiatives in 2014, only $10,740 actually went to those in need.
The remaining $141,322 went to pay salaries and overhead for the township's general assistance programs.
Even Township Supervisor Lisa Rusch acknowledged the disparity is striking.
“That is a big gap and that's why we've changed things this year,” Rusch said.
But Rusch's township, which is based in Round Lake Park and serves one of the poorest areas of Lake County, isn't the only township in the suburbs to use most of the tax dollars collected for its charitable programs to pay operational costs. A Daily Herald analysis of 45 townships in six counties revealed administrative costs outpaced actual assistance funding by nearly $1.4 million in 2014 alone.
“It's just wrong,” Grayslake Democratic state Sen. Melinda Bush said. “That amount of money is not getting to the people that need it most and something's wrong with that. We need to do something about it.”
Even in townships where hundreds of thousands of dollars are distributed annually to the needy, the administrative costs eclipse that spending.
In Maine Township, based in Park Ridge, officials distributed $297,411 in assistance to needy residents in 2014. But the township also spent $611,221 on operational costs for its charitable programs like the food pantry and health care assistance. Almost $400,000 went to seven salaries alone, according to the township's budget.
“Anytime you have programs that deal with people helping people, you have to have a staff, and that staff has to be paid,” Maine Township Supervisor Carol Teschky said. “We have a very dedicated staff and my general assistance director has been here for 34 years. I could get rid of everyone here and hire new people that cost less, but that's not how we do things.”
Teschky said unlike some township programs that affect only those living in unincorporated areas, general assistance programs are available to all of Maine Township's more than 135,000 residents.
General assistance is one of the three chief responsibilities of township government, along with property assessment and road and bridge maintenance. Most townships collect a property tax specifically to provide aid or have reserve funds from taxes collected for such purposes.
In 2014, the 45 townships combined spent nearly $7.6 million in general assistance funds. Just $3.1 million of that went to those in need, according to the analysis.
Almost $4.5 million was spent on administrative costs in those townships. The townships don't have to use general assistance taxes to pay administrative costs of those programs, said Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, an attorney specializing in local government law who also co-authored the Township Officials of Illinois' Laws and Duties Handbook. “Most townships do because they don't have money in other funds to pay those costs.”
It's reasonable to believe taxes collected for general assistance go to help those in need, Bush complained.
“All of those dollars should go to those who need them,” she said.
Recipients of general assistance have to qualify through state-mandated income and employment guidelines. The township can offer less stringent “emergency assistance” for the short term, but not all townships have such programs.
Funding that does go to the needy often helps recipients pay mortgages and rent, according to an analysis of township audits. But the money can also be used to cover health care, food, utilities, transportation and even funerals.
Most aid recipients don't actually receive any cash. Once residents are determined to qualify for assistance, the township pays bills on behalf of those seeking funds, township officials said.
Some townships collect general assistance funds but rarely distribute any.
In 2014, Antioch, Barrington, Blackberry, St. Charles and Sugar Grove townships all collected some property taxes for general assistance, but they distributed none of those funds to anyone in need.
St. Charles Township Supervisor John Arthur Anderson said the $16,190 the township spent from its general assistance budget in 2014 was for a case worker who handles calls three mornings each week and directs those inquiring about assistance to other agencies that have looser funding restrictions.
“He provides resources for them to where they can go and receive help,” Anderson said.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are another five townships — Batavia, Cuba, Leyden, Vernon and Virgil — where no administrative costs were paid with tax dollars earmarked for general assistance, according to township audits.
In Avon Township, Rusch said somebody else is in charge of the township's general assistance program these days. She added the township is on pace to distribute nearly $50,000 to residents in need this year. But that will still fall short of the township's administrative costs.
“It will probably lag a little bit, but it will be a lot closer to it,” Rusch said.
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