THE DAILY ENQUIRER~DEMOCRAT FOUND AT ENQUIRERDEMOCRAT.COM Macoupin County’s Dominant Newspaper 75¢ Macoupin County ~ Carlinville nquirer~Democrat OUR 164TH YEAR NO. 4 E THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 EIGHTEEN PAGES, TWO SECTIONS Reliable as the change in seasons! Royell Communications High Speed Internet Quality High Speed Wireless internet! The speeds you need for home and office LIVE, LOCAL, Technical support sets the industry standard! Customer satisfaction is our #1 goal! THE GAZDA INSURANCE We treat you like family! Locally-owned and give the kind of caring service that is delightful to discover in today's world. AGENCY, INC. Life • Property • Home • Auto • Farm Your local Direct TV and Dish Schools, governments overpaid due to state error Individual Health • Casualty Network Retailers! Give us a call or come in and see us for more information today! 6 Personal & Business Medicare Supplements 1 Business Owners • Workers Comp. The Illinois Department of Rev- Other taxing districts that owe more their request. No matter what form Liquor Liability • General Liability 0 Brighton Township Road and Bridge 1,010.20 Matt Gazda, Owner [email protected] 2 126 N. Hobson St., Virden, IL 62890 than $1,000 are Brighton Township this payment takes, it will have a 227 East First South Street 217-965-3699 • 877-400-9319 enue announced April 19 that it had Carlinville, Illinois www.royell.net 217-854-5411 Like us on facebook! *Standard installation labor charge of $50 waived with 1 year service agreement. Does not include hardware cost of CPE equipment Benld City 1,028.00 Serving All Insurance Needs! or optional networking charges. overpaid approximately $168 mil- Road and Bridge, $1,010.20; city negative impact on the school dis- SPRING HOME lion to local taxing districts -- in- of Benld, $1,028; Gillespie Town- trict.” Gillespie Township 1,182.74 “I have yet to receive any direct cluding $237,954.44 to those in Ma- ship, $1,182.74; Virden Township, Virden Township 1,255.47 communication from IDOR regard- AND GARDEN coupin County -- due to a calculation $1,255.47; Gillespie Township Road error, and those districts must repay and Bridge, $1,282.21; Girard Town- ing the timeframe in which we will Gillespie Township Road and Bridge 1,282.21 Mathews be required to pay back the funds,” 8 the funds. ship Road and Bridge, $1,289.28; Girard Township Road and Bridge 1,289.28 Tarkett Macoupin County According to a press release is- Staunton Township, $1,352.35; said North Mac Superintendent Staunton Township 1,352.35 SPRING HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 emocrat 12 ~D sued by the IDOR, a recent initia- Staunton Township Road and Marica Cullen. “The timeframe will tive to modernize the tax system led Bridge, $1,623.63; Mt. Olive Town- determine how the district will pay Staunton Township Road and Bridge 1,623.63 spring home to the discovery of a misallocation ship Road and Bridge, $1,660.36; back the $23,728. Of course, I am Mt. Olive Township Road and Bridge 1,660.36 and garden to the Personal Property Replace- Virden Township Road and Bridge, disappointed that in addition to the ment Tax (PPRT) Fund, dating back $1,685.97; Mt. Olive Township, prorogation of general state aid to the Virden Township Road and Bridge 1,685.97 special section to the Quinn administration. “The $1,773.98; Girard Township, district in each of the last five years, Mt. Olive Township 1,773.98 insert inside over-allocation was identified dur- $1,778.78; Carlinville Park District, we will have to refund the PPRT Girard Township 1,778.78 ing IDOR’s implementation of a new $1,890.12; city of Virden, $1,973.25; overpayment as well.” general ledger system, designed to city of Staunton, $2,119.14; city Staunton Superintendent Dan Cox Carlinville Park District 1,890.12 INSIDE enhance accuracy and efficiency at of Gillespie, $2,413.01; Carlin- echoed their statements, noting he Virden City 1,973.25 will not know precisely how the dis- the Department,” the release stated. ville Township, $2,572.63; Brushy Staunton City 2,119.14 Overall, the allocation error im- Mound Township Road and Bridge, trict will be impacted until the state pacts approximately 6,500 taxing $2,710.30; Carlinville Township tells districts how long they have to Gillespie City 2,413.01 districts, most of which — 5,291 — Road and Bridge, $2,970.04; and repay the funds. “With already pro- Carlinville Township 2,572.63 will have to repay less than $10,000. city of Carlinville, $3,308.54. rated and delayed revenue of several Brushy Mound Township Road and Bridge 2,710.30 There are 10 districts in the state that “The municipalities, school dis- hundred thousand dollars owed to owe $1 million or more. tricts and local governments are our district from the state, any de- Carlinville Township Road and Bridge 2,970.04 In Macoupin County, a total of 91 getting hit again,” said Carlinville crease will have a direct negative Carlinville City 3,308.54 taxing districts are impacted, from Mayor Deanna Demuzio. “This is impact on educational programming townships to cities to school dis- the second or third time. We got hit and services offered to students,” Northwestern CUSD 2 8,483.45 tricts. Many owe less than $1,000; on the Motor Fuel Tax, we got hit on Cox said. Bunker Hill CUSD 8 8,607.07 CHS students attend all but nine owe less than $3,500. the sales tax. We keep getting delays. Gillespie Superintendent Joe Tie- Piasa CUSD 9 11,779.72 State Leadership School districts, as well as the coun- We’re very fortunate, if you can call man also said he had not yet re- Conference ty itself, were the hardest hit: North- it that, that our amount is not that ceived official notice of the error. Mt. Olive CUSD 5 16,568.28 “However, my understanding is the See western CUSD 2 owes $8,483.45; large.” Gillespie CUSD 7 17,750.69 2A. overpayment will be deducted from Bunker Hill CUSD 8, $8,607.07; “As of right now, I do not believe North Mac CUSD 34 23,728.00 Piasa CUSD 9, $11,779.72; Mt. the Department of Revenue has an- future years’ allotment,” he said. “Of Olive CUSD 5, $16,568.28; Gil- nounced how the payment will be course, this is one more lack of rev- Macoupin County 24,609.39 lespie CUSD 7, $17,750.69; North made,” said Carlinville Superinten- enue the district will have to absorb.” Staunton CUSD 6 25,366.91 Mac CUSD 34, $23,728; Macoupin dent Mike Kelly. “It could be a re- “We are certainly sensitive to the Carlinville CUSD 1 47,559.54 County, $24,609.39; Staunton CUSD duction of future payments or they impact recouping these funds will 6, $25,366.91; and Carlinville CUSD may ask for a direct payment. Either These Macoupin County taxing districts owe the state more than $1,000 1, $47,559.54. way, the district will comply with See OVERPAID on 8A due to overpayment of the Personal Property Replacement Tax. Suits family welcome third son See 5A. SPORTS Card gets Big 10 record and Olympic qualifying mark See 1B. Pictured, front row, from left, are Evelyn Loy, store manager of Carlinville Walmart; Beth Allen, marketing and event manager for Camp SOAR; Jeanne Banovic, Litchfield Rotary Club treasurer; Cheryl Beanblossom, Carlinville Rotary Club president; and Pam Kovecevich, CEO of Girl Scouts of Cen- tral Illinois. Back row, from left, are Sherry Brianza, Carlinville Rotarian; Scott Erb, Camp SOAR site manager; Jessica Yeager, Camp SOAR program specialist; MJ Rogers, archery coach; and Eric Johnson, Litchfield Rotary Club president. Cavies win conference titles See 2B. Donations funding archery range at Camp SOAR In recent years, due in large part to Carlinville Rotary Club contributed expert who formerly coached at the his help with the range. the popularity of the Katniss Ever- $500 and got a $2,500 grant from Carl- U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula The goal is to have the archery range deen-focused franchise of The Hunger inville Walmart; Litchfield Rotary Club Vista, Calif., and currently serves as a completed in time for the facility’s first Games, archery has become one of the contributed $1,000; and the Hillsboro coach with the U.S. Paralympic team, Girl Scout camp in June. The range will Saturday most popular badges for Girl Scouts to and Litchfield Rotary Clubs secured will certify the camp’s staff members also be available for use by those plan- 4/30 59 70 earn. Soon, local scouts will be able to Walmart grants for a combined $4,500, so that they can teach the archery les- ning group retreats at the facility. earn that badge without going far, as an bringing the total monetary donations sons themselves, and will help plan the “We want to make sure this facility Sunday archery range will be built at Scott Out- for the project to $8,500. Whitetails Un- range. Rogers also volunteers with the stays healthy and grows here, because it’s 5/1 71 door Adventure Retreat, also known as limited has also offered to donate some Wounded Warrior Project, and Camp also economic development for our area,” 51 Camp SOAR, located just off Interstate archery equipment for the range. SOAR has agreed to host an annual free said Carlinville Rotarian Sherry Brianza, 55 near Litchfield. MJ Rogers of Carlinville, an archery retreat for that organization in thanks for who helped facilitate the donations.