Former Highland Park Mayor sees expanded role for Lake County Treasurer

County Treasurer’s Office Can Have Expanded Role

The County Treasurer’s office under Bob Skidmore made great improvements and he should be commended for his years of public service as he steps down. As a former Mayor of Highland Park I was proud that he is a native son who grew up in Highland Park. That said, I believe the office could have an expanded role in county government beyond the responsibility for collecting taxes and investing tax dollars per state statute.

Here are my ideas:

1) Promote financial education in the schools. This could be done through a partnership with banks. One of the key factors in the 2008 great recession was that people were duped into taking on debt well beyond their capacity to repay. Getting young people prepared to manage family budgets and understand how much should be reasonably allocated to housing would go a long way to avoiding a future crisis.

2) Establish a linked deposit program similar to the State of Illinois. This entails accepting a lower return from depository banks in exchange for these banks making below market rate loans to small business in the County. The loans could be targeted for business expansions and special purposes such as environmental sustainability.

3) Establish a local government investment pool for municipalities, park districts, school districts, townships etc. This will reduce the cost to these governments of investing through economies of scale. Also better returns may be gained in that larger amounts invested enable a better negotiating position with the banks.

4) Establish a similar pool for police and fire pension funds. Currently these funds are invested individually which is very inefficient.   Even if separate accounts remain there would be savings resulting from the common administration of investments and benefits administration through a countywide effort.

5) Advocate for government consolidations and elimination. This could include combining elementary and high school districts into unit districts and reducing the number of townships.

6) Work with county administrators on providing better information related to how county tax dollars are spent each year. This can be accomplished through Service Efforts and Accomplishment Reporting. For example if the County spends more dollars putting additional Sheriffs on the street -is there a commensurate reduction in crime?

7) Work with county administrators on publishing a Citizen Centric Annual Financial Report. Governmental financial statements are the scorecard on the budget. Yet they are voluminous and complex. A one page summary with key results will better inform the citizenry on county finances.

8) Provide those individuals that own their homes out right with a mechanism for paying their taxes on a monthly basis, similar to what is done with a mortgage escrow.

While some of the above may appear beyond the scope of the treasurer’s office they are all related to improving the fiscal and economic climate of Lake County.  As a key elected official with financial responsibility the Treasurer has a stake and responsibility in these matters.

Michael D. Belsky

Mayor of Highland Park (2003-2011)

1008 Deerfield Road

Highland Park, IL.

312-953-5449