Comptroller takes swift action to suspend some payments to Orland Park

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza Thursday suspended all revenue "off-sets" to Orland Park for failing to file two audits in 2022 and 2023, actions Mendoza insists were the same taken against Dolton

By Ray Hanania

FREE/Politics Suburban Government/Thursday Oct. 17m, 2024

(Make sure to read Mendoza’s release below AND ALSO watch arrogant bully Keith Pekau’s statement for the board meeting.)

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza on Thursday followed through with her threat to take action against the Village of Orland Park by suspending all revenue “off-sets” due to the village, estimated to be about $120,000.

It is only the second time the Comptroller’s office has taken such action, the other being against the Village of Dolton, which has been the subject of far more news coverage than Orland Park has been.

Mendoza’s spokesperson insisted that the Comptroller’s office has taken “the exact same action” against Orland Park as it has against Dolton, which I previously wrote had been more severe.

Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau has failed to file two audits and has refused to explain at his board meeting bully pulpit why he hasn’t filed the audits, although he never hesitates to use that bully pulpit to personally attack any resident who challenges him during the Public Participation segment of the board’s meetings.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza

What do the “off-set” suspensions entail?

If Orland Park Police ticket you for speeding and you don't pay; if the village gets a court judgement against you for failure to pay a city fee; We can off-set your state income tax refund or other state payments such as lottery winnings you may have coming to you and send that money to the Village of Orland Park. We send Orland about $120,000 a year in such offsets. The judgments are still there, so if Orland comes into compliance, they could theoretically get all those offsets once we resume payments to them. 

The Comptroller describes the action as “rare” suggesting Orland Park’s troubles go beyond the normal challenges other municipalities face when they fail to file their annual audits.

Mendoza said that Dolton’s financial problems are “more severe” than Orland’s and that Dolton is eight months more delinquent than Orland because the two municipalities have different fiscal years.

But she said her actions with the Village of Orland Park are the same actions she has taken with the Village of Dolton.

Critics have contended she acted quicker on Dolton, which has been the focus of far more news coverage than Orland Park’s financial troubles. But her office insists that is not true. She treats everyone the same.

Pekau has spent millions on his personal pet projects from an entertainment venue to a gun range, and has committed millions more in contract promises to developers the village works with who also happen to be among his biggest campaign contributors.

Orland Park’s mayor has also been extremely vague and contradictory about his plans to implement three NEW Tax Increment Financing districts (TIF) in addition to the Downtown Triangle TIF for which he has hosted public hearings in the past.

At prior board meetings, Pekau has referenced the three NEW TIFs leading many to believe he planned to approve them soon. But, after the NEW TIFs became the focus of some scant media coverage (nothing near the attention Dolton has received) Pekau backtracked and said the three NEW TIFs are “far from proposals.”

The local news media has been lax in holding Pekau accountable to the public and has written very little about the three NEW TIFs which will siphon hundreds of millions of dollars in new property taxes away from local schools such as High School District 230 and instead place them in a fund that he can control himself along with the TIF developers.

In one TIF plan at the old Andrew site, it is estimated that the village may build as many as 500 to 600 new town homes and residential homes.

A TIF district can last between 23 and 35 years and all of the property taxes that would, for example, be paid to the schools to cover costs for the students from those homes, would instead go to Pekau’s control. The schools would be left to find ways to pay for the new students which could be as many as 100 to 400 each year over the next 23 to 35 years of the TIF’s life.

Mendoza insisted that there is no difference in how she is treating Orland Park compared to how she is treating Dolton, although she was slow in responding to questions about what she would do in Orland Park.

Here is the press release from the Comptroller’s Office which details the state’s response to Orland Park’s failed financial audit disclosures.

Comptroller Mendoza Suspends Payments to the Village of Orland Park for Failure to File Documents  

The move aims to motivate Orland Park’s administration to follow the law without penalizing town residents  

Starting today (Thursday August 17, 2024), Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza is suspending “offset” payments to the Village of Orland Park.

“Offsets” refers to money collected from state payments our office withholds from people who owe traffic tickets or other money to municipalities such as Orland Park.  

These payments are worth about $120,000 a year to the village.  

The IOC is taking this action because Orland Park has failed for two years to file its statutorily required annual financial reports with this office.

These reports are an important tool in tracking local government spending and offer transparency to taxpayers wondering how their tax money is being used.  

“We take very seriously our statutory obligation to collect annual financial reports from municipalities around Illinois,” Comptroller Mendoza said.

“We very rarely use tools like this to enforce compliance, but we have been asking for two years.”  

Today’s action by the Illinois Office of Comptroller (IOC) mirrors the action Comptroller Mendoza took two months ago against the Village of Dolton, which likewise was two years behind on filing its annual financial reports.  

Dolton was even more delinquent than Orland Park, by about eight months, because Orland Park operates on a different fiscal year.  

Illinois has more than 7,000 units of governments which must file reports with the IOC. Cities; mosquito abatement districts; fire protection districts, townships and more. The IOC posts these reports online so taxpayers can see how their money is being spent.  

The vast majority of governments have no problem meeting deadlines. When local governments are late, the office works with them to try to encourage them to come into compliance.  

“It’s in taxpayers’ best interests for us to convince local governments to keep up to date with their statutory obligations,” Mendoza said. “We don’t take these steps lightly. This is only the second time we have cut off off-set funds.”   

The action was taken against Dolton on August 15th because for two years the administration of Mayor Tiffany Henyard had willfully refused to turn over the annual reports all municipalities are required to file with the Illinois Office of Comptroller, including an annual financial report, a financial audit, and three Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) reports. Her administration had stopped communicating with our office. 

Since then, Dolton’s village administrator, working with some of the village trustees, has been communicating with our office and preparing the way for our forced audit team to come in and work with village staffers to help complete the overdue financial reports. 

Working with us could save the village from fines that could total $78,600 or more. 

Orland Park, in contrast, never stopped communicating with our office, but has failed for two years now to turn in reports. 

As with Dolton, our office has put Orland Park on notice that the next steps could be a forced audit and fines that currently total: $27,720. 

That can all be avoided if the village comes into compliance by submitting the overdue reports. The village has told our office that they are on track to submit the overdue reports. 

“We would always prefer to have local governments come into compliance with their statutory obligations,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “But my office will not hesitate to use the tools at our disposal to safeguard taxpayers’ interests if governments are willfully ignoring the law.” 

Our office can assess fines of approximately $7,000 per year per unfiled report, totaling approximately $27,720 for Orland Park as of today. That would be in addition to the roughly $120,000 the Village could lose in offset payments our office sends the village on an annual basis if its administration does not resume filing reports. 

The village last filed its 2021 reports in 2023. But the 2022 and 2023 reports – the financial audit; annual financial report and Tax Increment Finance District report – are un-filed and delinquent. 

Offset payments will resume as soon as the Village of Orland Park comes into compliance. 

END

PEKAU ASERTS NO ACTION WILL BE TAKEN: