District 230 candidate defends Pekau's TIF money-grab

Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau is trying to takeover local governments, siphoning property taxes from homeowners and schools to fund his national election ambitions to run for Congress or Governor

By Ray Hanania

FREE/Local Elections, Orland Park, Schools, Fire District, Illinois/Wednesday March 12, 2025

A real tragedy in the American election system is how contests are divided between local and national races. Elections are held every two years but races are contested at different times.

On the national level, the election for President is every four years. Congress (House and Senate) is every two years. Governors every four years.

So we saw the presidential election in 2024 in Illinois, for example, in March (primary) and November (general). Those are generally political party races, or partisan races with candidates from the major parties, Republicans and Democrats.

Now, in this late Winter and early Spring, we have local elections. The Feb. 25 election was for party primaries with only a few contests in townships and cities for mayors/presidents and trustees/aldermen.

The April 1 election features candidates running for local offices like schools, fire districts, village mayors, townships, trustees/aldermen, and parks and libraries. These races are generally non-partisan meaning they don’t publicly run under a major party (Republican or Democrat) banner. Some do though (in the February 25 election).

Traditionally, the voter turnout is low in the national elections, but even lower in the local elections. Part of the problem is the collapse of the mainstream news media which has fewer and fewer resources than they did half a century ago.

Major media that cover regions and national issues, including the president, Congress, and governors, are struggling. Community newspapers that cover the local races including state legislators, suburban villages and cities, or schools, are barely able to survive so their coverage is very limited.

Carl Sandburg High School is one of three high schools in School District 230 that are under political siege by Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau who wants their tax monies to fund his political ambitions

That’s one reason why I like to pay a lot of attention to the local elections because those races result in far greater harm to the financial bottom line of taxpayers. I pay Federal taxes. But most of my taxes — property taxes and sales taxes, for example —are paid locally to states, counties, and villages.

The problem is that some mayors, like the Village President in Orland Park, Keith Pekau, have big egos but little national power. They aspire to be tyrants and want power. So they not only want to control their village but they also want to control everything else, like the fire district, library, and schools, which are often separate government and taxing entities.

Pekau wants to control that tax money because it creates a base so he can run for higher office, as he did in 2024 when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

Pekau has slated candidates (rubber stamps) he will control for all of the races. He wants those candidates to control the independent fire, schools and library because he wants their tax money to boost his personal ambitions and his agenda.

Here are a few races where Pekau is actively engaged and that you have to watch out for:

HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 230

High School District 230 administers three high schools, Andrew in Tinley Park, Sandburg in Orland/Palos, and Stagg in Palos, Worth, Bridgeview, Hickory Hills and a few more.

Here are the candidates who are running in that race:

Pekau has slated and backed four of the candidates running for School District 230. They are: James Bax, Tim Danlow, Lukas Verzbicas and Mike Martinez. You shouldn’t support them at all and I will explain why.

The independent candidates you should support are: Tesneem Amine, Susan Dalton, Chris Kasmer, and Mark Kelly

Here’s why you should oppose Pekau’s slate for School District 230.

Pekau is planning to create three new TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Districts. He has taken control of the one TIF Orland Park now has, and Pekau has run that TIF budget spending to the ground, creating a $47 million debt that he is trying to blame on his challenger for mayor, Jim Dodge. That’s one reason why Pekau didn’t want to file his 2022 and 2023 Annual Village Financial Audits. He doesn’t want you to see the debt he has created, and the money he needs.

If Pekau is re-elected in April 1, he will raise property taxes dramatically to cover his financial problems and ambitions.

A TIF is an area of a village or larger parcel of land that is created to help the land developer by providing financial support. That money to help the developer comes from the taxpayers through the TIF.

ALL TAXES collected in a TIF District (regardless of their source, village, fire, schools, library, etc) are put in the control of the Mayor. The taxes paid from a TIF that are supposed to go to a school, for example, go to the mayor to control. Instead of being used to pay for the expenses to cover students who live in that TIF district instead goes to fund the mayor’s development.

The developers are happy because they get free money from the village to develop their lands, instead of having to develop the land on their own and with their own finances or funds.

Those developers donate big time to the mayor’s political ambitions and Pekau, who is running for re-election as mayor, wants that money to run for Congress again. Who knows. If he wins, he may also run for . Stopping Pekau is important and voting for Dodge is a priority mandate for every taxpayer who cares about Orland Park.

But let me show you how Pekau is using the school district candidates to push his agenda to take all the taxpayer money away from the schools and give it to the mayor.governor.

In an interview that one of Pekau’s candidates gave to stellar reporter Lorraine Swanson, on the Patch, Lukas Verzbicas, detailed his obvious lack of knowledge of the significance of TIF districts. It might not be ignorance. It might just be Pekau’s false agenda on TIFs that Verzbicas is parroting.

Verbicas, who wants to win a seat on High School District 230, basically says the high school district doesn’t have any major say in the creation of a TIF District, and they should do what Pekau the Mayor wants.

That is the most ignorant statement I have ever read. It’s actually one of the dumbest statements, too.

Here is what Verzbicas said about TIFs in the Patch:

“School boards cannot initiate or end TIF districts; that authority lies with municipalities. Therefore, to benefit the schools, it's crucial to collaborate with municipalities to ensure our district receives the necessary funding while still fulfilling the TIF’s purpose of expanding the taxpayer base through investment.

“There needs to be an easily accessible public database that tracks available TIFs. It should include key information such as each TIF’s inception year, expiration date, initial Equalized Assessed Value (EAV), current EAV, and any associated Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs). Transparency is essential, and this will help us accurately track the revenue owed to the district each year. We cannot afford any more instances like the Triangle TIF, where the school board failed to make the necessary annual request before the expiration date, costing the district over a million dollars in tuition reimbursements.”

Verzbicas falsely blames the schools for the existing TIF, reflecting the bullying Pekau is directing at the current board. Pekau is also bullying the elementary school districts, which he has candidates running, too.

If it were up to Verzbicas, the schools would have little to say about TIFs, even though one. of the largest amounts of taxes collected by the TIFs come from the schools.

He says, “The TIF’s purpose of expanding the taxpayer base through investment.” That is so false because the life of a TIF District can range between 23 years and 35 years. The tax money taken away from the schools during that period would devastate the schools, and give the mayor control over the schools.

Knowing Pekau, if he takes control of District 230, he will rename the high schools “Pekau HS Tinley” (for Andrew), “Pekau HS Orland” (for Sandburg) and “Pekau HS Palos” (for Stagg). His ego and lack of respect for taxpayers is that great!

In other words, instead of collecting taxes in that TIF district to pay for school expenses for students who would live in that TIF area, the money would go to the Mayor and the Developers. The school is then forced to raise property taxes to offset the loss of that tax money.

If you elect Verzbicas, you will be forcing the schools to increase property taxes to cover the money that Pekau will be taking away from them in the TIF district.

The tax money to pay for students and fund the schools that is redirected to the village and Pekau’s agenda would be in the millions.

If you care about your schools, you need to vote against Tim Danlow, Lukas Verzbicas, and Mike Martinez.

If you care about preventing unnecessary property tax increases, you need to vote against Tim Danlow, Lukas Verzbicas, and Mike Martinez.

Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and District 230 Board President Lynn Zeder

Having spent many years covering TIF districts as a former Chicago City Hall reporter, I know how politicians like Pekau who are driven by personal agendas and ambitions can exploit them to control their property tax revenues.

I urge you to protect High School District 230 and vote for Tesneem Amine, Susan Dalton, Chris Kasmer, and Mark Kelly. They would join District 230 Trustee Mohammed Jaber who has been a strong voice cautioning about TIF districts. CLICK HERE TO READ the release that Pekau’s minions got upset with.

The District 230 board should be more vocal about the TIF districts, but District 230 Board President Lynn Zeder is weak and may even support Pekau’s political grab. She needs to resign immediately. CLICK HERE TO READ that column.

CLICK TO READ this column on TIF districts.

CLICK TO READ how much Pekau has lost in his management of Orland’s only TIF

Pekau is doing this across the board. He’s running candidates for the Orland Fire Protection District, too, so he can merge and consolidate the Fire District into the Village Government and tap the district’s financial strength for his own goals.

In the Orland Fire Protection District race, there are 9 candidates running. Only three of the candidates for the OFPD are independent.

The independent candidates are OFPD Commissioner Donald “DJ” Jeffers, OFPD Trustee Beth Damas Kaspar, and former Palos Heights Police CSO Bridget Tolan. Click here for their website.

You should vote against ALL of the candidates who Pekau supports.