Ex-Supervisor Bill Mayer and DuPage Township’s financial issues –

Will Co. (ECWd) –

As we continue to discover matters with ties to the ex-Supervisor of DuPage Township, Bill Mayer, it appears clear the financial problems plaguing him have spilled over into what should be serious concerns for the Township.

We recently exposed his tax-free health insurance in this article. As we outlined at the end of that article, we requested and now have copies of Mayer’s W-2 filings for several years and it once again appears there are problems for Mayer.  We also obtained W-4’s that also have problems.  

• 2018 W2 reporting 

A W-2 is a key tax reporting item and when income is not reported, it may point to something simple like tax avoidance or something more serious as tax evasion.

Mayer is to be paid $29,000.00 a year according to the compensation setting resolution.  How does one receive $29,000.00 in compensation but only report $5,508.69 in wages on their W-2? 

Actual Compensation in 2018 –

• $28,999.92 according to the Township financial Ledger.
• Insurance purchased with payroll according to the same ledger– $22,186.35
• IMRF contribution according to the same ledger– $1,304.88

By reporting to the government earnings of only $5,508.69, it appears he has failed to report his benefit of health insurance worth over $22K.

In reviewing the W-4’s filled out by Mayer, more problems are identified.  I asked for the last 4 years of filing.  Looking at the last four years of W-2’s, I should have recieved no less than 3 W-4 forms.  The reason we should have recieved no less than three W4 forms is that during the 4 years requested, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, the Federal Withholding changed three times.

The Township was only able to produce a 2016 W-4 that oddly is a 2006 version of the document and a 2018 W-4.  Neither form shows the deduction numbers for line 5.  It appears they used white out to hide that information.

Not knowing what the deductions claimed were makes it impossible to know what the actual withholding should be.  W-2 reporting since 2011 reflects Bill Mayer did not have any Federal tax withholding for 2013, 2014, and 2015.  How does one earn $29,000.00 a year and not have any Federal income tax withholding?

Is this 2018 underreporting a way to avoid income tax obligation and/or possibly child support issues?

• Child Support

Mayer’s ex-wife has taken him back to court in DuPage County and we understand the primary issue is child support not being paid.  If true, that would be consistent with the bankruptcy filed by his ex-wife, which reflects over $49,000.00 owed for child support by Bill Mayer.

Underreporting his earnings for 2018, the year he was taken back to court, gives the appearance he is trying to hide income as to minimize potential child support payments.

Financial Records changed after FOIA?

In August of 2018, the Township provided this ledger.

In February of 2018, the Township provided this ledger.

While we only have three months in 2018 to look at in the first ledger for comparison, it does not take an accountant to see the discrepancies in these two financial ledgers.  Who changed them and why, or is this another case of using white out to hide key information from the public?

There are other troubling documents in the hands of the authorities related to Mayer’s pay that will be exposed in due time and those records will prove the ledgers provided to be false. Stay tuned for that one, as it is big!

Audit Report

The only thing we could find related to withholdings were two statements found on page 5 of the audit.

• “…there was not documentation supporting certain payroll withholdings.
• “Staff was unable to answer inquiries regarding payroll expenditures and withholding“

It appears they confirmed our findings however we found no recommendation on correcting those withholdings they identified or reporting to the IRS?

Of additional concern in the audit is the fact they make no mention of the W2 reporting discrepancy for Mayer, the Treasurer of the Township. How do they miss something this big? Not surprised considering they also disclosed improper General Assistance payments to nonprofits on one page, then claim they have no knowledge of fraud or suspected fraud on another.  When public aid money is used to pay nonprofits that the Supervisor is a party to, most would raise the flag on suspected fraud.  Another concern is they claim to have no knowledge of any litigation the Township is a party to. I guess Mayer and/or the attorney for the Township forgot to tell them about the Tax Objection lawsuit they are involved in?

We could write a book on the audit issues but for now, you can download it at this link.

Now back to matters with financial issues tied to Bill Mayer.

New Business

Christine Mayer and her husband, Bill Mayer formed a company known as Wrangler Unlimited. The date the company started was July 22, 2013, according to the Secretary of State.

• July 24, 2013, Mayer’s wife, Christine, files Bankruptcy 

Yes, TWO DAYS after starting their new company that was later doing business with the Township according to Mayer’s SEI filing, Christine files bankruptcy.

Why does this matter?

On page 10 of her bankruptcy, she marks the NONE column for item #13 with an “X” claiming she has no interest in any corporations or business.  How is this possible when only two days prior she formed a brand new company?

Could failing to disclose her new company to the Federal Bankruptcy court be considered bankruptcy fraud?

• Property Tax Liens

Mayer and his wife, as you can see by reviewing the IRS tax records here and here, had three years worth of tax liens on record in Will County for over $45,000.00.  As of January of this year, they were still on record as being owed.

• Wedding 

Nine months after Christine Morgan files bankruptcy, her and Bill Mayer drop $32,090.16 on a wedding reception at the Bolingbrook Golf Club, April 5th, 2014.   While I am all for a memorable event when getting married, who spends that kind of money when your getting zapped for $11,141.34 in tax liens for that year?

• Any other anomalies around that April 5th, 2014 time frame? 

During Bill Mayer’s time in office we FOIA’d general ledger statements and it appears those records reflect different information than what is found in the software program for payments.

The Levy Center Improvements ledger shows two payments being made out of the Levy Renovation account that total $100K. One for $95,967.00 and another for $4,033.00.  Looking at that document alone there are no red flags.

However, after Mayer departed office, we FOIA’d the information tied to the Levy Renovation.  Specifically, we wanted all payments to the company that was awarded the contract for that project and guess what, we found a $40,341.00 discrepancy between the ledger and the actual payments made according to the municipal software screenshot we recieved.

How is that possible?

The screenshot does show the $95,967.00 payment however the other two payments are not found on the ledger nor is there any $4,033.00 payment showing up in the screenshot of checks written. $35,874.00 and $8,500.00 are not to be found in the ledger even though the dates reflect payments that should have showed up.

When we asked for the actual invoices for those payments, they have none!

We have since confirmed the company being paid is no longer in business.  Strangely, we were told the actual invoices for those payments were made to a company by the name of ZCorp.  We have requested those records.

The President of the Company who was awarded the Levy Center renovation contract is Joseph F. Zosky.  Joseph F Zosky filed Bankruptcy February 06, 2013 and to our surprise, ZCorp is listed as a CoDebtor.  That filing reflects a debt of $4,494,968.99.   What happens days after this bankruptcy filing?  A new company was formed February 14, 2013, the very one that recieved the contract for the Levy Center in December of 2013 according to the minutes.

It is becoming clear to us that the more we dig the bigger the financial tornado grows.  We will update this article when we get additional records pertaining to ZCorp and the mysterious $40,000.00 discrepancy between the ledger we got during Mayer’s term and the actual payment records after his departure.

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