DuPage Township – Township Administrator Linda Youngs filed an increased levy without Board Approval

Will Co. (ECWd) –

The DuPage Township Supervisor and two trustees, Oliver and Burgess, approved the township tax levy over the objections of two other trustees, Benford and Raga during the last board meeting (video here).  Benford went into great detail, to include providing a PowerPoint presentation confirming the tax levy being voted on was riddled with problems.  Regardless, the levy was passed as presented.

Based on public information we have obtained, Linda Youngs submitted a non approved amended levy with the Will County Clerk.

Step 1 of the Tax levy process:

(35 ILCS 200/18-60)
    Sec. 18-60. Estimate of taxes to be levied. Not less than 20 days prior to the adoption of its aggregate levy, hereafter referred to as “levy”, the corporate authority of each taxing district shall determine the amounts of money, exclusive of any portion of that levy attributable to the cost of conducting an election required by the general election law, hereafter referred to as “election costs”, estimated to be necessary to be raised by taxation for that year upon the taxable property in its district.

The Township determined the following tax levy in November.  Note the Social Security Fund on the last two pages.  Both the line entry and the summary reflects $95,000.00.  That indicates the Township is informing the public they intend on taxing sufficient to collect $95,000.00 for that specific purpose.

Step 2 of the Tax levy process:

The approved Township levy reflects the same $95,000.00 Social Security line item, however the summary has been changed to reflect $98,000.00.  (See pages 8 and 9 from the board packet the night the levy was approved)

Step 3 of the Tax levy process:

Once approved by the board, the levy gets filed with the County Clerk.

Upon discovery of the changed figures, $95,000 to $98,000, I sent the following to the Township Supervisor and Linda Youngs, the Township Administrator.

Supervisor George,
I am contacting you to find out who filed the DuPage Township tax levy with the Will County Clerk and who forged that filing.  I say forged due to the fact what was filed was not what was passed by the Board during the last Township meeting.
Can you tell us who increased the levy for the Personnel line under the Social Security Fund.  The difference of what was approved vs what was turned in is $3,000.00.
I await your response for publication.
I would appreciate a response by end of business today prior to publication.
Thanks
Kirk Allen
Edgar County Watchdgos, Inc.

I received an unsigned letter supposedly from the Supervisor that is most telling in light of other facts we have put together. Whoever sent this letter claims the County Clerk noted the correct amount and requested a corrected page reflecting the breakdown amount.  Unfortunately for Supervisor George, that is not what the County Clerk said.

Will County Assistant Deputy Clerk: “I believe $98,000 is correct, as it would result in an aggregate total levy of $2,402,580, as was stated in Section 1. If that’s the case, can you send me just a corrected 4th page changing the SS to $98K?”

Who can legally determine what changes can be made to a board approved levy?  Only the Township Board.

What was I told for asking my questions?

“We ask that you communicate any further questions through your lawyer to the Township Attorney as you may be a named plaintiff who has threatened and/or filed litigation against the Township.”

Can anyone find anything in my communication that even remotely implied a threat of litigation or that litigation was filed?

I responded to the Township:

Supervisor George,
I am in receipt of your unsigned letter regarding my questions on the tax levy.
It appears you have misunderstood my questions.
Let me be clear.  In no way shape or form was my communication a threat of litigation so to take such a position appears to be posturing to avoid answering the most basic of questions regarding the levy.
Lets try this again.
WHO filed the tax levy with the County Clerk?
WHO changed the $95,000 Personnel line item for Social Security Administration to $98,000.00?
While you imply this is a scrivener error, I find it hard to imagine how such an “error” took place in light of the fact the document before the board should have never been changed once adopted.
If you have no intention of answering the above two questions please let me know for the publication on this matter.
Thanks
Kirk Allen

Communications from the Will County Assistant Deputy Clerk confirm it was Linda Youngs who filed an unapproved amended levy that increases the tax burden on the taxpayers.

Who has responded to my inquiry on this matter is the very person who identified the problems with the levy well in advance of any approval, only to be ignored.  Trustee Benford noted the exact same thing I did in her communication to me.

“The county clerk’s email said “if that’s the case”.  The correct answer needs to be determined by the board, not whomever filed this paperwork with the county.  The board voted on the entire levy packet, including the line item detail.  The levy that was filed with the county is not the levy that the board approved at the meeting on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.  The line item for Social Security was $95,000 in November and in December when the board approved it.”

Trustee Benford is working on getting to the bottom of this matter and has requested additional details regarding the communication since their last board meeting so the board can properly address this matter.  If a board approved correction to the levy is not filed by the last Tuesday of the month the current unapproved levy will stand and possibly open up the doors to yet another tax objection lawsuit.

We note that Trustee Benford is a licensed CPA that has been fighting the tax levy problems in this township for years only to be ignored.  The result has lead to four tax objection lawsuits that cost the Township even more money.