Harrisburg, IL. (ECWd) –
The latest example of a township government grossly abusing the taxpayers comes to you from Harrisburg Township.
With the hiring of friends and relatives, the Township Supervisor thinks he needs assistance in the general assistance department, which he is permitted to hire, to dole out a mere $200 – $400 in general assistance payments each month.
The general assistance goes to administration and wages – approximately $96% of the expenditures out of the general assistance account goes towards wages to manage the program.
There are four General Assistance employees: an administrator, two clerks (husband and wife), and a bookkeeper. The Township Supervisor is in charge of township general assistance.
Each month, the “administrator” is paid $2408.00, the “bookkeeper” is paid $415.00, the “clerks” are paid $992.00 and $769.00 each, and most months there are only two to four $100.00 checks for general assistance.
Jan 2022 – $3815 in salary and $200 in assistance
Feb 2022 – $4584 salary and $200 in assistance
Mar 2022 – $4584 salary and $200 in assistance
Apr 2022 – $4584 salary and $200 assistance
May 2022 – $4584 salary and $200 assistance
June 2022 – $4584 salary and $200 assistance
July 2022 – $4584 salary and $200 assistance
Aug 2022 – $4584 salary and $300 assistance
Sep 2022 – $4584 salary and $413.33 assistance
We presume similar checks were written from Oct-Dec of 2022 and will update when those records are provided.
Harrisburg Twp 2022 Gen Assist_2
15 Comments
Elizabeth Gruber
Posted at 10:38h, 02 JanuaryJust the tip of the iceberg. All government entities need to be audited. Great jobs if you can get them. Sounds like no work needed.
Dave
Posted at 12:26h, 02 JanuaryYou just can’t make this stuff up!
Terry Daubs
Posted at 06:54h, 03 JanuaryThink of all the money that 1429 townships are holding in the general assistance fund
NMWTLS
Posted at 15:35h, 02 JanuaryThe Illinois State Legislature should statutorily discontinue township General Assistance as there are already many safety nets available to those in need. General Assistance is supposed to be a last resort when there is no other financial assistance available to the applicant.
It would be interesting to know how many townships are holding more General Assistance funds than are allowed by law. The law pertaining to the accumulation of funds, 60 ILCS 1/85-65, states: Township funds, including, but not limited to, general assistance funds and excluding the township’s capital fund, shall not exceed an amount equal to or greater than 2.5 times the annual average expenditure of the previous 3 fiscal years.
Hugh Janus
Posted at 21:37h, 02 JanuaryThis seems just like the kind of work a lot of people would be interested in doing.
What are the qualifications to get this type of job?
Where do people put in their application?
Do you have to know someone to get hired? Or do you have to just be someone’s relative?
I was going to ask what this pays per hour, but actually I really need to know how many assistance checks they can write a month before their assistance overtime kicks in!
B Cox
Posted at 07:31h, 04 JanuaryThe principle lesson here is “oversight”. In times when TRUST was validated by moral consensus, you could rest on integrity to do what’s right. Today, accountability is the mandate, by strict oversight, since corruption is the new norm.
Roberta Sampson
Posted at 23:07h, 04 JanuaryMy question would be, of all the government entities in Illinois that could be scrutinized, how did this watchdog group from Edgar County land on Harrisburg Township located in Saline County? My guess would be a group of “pot stirrers” in Saline County headed up by Beth Montfort that are upset over 2021 election results, This group has been constantly harassing Harrisburg Township for the last year and a half, but will not question Saline County government about their personnel and expenditures of $14,505,987 per year with $7,066,836 going to employee compensation. Why not? Could it be because Beth Montfort’s cousin Rona Simpson Bramlet and other very good friends are on the Saline County Board and she and her group doesn’t want to rock the boat with Saline County government and question their personnel and spending? Harrisburg Township doesn’t spend a fraction of that amount. This group will not look into any of the other taxing bodies in Saline County to scrutinize their personnel and spending. Why doesn’t Edgar County watchdog group look at all the other townships in all of the Illinois counties? How about looking into Saline County government and all other county governments in Illinois and scrutinize their spending and personnel? How about looking into Park Districts, Library districts, etc? Also, why wasn’t it mentioned that these same Harrisburg Township general assistance personnel also handle the Earnfare program at Harrisburg Township? Please don’t delete my comment. Just answer my question.
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 11:35h, 05 JanuaryWe will be writing about the Earnfare program in Harrisburg Township next.
Roberta Sampson
Posted at 23:21h, 04 JanuaryJOHN KRAFT, you are a coward. You post your comments, but censor comments you don’t like, or that don’t fit your narrative. Why are you afraid to let your viewers read my comments?
NMWTLS
Posted at 10:16h, 05 JanuaryI have seen ECW articles covering (I think) every entity of Illinois government. Probably the reason you can point out some they have missed is because there is only so much time in a day and just about every entity in Illinois could be (should be?) a candidate for scrutiny.
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 11:35h, 05 JanuaryYou are obviously confused. The comment you made earlier was flagged by our software – most likely because of the length of it.
clinton omohundro
Posted at 22:30h, 05 Januaryroberta sampson, you nailed it ! this is from a bunch of wannabes from saline county who are mad about not getting their way, the trouble they have caused the supervisor and his family is appalling, the accusations made against the supervisor’s wife were absolutely uncalled for, and by the way she has been cleared of these charges by the circuit judge today ! it never stops with this bunch of trouble makers. maybe they should be investigated. such childish games being played by just a few. they keep trying to find something wrong and keep failing, maybe they should concentrate on doing their job for a change, because from what i have heard none of them are competent at their own duties !
Cindy
Posted at 00:32h, 06 JanuaryRoberta owes someone a huge apology. (They apparently don’t understand how the internet works.) Be careful folks, of who you jump all over when you don’t know who you should bite.
Roberta Sampson
Posted at 13:58h, 06 JanuaryMy two sentence post also disappeared from this site for a few hours before reappearing. So it wasn’t flagged because of its length. I think Beth Montfort has Mr. Kraft’s ear right now keeping him from being neutral and unbiased on that topic. Mr. Kraft has also bashed the Supervisor’s wife back in October 2022, but has not followed up with the latest info on that topic in which she was cleared of any wrongdoing. Again, doing the devil’s work for Beth Montfort. Cindy, you will probably not understand until you experience political harassment and malicious political prosecution which Mr. Kraft reported which causes stress and awful comments from people who believe that garbage not understanding the dynamics at hand. They never let any of the people who made the awful comments know if the situation changes like in this case where a judge dismissed the charges because they were unfounded. Again, just political payback. Beth Montfort and her group have declared political war on the Supervisor and his wife, and will resort to anything that causes them misery. You need to understand the situation before you cast judgement. At this point, Mr. Kraft seems to have been recruited to help aid and support Beth Montfort’s mission to harass and destroy the Supervisor and his wife.
Kirk Allen & John Kraft
Posted at 14:04h, 06 JanuaryYou assumptions are incorrect. Nothing was flagged nor have your posts been removed and put back up?