Clark Co. (ECWd) –
We attended the Dolson Township meeting on November 4th, 2025. The video of the meeting can be viewed at this link or below.
For those not familiar with the recent attention on Dolson Township, we urge you to read the articles found at this link.
This is yet another public body that voted to increase a tax levy to the maximum limit without a hearing because they can. We did not hear a single question from the board members as to why the tax increase is being adopted. The attorney briefly explained that it was being increased the limit allowed before triggering a hearing on the matter.
We urge everyone to review the actual bank records to see what they spend their money on. Disregarding the alleged theft of over $200,00.00 in checks signed by the former Supervisor and Clerk, it appears a tax increase is not what is needed. Prepare yourself for anger when you see the checks written to the Supervisor, the Clerk, and Grable Farms.
We note that the actual General Assistance fund already exceeds the allowable limit by law, yet they voted to increase that levy by another $4,000.00.
(60 ILCS 1/85-65) Sec. 85-65. Accumulation of funds. 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. Townships on a cash basis or modified cash basis of accounting may only count levied tax funds toward the total township funds calculated under this Section if received within the township’s fiscal year. The highway commissioner’s equipment and building fund is considered a capital fund account and is not subject to this Section.
With a three-year average expense of $369.31, the maximum accumulation of funds for General Assistance, by law, would be $923.38. Considering they have $54,867.13 in that levied account, it is clear there is no need for an increase as it is already well past the legal limit. Any such additional taxation for General Assistance violates the law. Maybe the Township could give the taxpayers a raise and return the amount being held beyond the limit set by law. Shelbyville Township took such steps after this law was passed and returned over $750,000.00 to the taxpayers.
It appears the money paid out from General Assistance was not to actual people but rather utility companies. Such payments would constitute Emergency Assistance under the Public Aid Act. Emergency assistance requires board approval to include a set amount for such assistance. Emergency Assistance can only be paid once every 12 months for a qualified Township resident facing an emergency. We will follow up to see if any such approval took place, but we doubt we will get any records, considering they didn’t even have the last 12 months of minutes.
While the attorney for the Township was present, he did not address the over-taxation issue. He also did not inform the board that they cannot adopt a public comment policy on the fly. We note that there was no agenda posted at the location of the meeting.
For a Township of only 358 people, it was awesome to see so many people show up.
