Sen. Lauzen keeps saying - "go look at the budget", so I did. I found some interesting things.

pg. 63 - From the FY08-09 to FY10-11 (actual-projected), the general fund expenditures for the City of Geneva have DECREASED by 13.89%. The General fund is the normal day to day administration of the City. The FY11-12 Budget Request would DECREASE the General Fund expenditures by another 7.29% in a single year.

The overall expenditures for the City over the same period FY08-09 to FY10-11 DECREASED from $71.7 million to $64.3 million. The FY11-12 Budget Request goes back up to $71.8 million, but that includes some one-time, major capital projects that are being funded from outside sources (a pass-through) such as putting a third deck on the Metra Parking Structure ($3.5 million). The City isn't "paying" for it, but administering the funds, so it has to be in the budget.

pg 58 - The Tax Levey Rate went from 0.655 to 0.604 from 2004 to 2010. That's a 7.79% DECREASE in the Property Tax Rate.

pg 270 - The number of employee equivalents in FY09-10 (actual) was 190.65. The FY11-12 Budget would reduce that to 185.85 - a DECREASE of almost 5 full time positions.

The more I look at the City of Geneva's budget, the more it looks like the City is run pretty efficiently. If Mayor Burns can bring that kind of leadership to the County, we'll be in good hands. Thanks for making me look at it Sen. Lauzen.

Matt,

As a taxpayer I am not sure that everyone in Geneva (or anywhere else) is happy with the increasing fees unrelated to any budget information. Seniors and many others are being forced out of the community due to inability to afford it anymore.

I pay $7500.00 a year in taxes for a condo in Geneva.

Since my bio and the questions on Patch have given full disclosure to some of my work and you have referenced it, is it fair only to ask what you do professionally?

Does your employer do any work professionally in government circles or with government agencies in the state, county or cities?

I saw on the web (Source: link'd in) that you may be professionally involved in government contracting in some way. Thanks.

We are all entitled to the right of free speech but it is helpful to know if there are any other interests which may influence a person's thought process.

(Not a spokesperson for Chris Lauzen in any regard) Commenting as a taxpayer of Geneva, IL.

Karen,

For the $7500 in taxes you pay, about 2/3 of it is for the School District and then another 25% is for other things. I think only about 10% is the City of Geneva.

Note Karen, I have never said anything about what you do professionally, nor will I. I think the same courtesy goes both ways.

Agreed.

For the record - despite what your twitter says - my company has never had a contract with the County or any public entity in Kane County.

All this about a twitter...this is Patch. Twitter does have some interesting facts about the big money coming into a county from those that were given appointments. Maybe we should try to promote Patch? I will only respond to the content here.

Then please quit trying to make me out to be someone that I'm not and I will. Otherwise, I'll be back, and back, and back, and back........

It's actually a pretty simple request.

Figures lie and liars figure...but city government funding is very complicated. The City takes a small piece from the property tax pie. But the City's revenues come from diverse sources. And as the provider of billed essential services like garbage, water, sewer and electric, the City eats up an ever increasing share of my household budget. Even this is complicated since many of the costs are either mandated by other government entities or are pass throughs from other providers like our electricity provider. Added to all this is the fact that the Illinois Municipal Code leaves Geneva with a weak mayor, strong council structure. The City's performance, and the Mayor's, should be measured by both cost and quality measures...i.e., value received. The city bill has gone up at my house. What are the candidates proposing to add value?

Terry,

Yes, that is me. That was written four years ago when I was with a different company. That company had done work with the County, my present company has not. So, my statements have been 100% accurate. The reason for being coy is that some people that post here want to make what I do super-duper-bad, which is unfortunate. And those people never, ever, ever, retract a smear.

Please Matt. It is Veterans Day. No one has smeared you. You were asked a simple question and you gave a convenient answer, not mentioning your past involvement.
No one made you out to be anything. Please move on to some more important matters.

I am going to remember the veterans in my family and thank as many who are serving as I can. That would also include Senator Lauzen's two sons serving, one in Afghanistan. If the Burns or Klinkhamer families have veterans thank you for your service. A country is grateful for your service.

Karen, you did indeed on your Twitter account. Here and I thought we agreed last week to stop that. That's what you said. I guess I was dumb to take you at your word.

Maybe you two kids can take this somewhere else and stop taking up so much space here with your bickering on the blog. Give somebody else a chance to make a relevant comment.

Sandy, despite your insult I still respect your quote about the Chairman's use of public funds on November 5, 2008.

“The other disappointing thing is taxpayers are going to continue to be at the mercy of people who use taxpayers money as their own personal bank account,” Kaczmarski said. "The people of Kane County lost today.”

That is saying what you mean.

Well I was able to spend some time with Senator Lauzen, I must say from my interactions with him I'm most impressed. While I'm sure I'll get grief from others on here for saying that, I think I had to. I have previous managed my share of people and I think I have the same basic philosophy as the senator.

While talking with him, he gave me the impression that he realizes that, he doesn't know everything. He seems smart enough to know that there are people that are far more knowledgeable than he is and his job is to find those people and enlist their help. I am not saying mayor Burns is not the same way.

I guess what I am saying is best put as an analogy. If you were to have brain surgery who would you want to perform it? The hospital director or the brain surgeon? It's the hospital directors job to enlist the best they can find to do the surgery. In the case of the board chairman I feel that Senator Lauzen is more than capable and so far is my front runner.