State Legislators answer questions at the February 6, 2016 Lake County Municipal League Event.

Yesterday I attended the Lake County Municipal League Legislative Breakfast in Round Lake. This annual event was an opportunity to hear directly from our local State Senators and Representatives, who spoke about what is happening (or not) in Springfield. Eleven legislators sat on the panel, and responded to questions on many diverse topics such as:  state funding for our schools, corporate flight out of Illinois, and reasons pro or con on the need to raise our state income taxes. One topic that all could agree on was the urgent necessity of getting a state budget passed, and the desire that they should all be in session until this is accomplished. The need to work together was acknowledged again and again, despite strong opinions on positions expressed individually. Another attendee used the word intransigence (confession–I had to look this up later, it means: refusing to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude) as a descriptor of what was heard. Several legislators asked the municipalities present to pass resolutions demanding that the state pass a budget. If Long Grove demands that they simply do their jobs and find a way to compromise, will that work? If so, I’m willing to try.

The LCML also presented their 2016 Legislative Agenda, which details seven priority issues and four pieces of state legislation on the watch list. Priority issues of particular interest to Long Grove include:

• Automatic Appropriation for Motor Fuel Tax & Video Gaming Funds
• Protection of Electronics Recycling Program Funding
• Protection of our Local Government Distributive Fund Revenues
• Opposition to Unfunded Mandates
• Support of Expanding Home Rule Eligibility to Communities in Excess of 5,000 Residents

Please attend our next Village Board meeting on February 9th at 7:00 pm to hear more about this as well as other important issues.