Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Missing from DuPage County's State Legislative Agenda is a Call for a Budget from Springfield

The mission of  DuPage County is to assure that DuPage County's communities will always be desirable places to live, work and raise families by providing innovative, costs-effective services, promoting a high quality of life for all residents and acting as a leader with its local and regional partners in anticipating issues and developing solutions.

Every year DuPage County Adopts a State Legislative Agenda. The State Legislative Agenda sets DuPage County's priorities.  This  year's State Legislative Agenda priorities are listed below:

Reduce the Size, Scope and Costs of Local Government

Preserve Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF)

Support Non-Profit Community:  That provides a safety net for county residents through the delivery of critical services to those residents in need of our assistance.

Maintain DuPage Convalescent Center Enhanced Medicaid Rate

Ensure Safe Housing for our Communities

Protect the Public Health of County Residents

Provide Noise Relief for Communities Surrounding O'Hare

Expand Opportunities for Electronic Recycling

Equal Share of State Tourism Grants

Address the Rising Costs of Court Operations

Support Adequate Reimbursement of probation Costs

Capital Funding

That's a hefty agenda. Without a State Budget it will be hard to satisfy many of the priorities.

Today, at the Legislative Committee Meeting I asked that we include in the document Passage of a Budget by the General Assembly and the governor.  The committee failed to act on my request. The response I received was  ''we don't tell our legislators how to do their job."  But in essence, that is exactly what our Legislative Agenda does.

So many in our community are hurting due to the financial crisis in Springfield.  This is why I feel it is so important for DuPage County take a stand on behalf of our citizens and call for the governor and the General Assembly to work together and end the budget impasse.  

You can find the complete State Legislative Agenda here.
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