Northfield Township needs new leadership

Do you know what Northfield Township does for your community, with your tax dollars?

For many residents of Northbrook, Glenview, and Northfield, the answer is probably that they don't know much. And that’s a problem.

But before we get into the "how" and "why", let me say this. I’ve gotten to know multiple people who are now running for elected offices for Northfield Township in the upcoming election, on both the Democratic and Republican slates. They are good people who've done good work for their communities. This race does not need to be acrimonious. Let’s focus on policy instead of personality.

Northfield Township provides a host of critical services for those in need. The Food Pantry helps almost a thousand needy families put food on the table. As a volunteer there myself, I’m proud of the hard work the volunteers and staff are doing. And it isn’t just the Food Pantry; the township provides emergency financial assistance for rent and utilities, access to reduced-cost medical care, Dial-a-Ride for seniors and disabled adults, mental health and other human services via local agencies, and more. These services are a significant part of what our taxpayer dollars are meant to fund.

But under the incumbent leadership, most of your dollars are not doing that. Northfield Township puts just 29 cents of services back into the community for each dollar it collects. Nearby townships like Maine, Wheeling, and Niles are putting 50 to 65 cents per dollar back into their communities, and New Trier Township is turning around over 80 cents. Why is Northfield Township delivering with half the efficiency of their neighbors?

Townships are expected to hold money in reserve for emergencies or financial crises. The Township Officials of Illinois group and the Illinois Department of Commerce recommend six months (50% of annual operating expenses) held in reserves. Court cases have found that amounts over 200% are excessive and disallowed. Here are the balances in the key services-related reserve accounts for Northfield Township, as of the last financial statements published:

• Township Fund: $4.1 Million, or 340% of annual expenses (up $400k in the last 12 months)
• General Assistance Fund: $1.7 Million, or 330% of annual expenses (up $150k in 12 months)
• Food Pantry: $1.9 Million, or 380% of annual expenses (has nearly *tripled* in 12 months)

Being cautious is good. Squirreling away 5 to 8 *times* the recommended reserves and nearly double what jurisprudence dictates as the upper limit, is not. The last 12 months have seen our community hit by a pandemic and accompanying financial crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen in a century. If that isn’t a rainy day, what is? Just this month, the township received the annual funding requests for human services agencies in the area, who requested $328,500 to help with basic needs. The township elected to fund just $200,000.

When you pay your taxes, do you expect a taxing body to dole out less than 30% of that money in services, and stuff the other 70% into a bank account? Would you want them to reject spending an extra $128k for basic human needs, in favor of sitting on reserves that are at least $3M more than legal precedent even allows?

This is what has been happening within the current elected leadership of Northfield Township. It is time for change. It is time to do more of the good things. And that is what the Democratic slate is promising: do more good, without raising your taxes.

There are thousands of families in the township who live below the poverty line, but only a fraction are making use of the township’s services because many don’t know about them. Why aren’t mailers being sent out to everyone? Why aren’t apartment complexes and housing developments with clusters of lower income families being visited? Are shared data sources from the federal or state governments being used to find the people most in need? How are people without internet access being reached?

Hire an Outreach Coordinator to do these things. Pay for mailers and door hangers, and any technology upgrades necessary to the phone systems. Ensure every family in crisis is accessing the services they need. If that results in a substantial increase in work, hire more staff. If the Food Pantry runs out of space, consider expanding the footprint. They could hire multiple new staff, add more technology, and lease more space to do all the above, and still might not even eat up the amount by which the reserves have increased in the last 12 months, let alone start pulling money out of the existing balances.

Bottom line: We should expect our taxing bodies to put most of our tax dollars into providing necessary services - not sitting on piles of cash so large the courts wouldn't even allow them to stand if challenged. I believe the candidates on both slates are acting in good faith. But your Democratic candidates for Northfield Township will make efficient use of your tax dollars where the Republican incumbents have not, and help more people in need, without raising taxes.

Vote for responsible and efficient use of your tax dollars. Vote for:
• Shiva Mohsenzadeh for Supervisor
• Caryn Meyers Fliegler for Clerk
• Alida Nally for Assessor
• Ottenheimer, Pace, Schack & Spears for Trustees

(Sources: Northfield Township website for services, meeting packets and financials, Township Officials of Illinois, US Census ACS 2019, Illinois Compiled Statutes)