D135 Board President to Cook County Treasurer: ‘Our Finances Are Completely Transparent’

Board President John Carmody believes District 135’s finances are transparent enough, whether Cook County agrees or not.

When Cook County passed a debt disclosure ordinance requiring all 553 Illinois government agencies – including school districts – to send in financial data to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office, District 135’s board voted unanimously to direct the county to the district’s website for the requested information. That wasn’t good enough for Pappas and she placed the district on a non-compliance list with 54 other government entities that didn’t respond as the county requested.

“All of our financial information is available on our website to anybody 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and they are more than welcome to open our financials and glean from that information as much as they want,” Carmody said during Monday night’s board of education meeting. “They don’t have the authority to come to us and tell us that they passed an ordinance and we’re required to comply with it, because we are not.”

On March 14, District 135’s board of education voted unanimously to respond to the county’s request with links to financial reports posted on the district’s website. Carmody said after the meeting that the district’s attorneys agreed that Cook County didn’t have the authority over District 135 to make the demand.

“Even in the article it says they don’t know what they’ll do with all of this information,” Carmody said in reference to a June 21 article in the SouthtownStar, for which Phil Kadner spoke with Pappas about the report collection. “We probably would’ve helped their numbers because our debt to equity ratio is strong. We’ve been awarded for our financial efforts.”

Board member Joe LaMargo urged fellow board members to re-examine the district’s response, despite the board’s decision in March.

“I’m embarrassed that we didn’t comply with the request,” LaMargo said. “They didn’t ask for a website or a link or anything like that. They asked for a form to be filled out.”

John Reiniche, District 135’s asst. supr. of business services, said the district has a history of exchanging financial information with state entities and politicians when asked.

“That’d be like us passing a resolution that asks Cook County to get their tax bills out on time and get them right,” Reiniche said. “What I’d like to see is how Cook County manages their debt. They are so focused on everyone else, but maybe they need to look at themselves first. Some things they do with their debt are atrocious.”

Board member Lynne Donegan expressed a desire to discuss how to approach future requests from the county for financial reports at an upcoming meeting, and Carmody agreed they would do so.

“If the intention is to create a platform to run for governor, do that on your own time,” Carmody said after the meeting. “Our number one priority is what we do for the kids in our community.”