Southern Illinois mayors; Region
needs jobs not mandates minus funding

The mayors of Illinois had a nervous spring, and none more so than the members of the Southern Illinois Mayors Association (SIMA). Many already had new budgets in place in April when Gov. Jim Edgar announced in his budget message that he was asking the legislature to take away from municipalities $237 million that was promised under the 1991 income tax surcharge agreement. Not until July 2 did municipalities know for certain that they would be getting the surcharge funds as promised (except for $40 million that will be deferred for six months after the original agreement ends on June 30, 1993).

SIMA is a regional organization of the mayors of cities and villages located in the bottom third of the state (excluding the metropolitan counties of St. Clair and Monroe). Serving as secretariat to SIMA is the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. It organizes SIMA's quarterly meetings and publishes its quarterly newsletter, The Municipal Affairs Bulletin.

For southern Illinois, high unemployment is the No. 1 issue, and the region's mayors must face their unemployed constituents every day. Statistics show the downside for southern Illinois in trends for population, educational attainment and per capita income (see box). During the 1980s unemployment rates in the region were consistently twice the state and national rates. Rates in May show double digit unemployment for nearly all of the 30 southern counties, with Perry County the highest at 20.6 percent.

Economic development is the rallying cry for the region's mayors and other leaders — both in Springfield and Washington — and losing those promised state income tax funds would have hurt local government services from Vandalia to Cairo and from Waterloo to Grayville. The mayors' other uniform cry is to stop "state mandates," state government's passing laws demanding local services be performed without sending funds to perform them. SIMA mayors with Tax Increment Finance districts (TIFs) were also irked at the proposed elimination of that state-local economic development program.

Can an organization like SIMA make a difference in pushing economic development? Its new president, Carbondale Mayor Neil Dillard, believes SIMA has fostered an atmosphere of cooperation among the municipalities.

Rep. Larry Woolard (D-117,Carterville) agrees that communities have recognized the need for putting aside rivalries. "There's better cooperation from one area to another. It is taking place within the mayors association, as well as other structures of southern Illinois."

Past prosperity of southern Illinois was tied to coal and agriculture, and its future depends on replacing lost jobs, especially those in the coal industry. Tourism is touted as another potential economic opportunity. Southern Illinois offers lakes, streams and forested areas amid rolling fields and bluffs and historic sites documenting Native American, French, British and early American developments.

The Illinois coal industry has been devastated, most recently in reaction to amendments to the 1990 Clean Air Act. With its high sulfur content, Illinois coal, when burned without "scrubbing" or some other sulfur-removing technology, is the antithesis of federal clean air goals. Taylor Pensoneau, vice president of the Illinois Coal Association, estimates that as many as 5,000 people tied to the coal industry in the lower half of the state are out of work. Most, he says, are coal miners, but others include supervisors, secretaries and engineers. For each Illinois mining job lost, approximately 4.9 others may be eliminated as the effects of coal mine layoffs reverberate through the economy, according to February projections of the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources' (DENR) Regional Economic Model. The dislocation of 3,900 coal miners presages the layoff of another 19,300 workers, the DENR report predicts.

Mayor Ed Quaglia of Herrin in Williamson County estimates that 4,000 miners in the area have lost their jobs in the last four to five years. He calculates that replacing income from one mine job takes two manufacturing jobs. Near Interstate 57, Herrin (population 11,000) is cited as a success story for building a new job base of approximately

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3,000 people in a county where the May unemployment rate was 10.4 percent.

Southern Illinois' trends A 1990 profile of the southernmost 20 Illinois counties compiled by the Office of Economic and Regional Development at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale paints a pessimistic picture. Population, educational attainment, per capita income and unemployment are below national and state averages. The picture is the same for the other 10 counties represented by the Southern Illinois Mayors Association, confirms Osbin Ervin, associate professor at SIUC and editor of the Municipal Affairs Bulletin. Sluggish population growth, which limits both the size of the work force and local markets, reduces regional opportunities. It also has ramifications for local governments, shrinking their revenue sources while pushing up per capita costs for delivery of government services. From a population peak of 474,000 in 1920, the 20-county region declined 9 percent by 1980 at the same time the nation's population increased 200 percent. Six of the 20 counties gained population between 1980 and 1987 (latest year in the profile), but only Johnson County, with a 15.3 percent growth rate, exceeded the national average of 7.4 percent. Much of the population growth in Johnson County, however, can be attributed to approximately 2,500 prisoners in the Vienna Correctional Center and the newly opened Shawnee Correctional Center. Much of the development in southern Illinois in the past 20 years has been government-sponsored: 10 prisons and work camps and nine community colleges, along with expansion of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Educational attainment in the region was below state and national averages, affecting economic development when employers need a work force with skills and abilities to match long-range needs. Of the 20 counties, only Jackson County, the home of SIUC, showed educational attainment that exceeded or equaled state and national averages. In nearly half the counties, 50 percent or less of those age 25 and over had high school degrees; the state and national average was 66.5 percent. In 17 counties less than 10 percent of the population had college degrees; 16.2 percent was the average statewide and nationally. Per capita income indicated in 1987 that southern Illinois' economy was not providing jobs and wages on a par with the U.S. average. None of the counties had average incomes equal to the U.S. average; over half had average per capita incomes less than 80 percent of the U.S. average; and five counties were at or below 60 percent. "Because income expectations are an important factor in choosing a location to live and work," the study says, "it is probable that southern Illinois has lost wage earners and new entrants to the labor force based on low income expectations." Beverley Scobell

Replacing lost jobs remains high on the mayors' priority list, but they also want to make legislators aware of the squeeze put on their municipalities via state mandates. The mayors say that what sounds like a good idea in Springfield (and Washington, D.C.) generally translates into an unbalanced municipal budget and a choice between cutting services and raising taxes.

The mayors don't argue with the intent of most mandates. For example, the Illinois Local Governmental Law Enforcement Officers' Training Board has set the minimum training time for probationary police officers at 400 hours, which most mayors think is reasonable. What they find unreasonable is that the state's 50 percent training reimbursement does not cover travel and housing costs for officers undergoing training, items that can strain local budgets.

Carbondale Mayor Dillard and other SIMA mayors work through the Illinois Municipal League to convey to lawmakers and the governor the problems municipalities face when the state mandates programs without funds to implement them. "We have to try to convince the General Assembly that municipalities in Illinois are different," says Dillard. "Rural communities in southern Illinois are not like farming communities in northern Illinois, and Carbondale is not like Aurora." Dillard gives Gov. Edgar credit for trying to help municipalities with unfunded mandates by using his lineitem veto. "The governor made that promise two years ago," says Dillard. "At least he's aware of the cost."

West Frankfort's problems with mandates are typical. A community of 8,500 in Franklin County, West Frankfort is larger than most SIMA cities. Mayor John Simmons believes that almost everything that requires expenditure at the local level is mandated by either the state or the federal government. "It's not necessarily the opinion of the city council that [mandates] help the citizens that they represent," says Simmons. His frustration is evident: "We can't even kill a weed without a licensed weed killer; we have to have a guy go to school and get a license to do it. We can't dig a hole without being a part of J.U.L.I.E. [Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators, a statewide one-call system for avoiding interference with buried pipes and cables]." Costs for mandated changes in safety standards for the West Frankfort fire department may be as high as a quarter million dollars the first year, Simmons says. He doesn't have a price tag yet for changes required for the city to come into compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the state Drug Free Workplace Act. "There's no end to the list," says Simmons.

But Mayor Simmons' main concern is jobs for his city and region. He says that the official unemployment figure for Franklin County is around 15 percent, but that the real figure is closer to 20 percent because people no longer eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits are no longer counted. What southern Illinois needs, asserts

Simmons, is an industry like an automobile plant that employs 5,000-6,000 people. While no large manufacturer has located in southern Illinois, four new boat manufacturing plants employing 500-600 people are in operation in West Frankfort and Benton. Simmons says that these jobs don't pay like the lost mining jobs, but they do pay two to three times minimum wage and come with benefits.

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The state's own financial condition is hurting the region. Simmons estimates that every family in his town and probably throughout the region has been affected by the state's budget cuts and its slowness in paying facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and schools. The institutions have been forced to borrow money to continue operating and have had to cut expenses, which often means laying off people. Simmons says that municipalities are being forced to do the same. West Frankfort has been able to "hang on," but he says Benton and Marion have had to lay off employees.

Southern Illinois does have its optimists. Sen. James F. "Jim" Rea (D-59, Christopher) is one. He sees continued regionalized economic development in four major areas — agriculture, coal, tourism/recreation and retail/manufacturing.

In agriculture, Rea sees southern Illinois expanding in the commercial fruit and vegetable market and becoming a competitor to California in truck-farming, partly because of the region's mild climate (Rea lives closer to Nashville, Tenn., than to Chicago).

For coal, Rea envisions a bright future when Illinois will not only be marketing its plentiful supply of coal but also the desulfurization technology to burn it. His prediction is based on developing the technology to neutralize the effect of burning Illinois' high sulfur coal. That research is underway via a coordinated approach involving several government-funded institutions (the Illinois Coal Development Park in Carterville, various state universities and communty colleges and Argonne National Laboratory).

The tourism and recreation industry Rea calls a "sleeping giant." The problem, he says, has been marketing the resources that offer diverse outdoor recreation, especially for families. "People tell me they have driven by the Rend Lake area for years and didn't realize all it has to offer." New tourist information centers are now open in the area. The Southern Illinois Tourism Council reports that 2.5 million people visited Rend Lake last year and during 1991, that nearly 12 million tourists visited the southernmost 35-county region, including 4.2 million visiting the state's No. 1 attraction, Carlyle Lake in Clinton County.

As for retailing and manufacturing development, Rea says the past impediment of a poor infrastructure has been greatly improved. Rea cites tremendous improvements in the last five years: Interstates 57 and 24 running north and south through the region connecting Chicago to Memphis, Tenn., and Paducah, Ky., and Interstate 64 running east and west connecting St. Louis, Mo., to Evansville, Ind.; the uprgrading of many secondary roads throughout the region; and new sewer and water systems in many communities. With southern Illinois' central location to high population markets, Sen. Rea believes that once the state and national economic climate turns to growth, the region is primed for retail and manufacturing development.

The mayors would like to share Sen. Rea's enthusiasm for the region's future, but they must face constituents every day, trying to solve today's problems. As Mound City Mayor Frederic Winkler says, "In a small community you have to be on your toes. They know where you live." Mayor of this small town (population 765) in Pulaski County for 28 continuous years, he is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a $3,600 annual salary.

He and other mayors are justifiably gun-shy when it comes to government promises. Some remember federal revenue sharing and the problems that came with its abrupt termination. Then in April the state income tax surcharge money that was promised for another two years was suddenly threatened days before their municipal budgets took effect. In the end, Gov. Edgar was not pleased that the municipalities retained their promised income tax money. Speaking at the end of the legislative session, the choice seemed simple to the governor: "This budget has the wrong priorities, the priorities of giving mayors money to build sidewalks instead of providing adequate funding for programs dealing with abused children and meeting court orders." Gene Schurman, economic development director for Breese in Clinton County, responds to the governor's statement: "If you're trying to create commerce, sidewalks are needed to get people into the stores to spend the money; and when we spend the money the people pay the taxes and the taxes help support the [state's programs for] abused children. It has a good effect."

Breese, a self-described conservative German community of 3,600, will suffer from the governor's lineitem veto in the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) program. The governor struck a $12 million appropriation for TIF districts. Municipalities across the state use TIF districts to improve retail areas and promote business and economic development. Schurman and Breese Mayor Don Maue do not understand the governor's action because the TIF districts generate revenue, not take it away. Schurman says, "We generated $180,000 for the state. We were supposed to get back $130,000 of that" (according to a complicated formula that works out roughly to a three-to-one match). He says that means the state's share this year would have been $50,000 on the TIF district in Breese. Schurman says that unless the legislature overrides the governor's veto, the state keeps all the revenue this year, and Breese is left trying to pay contract and bondholders.

Schurman sums up the views of many SIMA mayors on the governor's attempt to hold back the tax surcharge money as well as the TIF money: "The worst part is that they [the state] made a contract with us to do this. We are a very conservative community. . . . We just don't go out spending money because we happen to want to spend money. But we do know how to make it work, and if we have a cooperative partner, it will work."

The mayors of southern Illinois know what their communities need. As a group, organized into an active coalition with a single voice as the Southern Illinois Mayors Association, they may just be able to get across to Springfield and Washington, D.C., the small town message that Mayor Winkler has known for years: "We know where you live"

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