No one knows if these tactics actually influence voters. For some, the quantity of political outreach may turn them off to what’s being asked. For others, the colors and pictures may draw them in. Whether or not it makes a voter apathetic or active, there are rules around how these advertisements must be marked.

According to the FEC (Federal Election Committee), “Any public communication made by a political committee—including communications that do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified federal candidate or solicit a contribution—must display a disclaimer.”

PACs have many different functions. Usually, they are administered by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations, but the general definition includes a group that spends money on elections but is not run by a party or individual candidate.

The Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act requires applies to any candidates, individuals, groups of persons or any organizations, political or otherwise: “Have accepted contributions or made expenditures or independent expenditures in excess of $5,000 within a 12-month period in support of or in opposition to a candidate or candidates for public office, or any question of public policy to be submitted to voters; Have received or made expenditures in excess of $5,000 within a 12-month period for electioneering communication; Have made independent expenditures in excess of $5,000 within a 12-month period.”

PAC are required to file quarterly reports with donations and expenditures.

Websites that are available to the general public and email communications also have to state the name of the Political Action Committee (PAC). There are many different types of PACs that have different rules to follow. More information on this can be found here.

One of the intentions behind forming the Bulldog Blueprint committee that made a recommendation to the Mahomet-Seymour School Board for a $97.9 million referendum was to develop a PAC. This was discussed during a school board meeting when Rod Wright from Creative Entourage said that he might go door-to-door with the PAC to promote the referendum this summer.

The district hired BLDD Architects and Creative Entourage for  $20,000 with an additional $40,000 to come should the referendum pass. According to the contract, BLDD receives additional funds for cost estimating, workshops, prototyping, conceptual plans, 3D massing design, and renderings.

The Bulldog Blueprint group is currently out in full force, going door-to-door every Saturday. They are also behind the “Yes for Bulldogs” website and “Vote Yes” yard signs, along with sending out some of the “Vote Yes” flyers Mahomet-Seymour constituents have received.

The Illinois State Board of Elections provides information on who has registered a PAC, but does not list everyone within the PAC. For example, Citizens for Bulldog Blueprint was established on March 30, 2022, by Jama Grotelueschen and Jim Risley, the heads of the Bulldog Blueprint Committee.

The Bulldog Blueprint Committee included 17 community members who were selected by the district and five members of the district staff. That group became smaller as workshops to define what the referendum would propose went along.

Customers of the Sangamon Valley Public Water District also received a flyer asking them to vote yes on a ballot option to elect the district’s trustees instead of appointing them. Customers also received information from SVPWD on June 13.

The flyer was funded by the “Committee to Keep Our Water Local,” which is registered under Bud Parkhill, who was appointed to the SVPWD board for more than 50 years. Constance Musick is also listed as a member on the Illinois State Board of Elections site.

Parkhill was not reappointed by the Champaign County Board in 2021 after it was decided that he had a conflict of interest as a developer in the Sangamon Valley Public Water District territory. As of April, Parkhill was not a registered voter in Champaign County.

During his time on the SVPWD board, Parkhill benefited from being on the board purchasing land from his businesses and using his business for certain repairs and projects, received special accommodations as owner of Candlewood Mobile Home Park, and sometimes had Candlewood residents work at SVPWD in order to recoup rent payment.

Not every flyer, email message, or phone call has been from a PAC during the time leading up to the primary election. The Mahomet-Seymour School District has also used its resources to communicate with constituents.

According to the Illinois Counsel of School Attorneys (provided by the Illinois School Board Association), Illinois Election Code “bars the expenditure of public funds to advocate votes for or against a referendum, but permits use of public funds to disseminate factual data.”

As long as district funds are not used to advocate for or against a referendum, then it is not frowned upon.

The Election Code’s interference prohibition states: “No public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated for political or campaign purposes to any candidate or political organization. This Section shall not prohibit the use of public funds for dissemination of factual information relative to any proposition appearing on an election ballot….”

This means that school district resources can used for brochures, web postings, and other communications that describe the proposition, but not to urge a yes or no vote.

“Communications using district resources should be factual and include relevant data, such as enrollment projections, comparisons with other districts, the status of current facilities or programs, and the district’s financial condition. These communications should avoid language which connotes or may be construed as advocacy, such as, urge, save, shatter, ensure, break, and devastating,” according to ICSA.

School employees may not engage in political activities concerning a referendum during any time they are being paid by the employer district (compensated time) or when they are otherwise at work or on duty. The district superintendent or an administrator may publish an article or talk on the radio, as Superintendent Lindsey Hall did on WDWS “Penny for Your Thoughts”, but responses should be as factual as possible rather than advocating a position. When communicating their position, they should note that it is not in their official capacity and that it is their personal opinion. None of this can be done on school grounds or while performing school duties, though.

Off the clock and away from district property, employees may freely engage in referendum-related activities provided they do not use district resources. Employees may post yard signs, wear advocacy buttons, distribute literature, urge yes votes, attend referendum committee meetings, and contribute to citizens’ referendum committees.

Board members are also limited in what they can say and do in support or opposition to a referendum. During a school board meeting, for example, board members should stick to factual information.

Away from district property, and as long as there is not a quorum present, board members may individually engage in referendum-related activities, like post yard signs, urge votes and attend citizens’ referendum committees. But when speaking, “writing letters to the editor, or taking other actions in public, they are urged to do so as individuals and not to use an official title, such as a member of the Board of Education or Board President.”

The Election Code rules apply to any taxing body that has a question on a ballot.

During a campaign season, candidates for office follow a different set of rules.

The post Who is behind political flyers and television ads? For some answers, you can look at political action committees appeared first on Dani Tietz.

But the presence of nearly 230 students — roughly a quarter of the M-S High School student population, — on the field at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14 sent a simultaneous 17-minute message of solidarity as they joined nearly 1,000,000 other students nationwide who are calling for gun regulation discussion and action towards providing safe learning and work environments for students and staff.

“I felt that the community and this country needed to know that students aren’t  going to sit idly by anymore and let legislators keep making the same mistakes,” event organizer and Junior Class Student Council President Annie Taber said. “I think it is important to walk out and show the adults in charge that we have such a high volume of students who are fed up with their inaction. It’s a recognition of the inadequacy of the current legislation on guns.”

Taber joined forces with friends like Junior Class President Allie Nofziger to work with the M-S administration to hold the peaceful event.

“Being able to work with the administration to allow students to peacefully assemble to honor the victims of the Parkland (Fla.) shooting and have open discussions about what students believe gun reform and other legislative changes should be put into effect in our country was a privilege that I am so grateful we were given,” Nofziger said.

Event organizers placed 17 backpacks on the bleachers to represent the 17 students and staff who were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb.14.

“It was also a goal of ours to show Parkland student survivors that even all the way here in Mahomet, we see them, we hear them and we stand with them,” Taber said.  “Making sure we did our part as students was emphasized too, making sure that people follow through with their frustrations.”

During a moment of silence, students faced the bleachers.

But students wanted to do more than just remember. They “hoped to show adults, and fellow students who may not have strong opinions about this, that we have the numbers and the commitment and the drive to actually do something about it,” Taber said.

Organizers delivered orange ribbons and contact information on how to reach elected officials to students on the field. They also gave time for their peers to talk about issues that are important to them.

Senior Laura Bane encouraged all students, who are or will soon be voting age, to cast their ballots.

“Many of the students involved in the walk-out were seniors of voting age,” Bane said. “Sometimes as a high schooler I feel that my voice can get lost in the shuffle. Through voting, I can help elect those who will fight for the legislation I feel strongly about, issues like common sense gun laws.”

“I think we teens take it upon ourselves to constantly challenge the unacceptable,” she continued. “Naturally, I think progressivism increases over time, so we’re going to seem like the most liberal age group. But I think political activism among my generation transcends party lines; conservative classmates of mine attended the walk-out today as well to voice their opinions on gun control and future safety measures they’d like to see taken in schools.”

Bane would like to see Mahomet-Seymour High School host voting drives.

“Many young people aren’t informed about how to register to vote,” she said. “A high school’s primary goal should be to create productive citizens who can contribute to society, and I believe that part of that contribution is participating in American democracy.”

Senior Lauren Gilonske also believes that voting is the best way for citizens to make real change.

For Gilonske, the walkout was also a way for students to become informed about the issues. Gilonske believes that her generation, categorized as Generation Z, is the generation that will rise up and make change.

“(We are) a catalyst for change due to our intolerance for injustice, and strong beliefs,” Gilonske said. “My generation has made a strong effort to back up these beliefs by educating not only themselves, but urging others to be educated on the facts.”

While students were on the M-S football field for various reasons, including some  who support the right to own a gun, Taber would like to see the implementation of common sense gun laws.

“Making sure that those who are unfit to carry weapons with deadly force don’t have access to them,” she said. “Making sure that weapons designed for battlefield action and to be the most effective at killing aren’t in civilian hands.”

But most of all, Taber and Nofziger want to see an open dialogue in which students are included.

“I want to see state and federal legislators reaching out to students to listen to our concerns,” Taber said. “To have our representatives take action on this and do their job of representing the public. I want to see them stand up for compromise and common sense legislation that stretches beyond party lines.”

“I do not speak for everybody who walked out, but personally I would like to see our elected officials acknowledge that the current gun laws in our country are simply not effective and start taking steps towards actual legislative change,” Nofziger said. “Some of these changes could include the banning of bump stocks, limiting high capacity magazines, national permit-to-purchase (obtaining a permit, background checks, etc., before buying), and keeping firearms out of the hands of the seriously mentally ill.”

Additional opportunities for peaceful assembly are being organized on a national level. Although Mahomet-Seymour students have not planned action yet, they would like to participate.

On March 24, 2018, March For Our Lives has organized a march in Washington, D.C., to call for school safety and gun control. Mahomet-Seymour students are also talking about visiting Springfield on April 20, the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

“I hope that this walkout has opened a dialogue for all students, regardless of their stance on gun control,” Nofziger said.  “This is a topic that we must continue to push if we want to see real changes being made and it is important that we continue having these conversations that the brave survivors of the Parkland shooting have brought to the nation’s attention.

“This walkout also served to inspire and empower students, to show them that we can do anything we set our minds to because we are the future. Our age has no bearing on the impact we can make on our community, our state, and even our country.”

The Mahomet Daily reached out to Mahomet-Seymour High School and District Administrators for comment. No comment was received.

The post Nearly 230 Mahomet-Seymour High School students participate in March 14 walkout appeared first on Dani Tietz.

No matter what income bracket an individual falls in, access to affordable housing is paramount.

For the wealthy with disposable income, renting or purchasing a home can be fairly stress-free. But as the landscape of real estate changes nationwide to conglomerates owning homes, apartment buildings and even mobile home parks, housing options for middle- and lower-income class Americans are becoming scarce and even unaffordable.

Living in a mobile home is the only affordable option for millions of Americans.

In Mahomet, where the median home price is $239,700, according to the 2020 Census, affordable housing options are particularly limited. While more multi-family living options are being developed in Mahomet, most new options range from $1,200 to $2,000 per month. Even older properties that were once $600 to $700 per month have increased to $800 to $1,000 per month.

In 2021, lot rent at Mahomet’s Candlewood Estates was $290 per month. Today it is $340, and by April 2023, it will be $525 per month.

Residents in Candlewood have one of two options: they can rent a home from the owner (in this case Kodiak Property Management) alongside paying rent for the land the home sits on or they can rent the land from the owner and put a home they own on the property. Every month, everyone in Candlewood pays rent for either one component or both.

As one of the biggest residential developments in the Mahomet area, with around 600 lots for mobile homes on 108 acres, it’s also one of Mahomet’s oldest neighborhoods. For more than 50 years, the property was owned and managed by Candlewood Estates, a business run by Olen “Bud” Parkhill. That changed in September, 2022 when Parkhill sold the land for over $15.6 million.

For Candlewood residents, who receive communication from the property owners or pay their land/home rent, it appears that  Kodiak Property Management purchased the property from Parkhill. The platform they log into in order to pay rent is Kodiak and the line item for the fee on their bank statement is “ Kodiak Property web pmts.”

But Kodiak Property Management is only one of four entities involved in the purchase. The actual owners of the property are Crown Communities and Candlewood MHC, owned by Alexander Cabot and Heath Biddlecome, of California. Park Homes Sales is also owned by the same entities, and serves as the organization that acts as the broker for home sales should a homeowner in Candlewood choose to use their services.

This model is used nationwide as investors like Cabot and Biddlecome buy up mobile home parks across the country.

In an interview with NPR, George McCarthy, president of the nonprofit Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, said when investors purchase mobile home parks they increase rent “sometimes 20-, sometimes 50-, sometimes 70-percent.”

The 2021 interview highlighted how once investors raise rates and fees in a park, its value increases. With loans backed by the U.S. government with cheap interest rates, the investors will borrow against the property, using the loan to purchase another mobile home park.

“And what’s ironic about it is that one of the missions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is to help preserve affordable housing. And they’re doing exactly the opposite by helping investors come in and make the most affordable housing in the United States less affordable all the time,” McCarthy told NPR.

Crown Homes/Kodiak Property Management owns 18 mobile home parks. Besides Illinois, they are also based in Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Ohio. Alongside their most recent purchase of Candlewood Estates, Crown Communities recently won a case against the Pocasset Park Association, a group of homeowners looking to purchase the mobile home park they live in as a way to maintain local ownership.

Josh Weiss from the firm 10 to 1 Public Relations said that while the rent increase may be similar, Crown Communities looks at Candlewood as its “flagship” community.

Weiss said that while the rent increase is significant, the money will go back into Candlewood for improvements, although he was reluctant to specify what those improvements would be and when residents could expect to see them.

In an email, Weiss wrote on behalf of Kodiak Properties, “With the funds, we are committed to many community improvements and upgrades, such as roadwork, landscaping, and repairs and improvements to community amenities. All of this will help to improve curb appeal, increase safety, and will ultimately directly benefit property values. We are eager and excited for residents to see the reinvestment we are making in the community they are proud to call home.”

Some Candlewood residents who own their home are already listing their property for sale while some others are talking about uprooting their families and moving from the subdivision they call home to a more affordable location.

Another option for mobile homeowners is to move their home from one location to another where lot rent could be less expensive. The move is costly, though. It costs from $5,000 to $10,000 to move a mobile home, if the home is even movable.

Weiss also signaled that new homes would be added to vacant lots as early as May 2023. He added, “There are no plans to place new homes or replace current ones on currently occupied lots.”

Kodiak Property Management lists available homes through its website portal. Homes in other communities are listed for $80,000 to $120,000 while those in Candlewood are listed for $75,000.

Some Candlewood residents have been approached by Kodiak Property Management with “interested buyers” to purchase their home for significantly less than its value. Some have also been given paperwork that would allow Park Home Sales (also Kodiak/Crown Communities) to act as the negotiator for the seller, giving them the exclusive right to advertise and market the home. The agreement also allows them to accept an offer on the home, seemingly without any input from the homeowner on the value of the offer.

Should the home sell, Park Home Sales/Kodiak Property Management/Crown Communities would take 10 percent. Should the owner decide not to sell the home within the duration of the contract, they would be required to pay Park Home Sales, LLC. 1.5 percent of the last quoted sale price.

Weiss stated in an email interview, “Park Home Sales has the first right of refusal if a homeowner wishes to sell their home to a new buyer to move it out of the community. The purchase option is to match the sales price. There is one instance where Park Home Sales did purchase a home before it was sold and moved off-site.

“While Park Home Sales may make similar purchases in the future before a home is sold and moved off the property, it has no purchases currently in the works.”

The Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act (765 ILCS 745/24)reads:

"Sec. 24. Sale of Mobile Home. The park owner shall be enjoined and restrained from prohibiting, limiting, restricting, obstructing or in any manner interfering with the freedom of any mobile home owner to:
(a) Sell his mobile home to a purchaser of his choice, provided that the park owner shall be allowed to promulgate any general qualifications or lawful restrictions on park residents which limit or define the admission of entrants to the park. The purchaser, prior to closing, must obtain a written and signed lease;
(b) Employ or secure the services of an independent salesperson in connection with the sale of said mobile home, providing that said salesperson collects and remits all governmental taxes.
The park owner is prohibited from imposing any fee, charge or commission for the sale of a mobile home, except when a mobile home owner requests the park owner or his agent to assist in securing a purchaser for his mobile home. A commission may be accepted for such service subject only to the following conditions:
(1) That the exact amount of commission or fee shall be a percentage of the actual sales price of the mobile home; and
(2) That the maximum percentage figure for the services in the resale of the mobile home by park owner or his agent shall be set forth in writing prior to the sale.
The park owner is prohibited from requiring, upon the sale by a tenant of a mobile home to a qualified purchaser, the removal from the park of such mobile home unless the mobile home is less than 12 feet wide or is significantly deteriorated and in substantial disrepair, in which case the park owner shall bear the burden of demonstrating such fact and must, prior to sale, have given the tenant written notice thereof, and that unless first corrected, removal will be required upon sale.
(Source: P.A. 85-998.)

 

Candlewood residents had been under a boil order for 10 days in January. While that order has been lifted, some are still experiencing yellow- and brown-colored water or limited access to water.  Additionally, Candlewood residents currently do not have a lease from Kodiak Property Management.

Weiss said that Crown Communities is not a predatory company that is just looking to come in and “flip” Candlewood.

“There’s no reason you should automatically trust me and I totally respect that,” he said. “I understand that you can’t just take my word for it.

“I can tell you that straight out, they want Candlewood to become their flagship property. It’s the largest one they purchased. They really want to invest in it, really want to make it a wonderful place to be. Their intent is not to turn around and flip.”

A Look at Crown Communities, LLC.

The way Crown Communities registers its business is also a common practice for large corporations.

A 2011 Reuters article features Crown Communities’ registered business location as 1712 Pioneer Ave. in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in an article about shell corporations.

The Reuters article focuses on Wyoming Corporate Services, which Weiss said is another entity used by Crown Communities. The article asserts that Wyoming Corporate Services is a business-incorporation specialist that “can be used as ‘shell’ companies, paper entities able to hide assets.”

Wyoming, Delaware, and Nevada, all allow businesses to register within their state in ways that are often referred to as shell corporations..

The 1712 Pioneer Ave. address is not just Crown Communities’ address. Many corporations throughout the United States use it as their registered address through a $99/month membership with Opus VO, a virtual office that offers a live receptionist to answer calls, take messages, and transfer calls for businesses. Businesses who hire Opus VO also get a corporate mailing address, phone number, and fax number.

When researching the physical addresses for all four companies — Crown Communities, Kodiak Property Management, Candlewood MHC, and Park Home Sales — all of their addresses are 1712 Pioneer Ave., in Cheyenne. All four companies can also be tied to Incorp Services, which is another registered agent service.

While Weiss said Cabot and Biddlecome are partners within each of the four businesses, among others, Cabot is usually the only name on each state’s LLC paperwork, when the paperwork lists individuals. When agents are used, the registered agents, in this case, Incorp, LLC., oftentimes lists other names to keep the real owner’s identity hidden.

This is the case with Park Home Sales, in Wyoming. A search through old LLC incorporation information in Wyoming led to Madmartigan Ventures registered in 2015 and 2016, which is now known as Park Home Sales. However, in Illinois, the business is listed under Crown Home Sales, LLC.

Prior to Weiss saying Cabot and Biddlecome were partners, and during the week of not understanding the breadth of the Crown Communities organization, speculation about the connection between companies arose as it was evident the four entities were linked in Illinois, but not as clear on how they were structured in California, which is where the P.O. box for Crown Communities and Candlewood MHC is registered.

The first search for Crown Communities in California led to Heath Biddlecome. Crown Communities LLC in California is not in good standing after federal regulators charged Biddlecome, a managing partner at Crown, in 2009 with cheating investors who contributed about $10 million to a fund intended to invest in mobile home parks.

A judge for the Southern District of California’s U.S. District Court ordered Biddlecome to pay $141,818 damages to the investors of the fund he established with the investors in May 2011. The judge also determined that Biddlecome was subject to a $65,000 civil fine for those actions.

In addition, The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prohibited Biddlecome from dealing in stocks. Biddlecome was allowed to reapply for association after three years.

Further research attempting to better define Crown Communities shows that the Linkedin page for Crown Communities, states that “Crown Communities is an investment firm that acquires and preserves manufactured housing communities throughout the United States. We actively manage our portfolio properties to the highest standards and with the goal of maintaining safe, clean, and welcoming communities for our tenants as well as creating stable, long-term income for our principals and investors.”

When pressed for the connection between these companies, Weiss said Kodiak Property Management in California, is the company’s registered agent there, not Candlewood MHC. Weiss asserts that Candlewood MHC, which is owned by Comfort Capital, is a different mobile home investment firm and that Crown Communities has no affiliation with the Candlewood MHC registered in California.

All of this information is confusing. Maybe it’s supposed to be.

Yet, the outcomes for their renters are relatively simple.  These companies utilize a business model that results in thousands of low-income or fixed-income residents nationwide having to face a rent increase.

As we look at the local impact that Crown Communities is having, there are some Candlewood residents who will be able to absorb the currently communicated increase, but they know of neighbors who are not in the same situation. While new management may have been welcome in the beginning, communication with Kodiak Property Management is reported to be difficult, and some residents are having difficulty getting maintenance assistance as they await a lease.

Whether or not Kodiak Property Management will stick to its word in its vision for Candlewood remains to be seen. What we do know, though, is that its residents are already seeking financial assistance through the Mahomet Township even before the rent increase takes place. In addition, they are talking to Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance to better understand their rights provided by the Manufactured Home Owners Administration of Illinois.

Whatever happens, it seems clear that many of our neighbors and community members will be dealing with the fallout of these changes and that for many, the outlook is pretty bleak.

The post Rent hikes at Candlewood part of national trend as investors purchase mobile home parks nationwide appeared first on Dani Tietz.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to protect residents in the Candlewood Mobile Home Park, names will not be used in this piece. Actual conversations with residents, not just ones taken from Facebook, have taken place over the last couple weeks. This is the account of those families who needed a place to put their voice without fear of retribution from current or former owners of the subdivision. We are happy to provide that for them. 

This is the first in a three-part series about Candlewood. More information will be published in the coming days. 

If love were all humans needed to live, residents of the Candlewood Mobile Home Park in Mahomet, Ill., might be OK.

But humans need more than that.

They need an affordable place to live, no matter what their income might be. They need a home and community that are safe and secure, with access to clean and reliable water. They need to have access to work so that they can fund other basic needs for survival, like heat in the cold, light, and food.

At this moment, the likelihood that one or more of these needs will go unmet on a day-to-day basis for the residents of Candlewood is high.

And the only thing they can do about it is band together with empathy and vision for their community of about 600 homes.

It’s not something that is unusual for the 108-acre community that was developed on the east side of the Village of Mahomet in an unincorporated area.

Owned by the Parkhill family for over five decades, Candlewood was sold to Candlewood MCH, LLC. and Crown Communities, LLC, two organizations that are one and the same, in September 2022. Some residents welcomed the change in ownership, citing neglect by its former owner and manager, Bud Parkhill.

They were hopeful that new ownership would take care of the aging streets, make sure that they were plowed correctly when it snowed, fix street lights that are burnt out to help with a crime or mischievous teenagers, take care of landscaping and condemned trailers, and manage their responsibility in taking care of the water system.

“I was originally kind of excited to have an actual company that could be held accountable for not taking care of the place,” one homeowner said. “Bud (Parkhill) always seemed untouchable. He rarely listened to us if we had a complaint about not having a park or bringing in more trailers that should have been condemned. (He) told us that he wasn’t going to spend money on those things because the people here wouldn’t take care of it.

“The amenities that Kodiak (the property management group owned by Crown Communities) has proposed are necessary, and I don’t think any of that is asking for too much.  We need salted and plowed streets in the winter, an actual park for kids of all ages, street lights that function, safety patrols or cameras, better landscaping, and a maintenance staff that REALLY is available 24/7.”

“If they REALLY do the things they’ve said, it’s a step in the right direction.”

In order to fund improvement projects, Kodiak (Crown) gave a rent increase notice to Candlewood residents shortly after Christmas. That change will take place in April 2023. The mobile home park is a single-owner subdivision, as are most mobile home parks and apartment complexes. In this case, Candlewood Estates (owned by Parkhill) or Candlewood MCH/Crown Communities actually owns the land the mobile homes sit on. A resident who owns their home pays rent for the land. There are also Candlewood residents who also pay rent for their homes.

Mobile home park owners are only allowed to raise rent once a year. Parkhill raised the rent by $50 in 2022. Rent is currently $340 per month. Beginning in April 2023, rent will be $525 per month.

“It’s the huge amount that really caused a shock to people,” one homeowner said.

While a few residents in Candlewood have a lease or signed a lease at one point, maybe decades ago, many other residents say they do not currently have a lease (maybe a verbal agreement with Parkhill) and are waiting on a lease agreement from Kodiak/Crown Communities. A spokesperson from Kodiak, Josh Weiss said, “New leases for all residents are being finalized to ensure they are fully compliant with Illinois and local laws.  They will be shared with residents upon completion.”

Of the 18 mobile home communities Kodiak/Crown owns, Candlewood is the first in Illinois, according to its website.

In a phone interview, Weiss was unwilling to say what improvements would be made or give a timeline for those projects. He did say that the former owner had neglected maintenance, as has happened with other properties Kodiak/Crown has purchased.

The organization’s statement on improvements via email was: “Unfortunately, we have been faced with economic realities such as inflation, rising supply and labor costs, and soaring interest rates which are necessitating an increase in lot rent.

“While this is a large increase, it still remains very much in line with similar communities in the area.

“With the funds, we are committed to many community improvements and upgrades, such as roadwork, landscaping, and repairs and improvements to community amenities.  All of this will help to improve curb appeal, increase safety, and will ultimately directly benefit property values. We are eager and excited for residents to see the reinvestment we are making in the community they are proud to call home.”

Some residents are leery in response to the promises by Kodiak. So far they have felt threatened and unheard.

“There are so many streetlights that are out throughout the park,” one homeowner said. “They haven’t returned my call. They haven’t gotten back to me. Nothing’s been changed.

A group of 15-20 residents met at the main office to ask employees right after the New Year holiday for clarification on the rent increase and water issues so many residents are experiencing. They wanted clarification on the improvements Kodiak/Crown were planning on making but left without answers.

One homeowner recalls Kodiak continued to tell residents that they were “answering their own questions.” The homeowner left the meeting feeling confused about what the statement meant.

It is estimated that around 40 Candlewood residents are without water. Others have reported “brown water” while another resident, who may be just across the street, has access to clean water.

Weiss said Kodiak has provided Candlewood residents who are without what they are legally obligated to provide for them. Still, local churches and Mahomet residents have taken to Facebook to offer gallons of water delivered to residents. Others have started fundraising campaigns to make sure they have what they need during this difficult time.

Issues with water, especially in the winter months, are not uncommon in Candlewood. The standpipe, which brings water from the main to the home, is exposed to the elements as it runs from the ground to the home. When the Midwest experienced a hard freeze in mid-December, pipes froze, then quickly thawed prior to life-threatening temperatures sweeping through Illinois in the days before Christmas. This broke meters running to the homes.

As the water from Candlewood homes went back into the main system, it caused the water main to have pressure and contamination issues. This is why the Illinois EPA ordered a boil order for the community. As of Jan. 10, the community is still under that order.

While the Illinois Mobile Home Act clearly lays out infrastructure ownership: requiring owners to maintain the streets, garbage, and water and sewer within the park boundaries,  the issue of water main ownership has been ongoing for decades. This issue came to a head last summer when Parkhill was not re-elected to the SVPWD board. Candlewood MHC is currently in litigation with the Sangamon Valley Public Water District over ownership of the water mains within the park.

Ownership of the water main will be laid out in another article in the coming days. Still, the residents will keep having water problems until the problem is fixed by someone other than the residents. The first two weeks of January have been warm, but the threat of another freeze has residents worried.

“We can make accommodations for other drinking water while our neighbors get help. I feel terrible for them. We’ve been through it and not being able to flush your toilets or take showers, wash your dishes creates living arrangements that are ‘barely livable’… not to mention, expensive,” one homeowner said.

A set of parents with a child is rearranging their financial priorities to stock up on 5-gallon jugs of water for their home.

Like many in Candlewood, this family is on a fixed income, budgeting social security payments to cover rent, car payment, and utilities.

The 2022 social security increase helped them absorb the cost of rent, but they are not sure how to cover the additional $185/month in the upcoming year.

The issue with flooding in the park isn’t just that of usable water, it’s also causing damage to homes, both with broken pipes and those nearby. Some residents have extensive water damage throughout the interior and exterior of their homes while others watched water creep up to their homes, causing it to “bow”.

One family also pointed out the time it is taking Kodiak/Crown to remove vacant trailers from the park. They worry about exposure to black mold, among other contaminants that may be carried through the park by the wind.

Recently, for sale signs have been popping up all over Candlewood as residents are unsure of how to make it from month to month. One resident said, although the rent increase will force them to move things around, they can absorb the cost. Still, that family knows that their neighbors, particularly the elderly who live in Candlewood, have few to no options to change their financial status.

Several Candlewood residents told a story of a woman taking her life because of the rent increase she couldn’t manage.

“I see more of that happening in the future from people who have no hope of finding other suitable accommodations,” one homeowner said. “We put our lives and souls into our homes here in Candlewood. Mostly because we don’t have disposable incomes. Most out here live paycheck to paycheck and are one illness away from homelessness with the current rent increase. It’s a wake-up call for sure.”

Kodiak/Crown said they are not concerned about pricing low-income residents out of their homes, though.

The organization does have plans to put new mobile homes on vacant lots, just as they have done on other properties they own in Iowa, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Ohio. A 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in Candlewood is listed for $75,000. Homes in other communities are listed for $80,000 to $120,000.

Weiss said the placement of those homes could begin as early as May 2023.

Other local mobile home communities have lot rent with similar amenities anywhere from $330-$400 per month. If someone rents the home in addition to the lot, rent with a mobile home can increase to $800-$1,000 per month.

The homeowners we spoke to mentioned the amenities Kodiak/Crown lists on their Candlewood website: a basketball and volleyball court, a clubhouse and pool, a playground, and on-site maintenance. For starters, residents would like to see these amenities actually meet the standard of being usable.

“I don’t think that they were prepared for the community feeling of Mahomet. Maybe they were there thinking that in a lot of towns, people who live in poor neighborhoods are not taken care of as part of the community.

“I would guess, from the lack of response, that they’re probably pretty shocked that people are like standing up for this, about this.”

The post Candlewood residents come together under dire circumstances appeared first on Dani Tietz.

On Sunday night, I combed over an article about projections and capacity of enrollment at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School that would be published on Monday morning. I have been collecting data for years, looking at enrollment numbers, classroom sizes, and the number of classrooms, and then following information given to the Mahomet-Seymour community as the June 28 and Nov. 8 referendum dates approached.

With children that grew up in the Mahomet-Seymour School District, the topic was close to my heart. When my oldest daughter entered first grade at Sangamon Elementary her class had grown from 187 students in kindergarten to 201 students in first grade. By the time my middle daughter came to Sangamon, her class grew from 166 in kindergarten to 193 in first grade. And as my son’s class came to Sangamon, his class jumped from 180 in kindergarten to 202 in first grade. The girls’ graduating classes were 253 and 219, respectively. My son’s class is currently at 226 students enrolled.

In comparison, the current first-grade class has 248 students. The current senior class has 265 students and started kindergarten with 215 students.

How do I know this? Because I collect data. I am a journalist. I am recording history.

Journalism isn’t just about making sure that all of the stories get printed and all of the accolades are at the forefront. Journalism is so much more than that. Journalism’s first obligation is truth and its loyalty is to the citizens. Its job is to monitor power and its requirement is to maintain independence.

Firsthand, let me tell you that this is very hard to do.

Journalists are subject to the information presented to them, but their responsibility is to check the information presented.

In America, it has always been that the press serves as the fourth branch of government – one that is in place to serve the governed, not the governors.

In writing for the U.S. Supreme Court majority that decided in favor of the press during New York Times Co. v United States, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black wrote, “In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.”

Not all journalists operate in this manner, though. For the most part, people in power love journalists that just come to meetings and regurgitate what is presented. And some journalists love to be loved, and so they take those talking points and run with them. They win awards with them. They get fed articles and ideas with them.

I certainly started off in the please-love-me phase.

But as I watched meeting after meeting, something seemed off. Was the public being given all the information it needs to make decisions about how to organize its life together? Or was there a piece of information here … then another piece somewhere else … and another piece somewhere else? Where is the whole picture?

This question has made me a better journalist. First, I understood that I needed to collect as much as I could to tell a whole story rather than this and that, here and there. I call this playing the long game. Second, I learned the ins and outs of investigative journalism, the art of asking questions and sending FOIA requests. Third, I knew that if I were to publish something that was outside of or more than what the community had been given, I needed to check and check and re-check my information before I published.

This brings us back to Sunday night. I sent the article off to my colleague, telling him that I know it goes against the grain, but the math is good and the public needs to know what’s happening with the referendum prior to the Nov. 8 vote. I remember thinking, “You need to take screenshots of everything under the Mahomet-Seymour Referendum and Bulldog Blueprint page because they could go in and change that information.” Then I thought, this information has been up, and talked about as the “facts” for almost a year, so why would they take it down or change it?

I watched my email inbox all day Monday after publishing. The only feedback I got was from the district architect, Damien Schlitt, who told me, “The figures that were utilized and calculated were from 2006/2007 – 2021. The average year-over-year growth during that time was 1.0%. There were 5 years with no growth or a decline in students during that window. Even if we look just since 2015 the last time enrollment dropped (2014) it’s a year-over-year average of 1.2%.”

I went back to the numbers used in the data for the article. The average growth was still 1.7%. “High growth” was still 2.9%. If growth continued at these rates, the district would still run out of space in the new junior high before the $59.4 was paid off in 20 years. It was not a statement. All it was is data that provided information that was contrary to what the district had told people. I took time to look at the numbers from all perspectives.

Schlitt said nothing about how the information about projections for planned or max capacity was incorrect. His only call for correction was the average percentage.

At that moment, I thought again about taking screenshots of the Bulldog Blueprint website. I thought, “you have those somewhere on a hard drive. And they won’t take them down.” I thought again about taking screenshots of the district website but thought, “The referendum page just went along with the Bulldog Blueprint information until about a month ago, and now they’ve updated it to exactly what they want the community to know: what are the pros and the cons (in their eyes); what are enrollment numbers; what do junior high teachers say; what is the planned and max capacity.” It was just updated in bold. When we put something in bold, we want people to concentrate on it. It’s purposeful.

In fact, the max capacity of the new building on this new site was 1,000, but I went with the max capacity on the Bulldog Blueprint site because it was more students, and that’s helpful for the Mahomet-Seymour taxpayers.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon as I’m just going about my workday, I get a message: “Your article about the referendum states the new building is designed for 900 to 1,000 students, but the referendum website states 1,100 to 1,200.  I’m sure you found the 900 to 1,000 capacity somewhere.  People seem to be commenting about the capacity being so small, but 1,100 to 1,200 is vastly different than 900 to 1,000.”

I had copied and pasted the two columns for old junior high school and new, but I didn’t have that screenshot that showed the information. So I clicked on “The Plan” and it still said 900-1,000. So I took a screenshot of that. Then I went to the Bulldog Blueprint site.  However, where there was a site yesterday, there was no longer a Bulldog Blueprint site; it was taken down.

The person I was talking to told me around 2 p.m. that the website now had updated capacity numbers under the page “The Plan.” He watched it happen. For the same amount of money, $59.4, the district now says it will provide a building that is the same square footage as I reported, “a 135,000 square foot – 140,000 square foot new two-story building to house grades 6-8” but now, that building has a capacity of between 1,100 and 1,200 students.

Well, Mahomet-Seymour community, if my reporting has done anything for you, should the referendum pass, you will get a building that is not bigger, but has more capacity. Of course, we aren’t sure how an additional 200-300 students will fit into that space. Schlitt has not been forthcoming on how many classrooms will be allocated throughout this whole process. In fact, the website now says, “**New Capacity based upon architect developed space program configured to support 1100 – 1200 students within 135,000 sf – 140,000sf- further refinement to enrollment targets and program support to be completed through extensive collaboration with district administration, building administration, teachers and staff during the design process. This capacity expansion would support an additional three “sections” of each grade 6-8 from what is needed today as well as properly support the current students being served in undersized spaces.  The project budget of $59.4M will support the capacity and programming needs of the district to allow this facility to support the district well into the future.”

Then I have questions: renovating Mahomet-Seymour Junior High to 135,000-140,000 added about 10 classrooms for a much lower dollar amount; I think it was around $20 million. How does adding room for more students not add to the cost of the project? How will the district afford additional teachers when we just heard during negotiations that the salary increases for current staff may cause the district to not hire teachers in the future? Is it safe to add more students to that space in terms of fire standards, etc.?

Did Mahomet-Seymour see its mistake in capacity after the article was published on Monday? In the middle of the night, did they say, “Yes, Dani was right and we need to do better.”?  Did anyone in the community receive notification of new and updated information allotting for this revelation? Did anyone in the community hear anything from the district? Or did they just go in and change the information without telling anyone so that the new data would potentially get the result they wanted? Did they just think, “If we change the capacity on the website, no one will be the wiser?”.

I love to think about how people get from point A to point B. Someone thought, “We’ll just do a little switcheroo and then the Mahomet Daily will look like the fool.” This is the story they’ve told in the community for ages: “The Mahomet Daily is divisive, pushes too hard, asks too many questions. Dani Tietz is just a nut with an agenda.”

The real problem for the district is that Dani Tietz just sees past the Jedi powers of gaslighting, manipulating, partial stories and data that empower developers, contractors, and real estate agents and puts the financial burden, the academic burden, and the civil burden onto the taxpayers and constituents of  Mahomet-Seymour because she’s been watching and listening and reading for a decade.

I digress.

So let’s look at capacity with planned capacity at 1,100 and max at 1,200. It certainly buys taxpayers some time in their 20-year bond commitment. At high capacity, 2.9%, a new Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School would reach planned capacity (1,100) in 2033, and max capacity (1,200) in 2036. If enrollment increases by an average 1.7%, planned capacity will be reached in 2040, three years before the $59.4 bond is paid off, and max capacity in 2046, three years after the bond is paid off.

In 2016, when the district was making plans for the Middletown Prairie Elementary addition and renovation, I sat with then-superintendent Rick Johnston and asked specific questions about the building’s capacity for community growth. I was told that the building had enough classrooms to adjust year after year to the community’s needs for each class. At only six years old, Middletown Prairie is close to being in the same boat as Lincoln Trail, busting at the seams.

In fact, Monday night, the board of education voted to approve leasing space in the building formerly known as Sangamon Elementary because they don’t have enough space for operations with the Technology Department at Middletown Prairie Elementary.

Looking at enrollment data and projections, seeing what was included in the projections and what is not even being considered (several developments that are unfinished, the Village plans for expansion and development, what may or may not happen in Champaign Unit 4 schools) is only going to leave Mahomet-Seymour taxpayers in the same boat. The data shows that whether the capacity is at 1.7% or 2.9%, even if it is at 1%, which is unlikely unless something catastrophic happens, the proposed building will reach capacity more quickly than taxpayers were told. We also know from discussion among board members and staff that a $59.4 million building does not even begin to touch capacity issues in other facilities within the district.

Why did they have to take the Bulldog Blueprint site down and change what is on the referendum page of mahometseymour.org? Because the words they said did not match the data they presented. It just took someone who wanted to take the time, to have years and years of data, to analyze that data to show that the story did not equal reality.

My loyalty has always been to the taxpayer and constituents in the way that I tell stories. My commitment has always been to dig beneath the surface of information to find the truth. I will admit that I do not have all the answers to how or why things happen the way that they do. But what I do know is that people who are represented by a taxing body deserve complete and accurate information.

They also deserve leadership that tells the truth, even when that message is hard. Leadership that proves its focus is on the kids and the community, not by the words they choose or the narrative they spin, but with the votes they take and the priorities they set.

As I was doing research on development last spring, I sat down with Village Planner Kelly Pfeifer to ask about the thousands of pages of emails I obtained through FOIA. At the end of the conversation, I explained myself in comparison to the assumption that I’m just out to get people.

I have never cared if the Mahomet-Seymour community grows. I no longer live there, but I miss the love I found in that town. I want other people to experience the goodness I found there: the great park system, the quiet of the Sangamon River, the magic of the trees in October, and the people who make the day magical with an invitation to lunch.

Honestly, if the majority of the community votes to approve $59.4 million to build a new junior high, then that’s what the community has decided.

Something, at some point, needs to be done. I have been talking about capacity for about a decade now. But I would feel terrible if I just gave you the talking points, much like I did with Middletown Prairie, without asking questions and looking deeper so that everyone has access to adequate information to make their decision without pretense.

I literally have nothing to gain from this. And the way Mahomet works, I actually have everything to lose.

So, let me be straight with you: what I have always cared about and will always care about is honesty, transparency, and priorities. I care that people get the information they deserve so that they can make informed and educated decisions about the way they choose to live their lives. I care that people are taken care of and that they have what they need and deserve as human beings. I care that governments are forward-thinking, that they live within their means, and that they provide infrastructure for their visions and goals. Over the years I have learned that community means a hundred different things to a hundred different people, but I care deeply about community.

I don’t even care if the community takes this instance into consideration. What I do hope, though, is that the community looks at the information presented in the future and says, what more is there? Am I being told everything I need at this moment? Who is telling me this information? What do they have to gain through this information? Where can I get more information? Apply this to all parts of your life.

I guess the question for me today is, what does it mean to live in a community where information is given in hopes of an outcome that will benefit a few and then taken down or changed when the data doesn’t back up the narrative? I’m not surprised by much anymore, but I am shocked that Mahomet-Seymour is this type of community.

The post Commentary: Did Mahomet-Seymour really just change the numbers? appeared first on Dani Tietz.

In a little over three weeks, the decision on the Nov. 8 ballot for $59.4 million in the Mahomet-Seymour School District referendum will be tabulated.

The district is asking voters to approve a property tax increase for the next 20 years in order to construct a 135,000-140,000 square-foot, two-story building to house approximately 900-1,000 sixth- through eighth-grade students on 38 acres that the district currently owns on the east side of the Village limits, just south of Middletown Prairie Elementary, according to the mahometseymour.org website.

The preliminary plans for the new facility were included in the $97.9 million referendum on the June 28, 2022 ballot, which failed by a margin of 3,511 (67.20%) as opposed to 1,714 (32.80%) in favor. The district believed the measure failed because the ask was too big while many constituents cited the plan did not properly address the district’s capacity issues.

Many of those concerns are still in play, even with some board members questioning how the district will address growth across the board, citing that the district probably needs to add two facilities to the picture.

Squashing all predictions from 2019 and 2021 demographic studies, the Mahomet-Seymour School District’s enrollment increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year coming into the 2022-23 school year.

Currently, district-wide enrollment stands at 3,354, a figure the school district believed would come in the 2024-25 school year, according to a revised demographic study in 2021. Included in that study was a prediction that Mahomet-Seymour Junior High would have an enrollment of approximately 813 students by the 2026-27 school year, but that is the current enrollment of the junior high.

With the planned capacity of the new junior high school slated to be between 900-1,000 students and a maximum capacity of 1,080, according to a June Bulldog Blueprint report, current enrollment is only 80 to 200 students away from space being limited once again.

Before the June 28 vote, constituents were told that the junior high school would reach planned capacity by 2033 if growth was at 1 percent per year, a figure the district established as average growth over the last 20 years.

The Mahomet Daily analyzed class enrollment data from 2012-2022 to find that the actual growth rate year-to-year is 1.7 percent, the figure the district used as a high rate of growth. There are only two years within the last decade that the rate was below 1.5 percent, one of them being in 2020 with COVID mitigations.

Using the actual average (1.7 percent), the new Mahomet-Seymour Junior High building would reach “planned” capacity within seven years from now (noting the new building would not be completed for two to three years). This means that the current kindergarten class would be in seventh grade and the current first-grade class would be in eighth grade when the building would be expected to go over planned capacity.

Bulldog Blueprint data from the June 28 referendum stated that the new junior would reach a maximum capacity of 1,080 students. Using the same model, the new Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School could reach “maximum” capacity within 17 years, three years before taxpayers would have the option to issue additional bonds or lower their property tax rate.

Knowing that class size increases by approximately 29 percent during the 13 years students spend at Mahomet-Seymour and seeing increased enrollment numbers in the elementary schools, particularly in K-2 since Middletown Prairie opened its doors in 2017, the district looked at what “high” growth would look like until 2040, near the time the bond would expire, should the referendum pass.

The district used 1.7 percent growth as their high measure, but seeing as that is actually the average growth rate, we added 70 percent to that measure to look at what a “high” growth rate would look like in Mahomet. There is no evidence that a 6.5-percent enrollment increase year-over-year would be likely, but a rate higher than 1.7-percent could be feasible.

Should this growth continue at a high rate, 2.9 percent, the new Mahomet-Seymour Junior High building would be at planned capacity by 2026 and maximum capacity by 2032. This means that this would be expected to occur when the current second-grade class would be in sixth-grade, the current third-grade class would be in seventh-grade and the current fourth-grade class would be in eighth grade.

Community leaders have cautioned about growth projections, saying it is contingent upon developer’s interest in the area. The Village of Mahomet was part of the 2019 demographic study completed by Cropper GIS. That study was updated in 2021 after projections fell short of enrollment.

The 2019 study accounted for Village growth within new developments in Thornewood, Deer Hollow, Sangamon Fields, Harvest Edge and Hunters Ridge subdivisions as well as the Solace and Middletown Apartment developments. To date, some of these developments are still not completed. Thornewood, for example, just received a nod from the Village of Mahomet for 34 additional single-family units. The final phase of Harvest Edge is still not underway, but that will bring an additional 134 lots into the market. The report also assumed that once children graduate from Mahomet-Seymour High School, guardians would elect to stay in the community rather than relocate.

Other factors not considered by the demographic study that will impact the Mahomet-Seymour School District include Vision South, Unlimited Villas, and a new subdivision along Tin Cup Road that were recently approved by the Village. As the South Mahomet Road extension is completed in 2023, Prairieside Subdivision and property east of the school district’s 70-plus acre property will have access to infrastructure including roadways, water and sewer access to begin development. The Mahomet-Seymour School District spans about 15 miles to the north and south on the west side of Champaign County and about 8 miles east and west.

Mahomet is not the only community thinking about potential growth. In a recent St. Joseph Village board meeting, a board member suggested the Village market their community as a place to move to as Champaign Unit 4 schools look at reassigning elementary students as soon as next year. When Lee Superintendent Kenny Lee was asked if he had thought about if the issue would impact Mahomet-Seymour, he said, “What we need to continue to do is to monitor what’s occurring in our surrounding districts. Anytime that there’s something that is going to affect what they’re doing in their community, it could affect enrollment. We will continue to monitor that.”

Although Mahomet-Seymour Junior High is over capacity, enrollment at Lincoln Trail has caused the elementary staff to rethink classroom space, and Middletown Prairie, which was completed in 2017, is not far behind. In an August meeting, members of the Board of Education and Lee recognized that building a junior high school may be one option to begin to address the issue.

Board members talked about how there needed to be a two-building solution, and Lee stated that down the line the district may need to think about multiple elementary schools.

Board members brought up the possibility of keeping the current Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School in commission to house the overflow of Lincoln Trail students, should the referendum pass. When Lee was asked if the district would commit to that solution, Lee said, “I certainly am not interested in making that decision in a vacuum, so to speak.

“I think that certainly that overflow has been discussed, and that’s an option. I think, what you really need to look at is depending on how much overflow is needed, is that worth the expenses of keeping an additional building open that will by that time, be a few more years older and less efficient, as compared to do you look at, let’s say…we’re talking about Lincoln Trail here if the referendum passes, do you look at moving transportation and looking at an additional Lincoln Trail? Are you looking at a temporary solution for portable something like that?

“But that’s not to say that that junior high would be off the table, either. I think that if the referendum passes, then we need to look at all options that we would have for the junior high. So there’s not been a commitment to one particular thing with that building.”

Although there was a discussion in late spring of 2022 about doing another demographic study, Lee said that, at this time, the district will continue to monitor numbers. Enrollment well beyond what the demographic study at Middletown Prairie suggested was the prompt for an additional study in 2021.

“I really think that if we’ve seen additional numbers there, we’ll need to continue to look at how we’re utilizing our space and look at all of the options that we would have,” Lee said.

The post New Junior High planned capacity between 900-1000 students, current enrollment at 813 appeared first on Dani Tietz.

Within the Village limits there are about 9,500 residents. And just outside, there are about another 6 to 7,000. There are places in Mahomet where you can look across the street to look at land not within the Village limits. Some places receive services from the Village: water, sewer, road maintenance, law enforcement, And others do not.

It was and is by design.

There was a time when Mahomet did not want to expand its borders, which in the 1960s did not look like they do today. For the Parkhill family, who owned vast acres of farmland to the north of the Village, this posed a problem with their entrepreneurial spirit. Olen “Bud” Parkhill wanted to develop the family land, but getting Village services, particularly water, and sewer, wasn’t an option.

He wasn’t powerless, though. In 1966, he (along with Harold Dorsett) decided to build the infrastructure needed for water and sewer through a non-profit, Sangamon Valley Public Water District. Through this non-taxing body, land north of what’s now I-74 was able to develop.

Its reach has been and will continue to be important. In 2021, the district expanded its boundaries through a state-approved annexation process in order to deliver a clean water source to residents whose wells and homes have been affected by the 2016 People’s Gas leak. With that expansion, SVPWD went from being able to serve residents within a 4.5 square miles radius to just over 42 square miles.

Under the current board, SVPWD is not looking to encourage new development, but rather wait until developers are ready to move forward, then provide water and sewer service to that resident or business. For the most part, the Village of Mahomet has jurisdiction over development within a 1.5-mile radius of their borders and makes the final decision on how that land is zoned.

When petitions to elect SVPWD board seats instead of having them appointed circulated and were encouraged by former board member Olen “Bud” Parkhill, and current board members Mike Melton, Bob Buchanan, and Mike Larson (now a former member), it became evident that something more might be at play. Parkhill (50 years), Melton (40 years), and Buchannan (30 years) served on the board for decades and Larson had been a board member for 12 years.

What’s more is that Parkhill had asked current board president Meghan Hennesy to serve, just as he did board member Colleen Schultz. Hennesy and Parkhill had a friendship that both parties seemed to enjoy very much. Melton even sang Hennesy’s praises as she ran for the Mahomet-Seymour School board just a few years ago. And all four men continually voted for her to be in the lead position.

But, what appeared to be overnight, the tide turned.

On the surface, it may just appear that Parkhill was sore after he was not reappointed by the Champaign County Board in 2021 when it was pointed out that he was a major developer within the Sangamon Valley Public Water District. As a few other board members were appointed by the county, the hold Parkhill had on the SVPWD board seemed to be vanishing. For years upon years, as evidenced in board notes, SVPWD board members chose who would be in the seats.

It is true: currently, Parkhill and his organizations own approximately 600 acres of undeveloped land in SVPWD’s former boundaries, 2880 acres.  This means that Parkhill’s interests include about 20 percent of SVPWD territory that is within or just outside Village limits. He also owns even more property that is developed in both the SVPWD and the Village of Mahomet limits.

A lot of that land is located along Prairieview Road could be prime for development. Every year the Village of Mahomet puts about $25,000 into the Prairieview escrow account. The Village also split the cost of first drafts of what could happen on that land. Truck stops, which Village planner Kelly Pfeifer insists are called “travel centers”, hotels, and multi-family developments are just a few options in the layouts Parkhill is in possession of.

He also owns the land just south of Fox Run. Sketches of one layout were provided to the Mahomet Daily via FOIA. Through reading emails provided via FOIA, commercial development and expansion of the mobile home park were also discussed.

Of course, as long as land is zoned a particular way, a developer can make progress on that land. Just because Parkhill owns land doesn’t mean that he would personally benefit from the services provided by the Sangamon Valley Public Water District. So, in order to answer the question of why would these men all of a sudden change their mind as to how board members are seated, some questions needed to be answered.

In Feb. Mike Melton brought up that he was a participant in a 457b retirement plan that is designated for employees of non-profit organizations. Through FOIA, it was also brought to light that Parkhill also participated in that program.

The SVPWD was asked for a lot of information over the next few weeks. FOIA requests for old board minutes, purchases and invoices, repair and maintenance, vendors, land purchases, special water rates, water/sewer main lines plans, gifting of infrastructure, and supplies used in the Candlewood Mobile Home Park were all requested.

First, it’s important to understand how development usually works. Outside of what is happening with TIF money in the East Mahomet district, usually developers are responsible for building public infrastructure: water/sewer mains, sidewalks, and roads, then that is “gifted” to the municipality for maintenance. The municipality, in this case SVPWD, would make repairs on water and sewer mains for any subdivision within its territory: Deer Hollow, Cobblecreek, or Candlewood.

But, property owners within the subdivision, in many cases a homeowner, are then required to build and maintain their home’s infrastructure, like the water/sewer lines on their private property and their own driveway.

This is important to understand because in searching through documents provided by SVPWD, it is indisputable that the lines between Parkhill’s interests as a business owner/developer and board member were blurred.

The most prominent development that Parkhill owns at this time is Candlewood. Unlike other subdivisions he’s developed, like Cobblecreek, each home (trailer) is not owned by the residents. Parkhill owns all of the land according to Champaign County GIS.

In the case of Candlewood, it is unclear if SVPWD has the easements or if the infrastructure has been dedicated to the district. The only documents available were signed by Parkhill, who is the owner and was the seated chair at the time. There was no board action taken and no title documents were available. Still, SVPWD maintains the main lines through the Park, just as it does in Cobblecreek.

According to the Illinois Mobile Home Act, owners are required to maintain the streets, garbage and water, and sewer within the park boundaries.

During his time on the SVPWD board, though, Parkhill consistently used the district’s equipment and employees to service projects (water leaks, sewage issues) that any property owner should have been responsible for. Other SVPWD customers would have paid a markup on items and services, like building necessary pipe structures, Parkhill only reimbursed the district at cost for equipment, using the district funds to compensate for employee time.

It was not unusual for SVPWD employees to be required to install water meters on the mobile homes at district expense, for example. In other developments that have multiple residents, like an apartment complex, one meter is placed within the community, and the property owner is billed for the water/sewer usage. The landlord is then responsible for billing each tenant.

Parkhill bypassed this practice during his time on the board. During May’s board meeting, SVPWD decided that one meter would be placed at Candlewood before fall, placing the responsibility back on Parkhill’s shoulders. Additionally, since Parkhill has been off the board, maintenance of anything other than the water and sewer mains has ceased.

He was also notorious for going to the district property to take meters for Candlewood. SVPWD staff called inventory a “nightmare” because of this practice. Today, SVPWD has a fence and security cameras around the property, not only to keep the water supply safe but also to keep this from happening.

It is estimated that from 2008-2018 Candlewood labor and material costs totaled $37,808.00 for standpipe material; $5,265.00 for meters; $12,510.00 for labor of standpipes and $4,860.00 for labor of meters.

The long-standing practice of water rates for different groups of customers (previously 33 water rates, depending on who the person was) hurt the district. Over the last decade, the district has moved to standard water rates for customers, which has helped it save for capital projects and fair employee compensation.

Board meeting minutes show that SVPWD was barely surviving through the early 2000s. Because Candlewood is a transient community, sometimes tracking down tenants who owed for water or sewer was difficult. Any water loss from that community comes at a loss to the district. Most of the time, board members blamed that struggle on people in Candlewood who had not paid their water/sewer bill, when in fact, it was Parkhill’s responsibility.

It is estimated that standpipe breaks in Candlewood from 2008-2018 cost the district 36,028,800 gallons and meter breaks cost 4,003,200 gallons. In today’s dollars that would be about $320,256.00.

Outside of using SVPWD employees for maintenance within Candlewood, there were times that the district was instructed to use Parkhill’s companies Parkhill Construction and Central Xavaction. His son’s company T.S.P. Enterprises was also used several times.

Accounting documents were limited, but those that were provided show that from 2001-2014 the district paid T.S.P. Enterprises $11,436; from 2000-2021 paid Parkhill Construction $317,231.83; and from 2005-2006 Central Xavation $20,153.10. Some of those line items show work throughout the district while other memos are left empty. There were no records prior to 2000.

The work Parkhill’s compaines/employee did for the district was quality work, other employees said. But it wasn’t always about what needed to be done within the district. When Parkhill Construction did not have contracts coming in, Parkhill would tell the SVPWD general manager to find work for his employee to do. Then the district would pay Parkhill’s company.

Records also show that at times when Parkhill did not receive rent owed in Candlewood, he would send tenants to work off their debt at SVPWD. After the tenant completed the work for SVPWD, the district would take funds out of the paycheck to pay for the employee’s back-owed lot rent and send that to Parkhill rather than the person who did the work. Long-time SVPWD employees have said that because of wages, it has been difficult to keep workers at the district. They added that while these employees (that Parkhill sent over) helped fill in shortages, they were not trained to do the work that needed to be done in order to keep the district’s assets safe.

Parkhill’s Candlewood was not the only development that benefited from public infrastructure. As SVPWD installed “trunkline” water and sewer mains, including lift stations to the north and west of Candlewood in 2005, Deer Hollow and Cobblecreek (Parkhill’s development) were able to come to fruition. Parkhill’s investment into Cobblecreek was reduced because of the availability of the trunkline.

With that development, along with Thornewood, by 2011 SVPWD needed additional capacity. Parkhill had land to sell. In 2012, after 40 years on the board, Parkhill stepped down from his seat, citing a need to spend more time with his family. Just a few moments later, SVPWD purchased two acres of land from Parkhill for $175,000 (that would be about $220,000 in today’s dollars) to expand their water treatment plant. Although Parkhill was never reappointed to the board, he was back in his seat a meeting or two later, according to board minutes.

The district has also purchased other pieces of land from Parkhill, including a small triangular piece that currently holds an apple tree.

He also encouraged the purchase of .75 acres near the newest developments of Thornewood from the Schneider family for $40,000 in 2012 (almost $51,000 in today’s dollars). This property houses a storage facility. These properties were appraised at these amounts in 2012, but staff has said that favorable appraisers were chosen after another appraisal came in around $16,000-$20,000 per acre.

Prior to not being reappointed to the board, Parkhill said that he had more land that he wanted the district to purchase. He owns 14.3 acres contiguous to the water district property. The water district said, being at 50 percent capacity of the current facility, they do not need to expand or purchase any more land for 15 years, if development remains steady.

The ballot measure in the June 28 primary would likely put Parkhill back in control of the district. Although he was not a registered voter in Champaign County prior to April 2022, Parkhill has the interest and the means to fund candidates who would continue to work in his interest of development. Having held the seat on the SVPWD board until 2021, even not as a registered voter, but a property owner in the Village of Mahomet, perhaps he could even run for a seat again.

Most races in Mahomet, aside from the Mahomet-Seymour School board races recently, go uncontested.

Recently, Parkhill entered into conversations with the Village about the property south of the mobile home park. Part of the land was rezoned and annexed for commercial development. FOIA documents show that he is also interested in expanding the mobile home park.

It seems to be that there is a lot at stake for Parkhill when it comes to the makeup of the SVPWD board. He already has a lot invested in making sure that customers approve the measure to elect board members. Not only did Parkhill have his Candlewood employee circulate petitions, he also used his political action committee, “Committee to Keep Our Water Local,” to send out “Vote YES” flyers to voters in the area.

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Diversifying the tax base in the Village of Mahomet has been a significant topic of discussion during the last decade.

School board candidates have run on the platform; Village plans show areas of targeted commercial or industrial development; email discussions highlight plans to bring more commercial buildings into the area.

The idea is that over time, with commercial growth, the residential taxpayer’s burden towards the school district and the Village of Mahomet will be lessened.

Alongside a significant residential boom, Mahomet-Seymour constituents have also noticed a transformation in restaurant, service, and retail options in the town of 9,400 residents within recent years. It’s not that Mahomet has been desolate in dining, shopping, and service options in the last two decades, but over the last five years, Sangamon Elementary was purchased to house office and retail space; 1000 Churchill along IL-150 has filled, with more development to come and in downtown Mahomet, a place historically known for antiques, storefronts are consistently occupied.

Perhaps one day a hotel, a truck stop, or event center will be located on the east side of town. Yet the placement of those entities or any other business development that lands within the TIF districts of Mahomet, will not help residential taxpayers with the burden of funding public entities, like the school district for the next 15-21 years.

In 2000, the Village of Mahomet entered into an agreement with other taxing bodies to establish a TIF district on the east side of its limits. TIF districts create a section within a municipality’s limits to target growth.

A TIF District is a designated area a municipality wants to target for redevelopment. Once a TIF district is designated and approved, the base EAV (equalized assessed value) of a property is established. That established tax value amount is frozen at that time and continues to flow to all taxing bodies as they normally would.

Then, a second fund for that same land/area, a TIF fund, is established. Funds for the TIF fund are added based on any increases in property values to those areas, whether through inflation, tax levy increases or because of development in the area. This TIF stream does not go to the taxing bodies, schools, library, and fire, but instead is kept separate and is allocated to the Village to pay for redevelopment.

The East Mahomet TIF fund was unique, though, in that 100 percent of the residential increment continued to pass through to all taxing bodies, including Mahomet-Seymour School District, while 50 percent of the commercial/ag increment was kept in the TIF fund. Village Administrator Patrick Brown said that with the addition of Middletown Place Apartments, that money (from the Apartment increases in value) should go into the TIF increment, but as a result of the special TIF agreement,  is passed through to the school district.

The Village of Mahomet used some of this increment to fund projects like expanding IL-150 at Prairieview Road and installing fiber optic lines from I-74 to Churchill Road with hopes to spur commercial development. When those improvements were made, industrial development was on the horizon. As that fell through, the TIF district didn’t see real commercial interest until recently when Middletown Prairie Elementary Phase I and Phase II were complete.

TIF funds are supposed to be authorized for 23 years. The hope is that after nearly a quarter of a century of public infrastructure investment, the TIF area will have seen significant improvements, enough to make it economically viable.

The East Mahomet TIF should have been dissolved by calendar year 2024. But in 2019, the Village of Mahomet asked all taxing authorities to extend the TIF district for another 12 years, leaving it to end in 2036. With that extension, the Village promised to use the TIF funds to extend South Mahomet Road all the way to Prairieview Rd. by phase II. This investment into the TIF district is thought to encourage additional commercial and residential growth in the area.

In that same year, the Village of Mahomet asked other taxing bodies, including the Mahomet-Seymour School District, to approve a Downtown “Commerical Core” TIF. Unlike before, 100 percent of residential and commercial property tax increments will go into the TIF fund until 2042.

Essentially, these decisions have placed 50.8 percent of current commercial property tax dollars within TIF districts and out of reach of taxing bodies other than the Village. As the Village plans to work on the historic downtown area, with its eyes set on townhomes and multi-use buildings, and also pull commercial development further east down IL-150 to Prairieview Road, the Mahomet-Seymour School District (along with other taxing bodies) will only see limited benefits. In the Downtown TIF area, none of the benefit from commercial growth dollars will funnel to the school district until the $97.9 million referendum is paid off, should it pass

It’s true that no matter what taxpayers decide on June 28, the TIF districts will continue to operate in this way until they are dissolved. At that time, the Village can also choose other areas for development through TIF districts.

Local officials have said the benefit of the TIF district is substantial. They believe that without the TIF infrastructure in a “blighted” area, development would not have happened.

For months, the Mahomet Daily has sought to understand exactly how the East Mahomet TIF has grown. When asked for documentation without FOIA, the Village, Champaign County Treasurer’s office and the Champaign County Clerk’s office have not provided information on how the TIF has grown each year or how the pass-through is distributed. Because of FOIA, the Village of Mahomet says they will provide the information, but using an extension clause provided through FOIA, that information will not be available until June 23, 2022.

The Illinois Comptroller’s website has TIF documentation provided by the Village from 2000-2021. While that shows the pass-through amounts and expenditure information, it does not show the net taxable value each year or the TIF extension or increment amounts. The Clerk’s website has a trove of property tax extension information for 2021, though. In this, the net taxable value, the TIF extension, and the increment amounts can be seen for that year. The Clerk’s office should provide more information this week, so more information about the growth of the TIF will be available soon.

Using data from the Champaign County Clerk’s property tax extension documents, from 2018-2021 commercial property value in the East Mahomet TIF has increased by an average of 16 percent each year.  No one can know exactly how the values will increase or decrease in the future, but should the values increase in the same way that they have over the past four years (a 16% per year growth of commercial within the TIF) then, in addition to the losses during the 23-year initial TIF, during the 13-year period of the TIF extension, the Mahomet-Seymour School District would miss out on approximately $14,838,489 more in tax revenue because that amount will be diverted to the TIF. If there were to be more growth in this area due to school growth, that number would be higher.

Should the referendum pass on June 28, commercial property taxpayers will see the same increase that residential taxpayers will see. But the school district will not receive 50 percent of those dollars in the East Mahomet TIF. They will not receive 100 percent of those dollars from the downtown TIF, either. The district will get all of the residential tax dollars in the East Mahomet TIF, but just as they have for the last 20 years, they will receive only 50 percent of the increment over the established assessed value in 2000.

The picture looks a little different in the Downtown TIF area. As the Mahomet-Seymour School Board discussed extending the East Mahomet TIF in 2019, board member Colleen Schultz noted that with the Downtown TIF and the East Mahomet TIF, the school district was missing out on money that could help the district. At that time, she (and others) voted against the extension of the TIF, noting that in 2024 the school district could reap some of the benefits of the TIF growth should the extension be voted down.

During that discussion, other board members, such as Merle Giles, indicated that they did not know that the school district had entered into a Downtown TIF agreement. That decision was okayed by then Chief Financial Business Officer Trent Nuxoll in conjunction with Superintendent Lindsey Hall. Board President Max McComb also stated he knew about the decision.

One key point that Schultz made was that commercial growth, like having Jimmy Johns (JJ) come to Mahomet, was a great asset for the village. But having the property within the TIF district would harm the school district.

The property that JJ now sits on was assessed at $157,050, and $141,450 of that was value that increased over the base assessment of that property from the beginning of the TIF. At 2021 tax rates, owners of a property assessed at $157,050 would be required to pay $12,652.12 in property taxes. Because approximately 57.4 cents of every tax dollar collected at 2021 rates go to the School District, the District should have collected approximately $7,264.20 of these tax dollars. However, because there is a TIF, $11,395.36 (90.1% of the property’s tax bill) of the taxes collected went into the TIF fund in 2021 as the TIF receives all of the tax dollars collected on the increased value over the base (the increment).  The result is that the school will only receive $721.56 of the collected tax dollars with the remaining $6,542.64 going to the TIF.

The same holds true for Sangamon on Main. Having just come off it’s exemption for the public body, all of the assessed value becomes part of the TIF increment. In this case, in 2021, the school district lost $21,066.40 in tax dollars from these property taxes because they were diverted to the TIF.

As the downtown area, including the Eastwood area, increases in value, as property tax rates fluctuate, and as inflation increases for the next 20 years, the Mahomet-Seymour School District will not see any of the increased property taxes collected into the TIF fund.

It could be said that after TIF districts witness their growth, and as Mahomet-Seymour looks at facility plans again in 20 years, commercial tax dollars will ease some of the burden for residential taxpayers in that moment. It could also be said that growth, both residential and commercial, would have and will happen naturally in Mahomet without TIF districts and that the TIF only takes money away from the schools to subsidize development.

The Mahomet Daily is still waiting to add perspective on growth in the TIF districts. That information should be available this week as we receive documents from the county.

At this time, though, we know this: over $350,000 dollars were diverted from the school district to the TIF for 2021. The detailed breakdowns from the information provided thus far are below.

(The County and the Village have provided numbers that are slightly different and so we list both.)

East Mahomet TIF, Commercial Properties (2021)

Downtown TIF, Commercial and Residential Properties (2021)

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Several members, both current and former, have much to lose by not being reappointed to the Sangamon Valley Public Water District Board. Some of the benefits board members received over the decades they held their seats are difficult to figure out, but during the Feb. 2022 board meeting, member Mike Melton made his stake known.

Melton held a 457b retirement account through the non-profit Sangamon Valley Public Water District. According to the IRS, 457b retirement plans are available for certain state and local governments and non-governmental entities (civil servants, municipal employees, law enforcement officers, and public safety personnel) tax-exempt under IRC Section 501.

Plans eligible under 457(b) allow employees of sponsoring organizations to defer income taxation on retirement savings into future years.

Board members with SVWPD receive an annual stipend (currently $1200 annually, $1800 for the chair) which is reflected in the non-employee compensation tax form they receive each year.

Beginning in 1984, SVPWD established the 457b plan, although no vote on the plan can be found.  In 1993 that plan was split into an employee plan and a board plan with Lincoln Financial, then that was updated in 2005. The district or Lincoln Financial does not have documentation related to the board member’s 457b plan.

In Jan. 2022, SVPWD discontinued the 457b plan for the board members who participated in it. Since 1984, there have been seven board members. Names were not available via FOIA, but we know that board members Monte Cherry, Michelle Grindley, Meghan Hennesy, Mike Larson, and Colleen Schultz did not participate in the retirement plan.

It was disclosed through FOIA, though, that on Jan. 1, 2021, the aggregate trustee investments were $316,699.20. Withdrawals in 2021 were $115,721.09 and the year-ending balance as of Dec. 31, 2021 was $259,936.90 for three trustees. The annual average gain over the time the plan was in place is 7.5 percent.

Melton has been vocal about the losses he has suffered by the elimination of the 457b plan for the trustees. Aside from airing his grievance in the Feb. 2022 board meeting, an email obtained via FOIA shows that Melton wrote, “Changing a board member retirement program with Lincoln Financial without any contact with the board member from deferred compensation to annuities to an IRA. These changes cannot be reversed with Lincoln. The annuity was taken by me @ $1000 a month but the IRA is valued at $200,000 and any disbursements must be in total, taxes would be 25% or $50,000.”

Oversight of the plan was at the sole discretion of the plan manager and changes did not require board discussion or approval.

Melton has also taken to the NextDoor app to air his grievance. According to one post, Melton says that he used the $1,000 a month to pay his bills. “Look what happens if you put your whole yearly SVPWD salary in the stock market for 40+ years. And people like you (GM Kerry Gifford) b*$&h about me receiving a pension when I invested my SVPWD salary wisely until someone like you had trust in moves your money into other accounts without my approval and I lose all the salary from 40 years but still have the income from the investment!”

Melon is one of two current board members (Bob Buchanan) and two former board members (Bud Parkhill and Mike Larson) who initiated a measure on the June 28, 2022, ballot that asks voters to elect SVWPD board members as opposed to appointing them.

Parkhill spent 50 years on the board, Melton 40, Buchanan 30, and Larson 12.

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“I think that there is a coming enrollment explosion, mainly from our neighbors to the east (Champaign),” board member Jeremy Henrichs said. “I’m not sure that we have a real handle on that.”

Henrichs added that as a physician, he has heard a lot of patients talk about moving to Mahomet. While anecdotal, Henrichs believes that with the current enrollment numbers, it’s important to prepare for what could be coming.

If the board votes to fund another study with Cropper GIS Consulting, it will be the fourth look since January 2019.

Partnering with the Village of Mahomet in 2018, the district enlisted the services of Cropper GIS Consulting to predict what enrollment might look like over the next decade. The two entities split the cost of the $11,500 demographic study that included a 1.5-mile radius of Village limits, even though the Mahomet-Seymour School District boundaries spread 15 miles north and south, and between 7 to 9 miles east and west on the west side of Champaign County.

Within the $11,500 agreement, the school district provided enrollments by grade for the school years 2014-15 to 2018-19 while data from the 2010 Census and the Illinois Department of Health were added to determine household size, age, and birth and death records.

The Village of Mahomet also provided information on already platted development that is currently under construction or slated to be completed within the next decade within the Village limits. Those developments included the additions to Thornewood, Deer Hollow, Sangamon Fields, Harvest Edge and Hunters Ridge subdivisions as well as the Solace and Middletown Apartment developments.

Almost one year after being presented in a joint meeting between the Mahomet-Seymour School Board and the Village Board of Trustees, Superintendent Lindsey Hall reached out to Cropper GIS Consulting President, Matthew Cropper, to see what an update would entail. That conversation was delayed until February 2021 with COVID-19 mitigations changing the landscape of a typical school day.

As the district prepared to engage community members in the long-term facility planning process, Bulldog Blueprint, Cropper gave the district the option to completely redo the demographic study for $9,500 or to just update the study with 2020 and 2021 student enrollment numbers. Superintendent Hall gave the nod for the $2,500 update.

Over the first couple of sessions of Bulldog Blueprint meetings, the district presented updated numbers from Cropper’s 2021 predictions. As the 2021-22 school year approached, enrollment once again proved to be higher than what Cropper predicted.

Total enrollment as of Aug. 23, 2021, was 3,337 with 780 students at Middletown Prairie; 762 at Lincoln Trail; 764 at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High and 1031 at Mahomet-Seymour High School. Cropper had projected enrollment at 3,228 for the 2021-22 school year with 698 at Middletown Prairie; 725 at Lincoln Trail; 760 at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High and 1,045 at Mahomet-Seymour High School.

With reports of parents calling the Mahomet-Seymour office to see if they can pay tuition for their child to attend, and homes within the district selling quickly, the district is already preparing for higher-than-expected enrollments in the 2022-23 school year. Hall said that parents cannot pay tuition for their child to attend Mahomet-Seymour.

The current study predicts that the Mahomet-Seymour School District will have 3,583 students enrolled by 2030.

The scale may tip upward even further as the platted new construction that was cited in the 2019 demographic study comes to fruition. Approximately 500 single-family homes are still left to build, and four more apartment buildings in Solace are just now being erected. While this land will not develop overnight, about 80 new homes come into the market each year. That construction is projected to be completed by 2030.

In an interview with Village Planner Kelly Pfeifer, she said adults without children are moving into the apartment buildings at this time.

The first two published studies (winter 2019, spring 2021; the third look was an update in fall 2021) bank their prediction on the idea that current homeowners will not move after their child(ren) finishes school. As that population ages, new construction will be where the bulk of families with children reside, according to the demographic study.

Whether or not that idea comes to fruition, developers are purchasing land near already existing infrastructure, both within or near the Village limits and to the south near Jacob’s Landing. Much of this land is currently zoned residential, although Village Planner Pfeifer has noted that zoning is fluid.

The same goes for the preliminary plans that the Village has spent the last six years developing. Pfeifer said that things like the Comprehensive Plan, zoning maps, and Downtown Master Plans are all a vision for what could be. The same goes for the sketches provided to landowners as they decide how to develop their land.

According to preliminary designs obtained via FOIA, the Village of Mahomet continues to work with landowners to develop commercial, including industrial and institutional, on the east side of Mahomet, extending the length of Prairieview Road. The desire to continue residential development, including single-family and multi-family development within the next 30 years also extends into downtown Mahomet where homes are already established. The Downtown Master Plan approved in 2019 has its sights set on a make-over of what was once known as the heart of Mahomet.

Other assumptions made in both the 2019 and 2021 studies were that interest rates would stay below 4.5% for the next decade. The federal reserve set a target interest rate at 5.27 percent on a 30-year mortgage last week. One year ago that rate was 2.69 percent. Banks set their own interest rates.

Some members of the Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education, the district architect and Village staff say that counting on development five years out is tricky because developers are not willing to make a commitment that far out. Pfeifer said from start to finish, it takes about three years to get a subdivision approved.

If approved the tax increase will be significant, nearly $1,000 per year more just in taxes to the Mahomet-Seymour School District for a $300,000 home.

Board member Colleen Schultz asked the board of education to consider getting started on plans to add onto Lincoln Trail immediately in order to have plans ready to go prior to breaking ground for Mahomet-Seymour Junior High, should the $97.5 million referendum pass on June 28.

BLDD Architect Damien Schlitt said that was not possible to add onto any of the existing buildings prior to moving forward with the junior high, because there are only a limited number of construction crews in the East Central Illinois area; because parts of the construction will have to take place during the school year; and because the opportunity to bid out smaller projects at a reasonable price for the following year has already passed.

Board President Max McComb said that he did not want it to appear as if the board has “preordained” what the voters want. He also said that the district could fund staff committees to give input to what they want to see in the facilities over the summer months.

Later on in the meeting, Schlitt noted that with inflation rates, costs of materials, and costs associated with labor, the board might have to make decisions on how to prioritize the allocation of the $97.5 million if the referendum passes. The only thing the district will be obligated to do with the referendum is build the junior high and the bus barn and make updates somewhere else in the district.

The board of education is expected to revisit this discussion during the May 16 regular meeting.

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