LT Rallies Public Against Treasurer's Office

LA GRANGE, IL — A state judge ruled last month that Lyons Township High School can leave an unusual agency that handles the money for area school districts.

Now, the high school is rallying the public to urge the Lyons Township Treasurer's Office not to appeal the decision.

Under state law, this agency serves a dozen school districts. It declined to conduct forensic audits in 2012 and 2013 after its former treasurer, Robert Healy, stole $1.5 million in school funds. In 2015, he was sentenced to nine years.

In 1999, the high school and the treasurer's office agreed that the school would no longer have to pay for services it did not access from the office.

But in 2013, in the wake of the embezzlement, the treasurer's office told the high school it would no longer recognize the 1999 agreement.

This resulted in the litigation between the two entities, which lasted eight years until the judge's ruling last month. The treasurer's office, referred to as the TTO, has spent $4.1 million in the legal battle. The high school said it covered its costs through its insurance carrier.

"The lawsuit could have and should have been avoided," Superintendent Timothy Kilrea said in a statement Friday. "The judge's decision repeatedly references the TTO's refusal to conduct a forensic audit in 2012 and 2013, after its former treasurer's thefts were uncovered. The TTO's decision prevented all of its member districts from learning the true state of the TTO's finances."

Such treasurer's offices once existed throughout the state. But in 1962, the state Legislature abolished them everywhere but suburban Cook County.

The high school has called the treasurer's office an antiquated, unnecessary unit of local government that serves no useful purpose for the school.

In an interview Friday, Treasurer Ken Getty said the office's three-member elected board has made no decision on an appeal, but would discuss the matter in a closed session.

As for the lack of a forensic audit, Getty said that decision was made before he became treasurer three years ago and that he had no idea why the board decided against such an investigation.

Getty contended his agency was needed, though he did call it an "anomaly."

"The treasurer's office is extremely beneficial to the taxpayer," he said.

He compared the treasurer's office to the recent financial consolidation of the state's hundreds of police and fire pension systems. The treasurer's office, he said, is the accountant, banker and investor for its member districts.

"We are able to get economies of scale and higher rates of return," Getty said.

He also said the treasurer's office is better equipped than individual school districts in protecting taxpayer dollars from hackers.

As for the litigation, Getty said the office's board members are taking the interests of all the member districts into account.

"No one won this lawsuit. It's two government entities trying to right a wrong," he said. "Who wins when there are two sides trying to correct a mistake from the past?"

As a result of the lawsuit, the high school is required to pay about $750,000 for its deductions from the treasurer's office's annual invoices from 2013 to 2019. Most of the deductions were for a share of the treasurer's office's legal costs in suing the school.

In his statement, Kilrea pointed out that the treasurer's office secured the services of five lawyers from two firms for handling the trial, while the high school had just one attorney.

"The TTO filed suit against LT without these member districts’ input or consent, and now they will have to foot the $4.1 million TTO legal bill," Kilrea said.

He is encouraging residents to email the three treasurer's office board members — Michael Thiessen, Nicholas Kantas and Shakana Kirksey-Miller — to ask them not to appeal.

Other superintendents in the treasurer's office's territory are asking the office to end the litigation.

"Taxpayers in our communities are responsible for paying both sides of this lawsuit," Kyle Schumacher, superintendent of La Grange School District 102, said in a statement.

He expected his district's portion of the legal costs would amount to $400,000 to $500,000.

"This, on top of our annual pro rata, is a significant amount that could be used to hire teachers and support staff for our children," Schumacher said.