Rich Kelly
March 28, 2011 1:30PM
Rich Kelly, candidate for Orland Park Village board. | Supplied photo
Office sought: Orland Park trustee
Name: Rich Kelly
Address: 17508 Orland Woods Lane, Orland Park
Date of birth: November 17, 1946
Contact information
Email: kellyrich8@aol.com
Telephone numbers:
Home: (708) 479-5458
Work: (708) 403-4222
Education: Loyola University Chicago, Type 75 Administrative Certificate,
1994
Eastern Illinois University, Master of Science, 1973
Chicago State University, Bachelor of Science, 1970
Occupation, employer: Orland Township assessor (part-time position)
Retired High School District 218 teacher
Please list all sources of income: Orland Township
Teacher’s Retirement System of the State of Illinois
Chicago Teacher’s Pension Fund
Spouse, spouse’s employer: Kelly L. Kelly, Metropolitan Family Services
Children, age of children, children’s employer (if applicable):
Corey Kelly, 22, student at Eastern Illinois University
Morgan Kelly, 15, student at Carl Sandburg High School
Please list any relatives, including in-laws, who are employed by a government agency:
What other elected offices have you sought? What year?
Orland Township assessor, 2006, 2010
Candidate for Illinois
State Representative 81st District, 2008
School board member
District 230, 1998
Have you ever been arrested or charged with a crime? No
Do you have any criminal convictions on your record? No
Political (elected or significant appointment) experience:
Orland Township assessor for two terms, 2006 to present
School board member District 230, 1998 to 2001
In your view, what are the two most important issues facing your constituents? How would you address those issues?
Stop over-taxing the middle class.
The Orland Park Village Board raised property tax levy approximately
$930,000 from last year to 13.3 million.
Property owners have been coming into my Orland Township Assessor Office to
lower their assessments because they can’t afford to pay the increases in
their tax bill. People have lost their jobs; some are facing foreclosure and
want to know how they can continue to pay these huge tax bills. This is not
right!!! People should not be taxed out of their home.
Orland Plaza at 143rd and LaGrange Road with successful businesses such
as, Randy’s Market, Orland Bakery, Lange Lee, Bloomingfields, Miroballi, and
many more are planned to be razed to make way for the Main Street Triangle
Redevelopment Project. I feel that these businesses were not treated
properly in the planning of the Redevelopment Project. We need these
businesses to stay in Orland Park, not chase them away.
Both issues can be addressed by encouraging businesses to stay in the Village
of Orland Park and aggressively seeking new businesses. The more businesses
we have in Orland Park the less property tax homeowners will have to pay.
Please explain something significant you would like to accomplish within the
next two years if you are elected.
I want to lower the property tax levy; this would help the homeowners by
lowering their property tax bill. This can only be done by cutting the
budget or attracting more businesses.
Please explain how you believe the office you’re seeking can help in
creating local jobs.
The small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Orland Park must be aggressive in attracting new businesses. This will have a dual
effect, creating more jobs and lowering the property tax bill.
Do you believe the current way Illinois pays for education is working? If
so, why? If not, why not? What would you change?
The way Illinois pays for education is NOT working. The Constitution of the
State of Illinois stipulates that the state is primary responsibility for
financing educational institutions and services. The state does NOT
interpret this to mean that 51 percent or better should come from state revenues.
Currently the state provides about 32 percent of all funding with the remainder of
funds coming from LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES and a small amount from the Federal
Government. Illinois is dramatically over-reliant on property taxes to fund
schools. Property taxes are regressive and do not adjust their burden based
on a homeowner’s ability to pay. Skyrocketing property taxes will push
families out of their homes, hurt business growth and drive employers out of
Orland Park.
Elected officials in Illinois need to make reforming school funding and
delivering property tax relief their top priority.
Would you make any changes to the budget of the governing unit to which you
are seeking elected office? If so, what?
It all starts with the budget. If you can lower the budget, you can lower
the property tax levy which will lower the property tax bill.
In lowering the budget I believe in examining each line item to determine
which would be the best to reduce and not cause disruption in village
services. An example of this is Fiscal Year 2011 Proposed Budget Account
Number 029-0000-499.84-98 Miscellaneous $1,000,000.
Are there any other issues you want to bring to the public’s attention? If
so, what?
I am an Independent Candidate; all of my decisions will be for the citizens
of Orland Park and not for a particular group.
As assessor of Orland Township I have helped thousands of residences receive
refunds for missing exemptions on their tax bill and assisted them in
appealing their property assessed value when it was too high. I will
continue to help the Orland Park homeowners lower their property tax bill.
