We haven’t written about the Lyons Township school treasurer’s office in a while. A recent Chicago Tribune article reminded us that it’s still worth keeping tabs on this little known but hugely important government agency.
The school treasurer handles hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money for public school districts in the western suburbs.
As we’ve documented over the past few years, the place under now-former Treasurer Robert Healy was a political refuge, with sweetheart deals, questionable hiring and little oversight by a board that was supposed to keep tabs on things.
Healy stands accused of embezzling $1.5 million from taxpayers. Click here for more on Healy.
The Tribune story shows the fall-out from that scandal, as more school districts try to pull away from the treasurer’s office:
“Two La Grange-area elementary school districts are joining the local high school district in pursuit of legislation that would allow them to separate from the scandal-tainted township school treasurer’s office and manage finances in-house.”
Click here for a link to the Trib story.
Click here for another BGA piece on the situation in Lyons Township.
To be sure, reforms have been adopted since the Healy scandal unfolded, but it’s clear from the recent news coverage that turmoil remains – and taxpayers are in the middle.
This blog post was written by the Better Government Association’s Robert Herguth, who can be reached at rherguth@bettergov.org or (312) 821-9030.
