A proposal for strategic policy development for blighted urbanities with high crime, public housing, and corrupt officials.

1. The City of East St.
Louis was established
June 6, 1820

2. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
 Born at Touchette Regional Hospital in 1967 to Matthew and Hazel Hawkins, both dedicated
Christians, who lived in the Virginia Park area of East St. Louis;
 Has resided in Parson’s Place Apartments since January 2004 with his wife Kim Fisher-
Hawkins and their two sons;, Seth (8) and Matthias “Matt” John Hawkins, Jr. (6)
 Graduated from :
 Alta Sita Elementary School (1979),
 Hughes-Quinn Junior High School (1982),
 Lincoln Senior High School (1985), and
 Northern Illinois University (1998) [Political Science];
 Served in United States Navy, 1987 to 1992, as a Machinist’s Mate, Southwest Asia Freedom
Medal for Desert Storm;
 Holds Series 7 & 63 FINRA licenses & Illinois Life & Health Insurance Sales Agent licenses;
 Worked as an investment banker on Wall Street from 2007-2008 in municipal and corporate
finance;
 Worked as a Caseworker for Lessie Bates in Male Involvement and Youth Intervention from
2003-2005;
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3. Friday, January 07, 2011
Murderous Tax Rates?
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS: 25
• As the Property Tax Rate is reduced,
the murder rate and all the other
2013 School Board Election
crimes will be reduced as well;
• Further, as we approach the 20
average tax rate for the State, our FBI Crime Data Confirms Positive
Results on Per capita Murder Rate.
murder rate should approach that of
the State;
•Voters will choose what is best for
15
Raw Score
their own economic interest outside
of party or person; Tax Rate (%)
• Economically, as we approach the
regional tax rate, local economic
development will necessarily flow 10 Murder Rate
down the tax rate scale as developers (per 1M)
and business owners look for the
best possible value in the market;
• The 2013 School Board election will
present major opportunity to 5
accelerate tax reduction efforts and State Avg. for Taxes: 2%
produce results by 2016 in the
recorded Per Capita murder rates; State Avg. for Murders: .55*
• Voters will choose candidates that 0
are committed to reducing property
tax rates on City Council but 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
especially for School Board.
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4. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
2010 OBSERVATIONS 2020 PROJECTIONS
 Property Tax Rate: 12.78%  Property Tax Rate: 4%
 Murder Rate: 102  Murder Rate: 32
 Private Jobs: 500  Private Jobs: 1200
 Businesses: 300  Businesses: 500
• In order to stimulate long term growth, we must target long term factors like property taxes
and not short term factors like Business Retention Loans or Grants or 50/50;
• We propose that we provide immediate and continuous Property Tax Reduction strategies as
to stem the tide of 1,000 people that leave East St. Louis annually according to the US
Census Bureau and entice savvy, progressive investors.
• Moreover, the question becomes why are people so violent or so aggressive or serious?
• Could the tax burden create enough stress to turn minor disagreements into deadly conflicts
and sometimes even gun battles?
THE VISION: 200TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
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5. PROPERTY TAX 101
 In East St. Louis, property owners over 6 times the State & National
property tax rate, twice what is paid in neighboring municipalities like
Fairview Heights. (Moody’s Economy, April 2007)
In 1924, Secretary of
Avg. Property Tax Rate Treasury Andrew Mellon
14.00% wrote: "It seems difficult
12.00% for some to understand
10.00% that high rates of
taxation do not
8.00%
necessarily mean large
6.00% revenue to the
4.00% Government, and that
2.00% more revenue may
0.00% often be obtained by
lower rates."
National State of Belleville East St.
Illinois Louis
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6. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
Tax Structure Total Property Tax (Millage) Rates
• Property tax rates per $100 assessed
City 2004 2005
valuation.
• Valuation is 33.3% of real property; East St. Louis 12.53% 12.78%
•Other category includes park and
health districts like East Side Health &
Belleville, IL
Metro East Park districts. Fairview 6.36% 6.34%
FY 2009 Millage Share % Heights, IL*
Rate Swansea, IL* 7.58% 7.45%
District 7.54 59% O’Fallon, IL 7.55% 7.54%
189
Opa Locka, FL 8.55% 8.55%
City Hall 3.099 24%
Other 1.23 9.8% *Has no or extremely low City Tax Rate (CTR), or
St. Clair .9160 7.2% less than .01% where East St. Louis’s CTR is
County twice that of Belleville at 3.066%.
Totals 12.785 100% SOURCE: ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC
OPPORTUNITY http://www2.illinoisbiz.biz/communityprofiles/profiles/
PROPERTY TAX BREAKDOWNS & COMPARISONS
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7. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
Notes and Comments:
• The City Tax Rate (CTR) and the OTHER
14
rate (OR) for East St. Louis are at least
twice that of listed cities; 12
• School districts account for the largest
percentage of property taxes in each
municipality, 59% in East St. Louis; 10 School Tax
• Fairview Heights does not have a city tax
rate at all;
8 Rate
• Swansea had a near zero city tax rate
which barely shows up on the graph; City Tax Rate
• East St. Louis’ Total Property Tax Rate 6
(TPTR) was at least 4 percentage points
higher than Belleville and 5 higher than the
rest of the group; 4 County Tax
• The TPTR seemed to be trending down for
every city except for East St. Louis which
Rate
2
was trending upwards over the last few
years;
Other Rate
• TIF, a major factor in the tax equation, is
not listed here but accounted for $38M in
0
expenses for FY2009 in East St. Louis
alone.
Total Rate
SOURCE: ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
http://www2.illinoisbiz.biz/communityprofil
es/profiles/
THE SPECIFICS OF LOCAL TAXATION
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8. www.alliance1820.com
PUBLIC SAFETY 101
6000
5000
4000
3000 US
2000
1000 East St. Louis
0
Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Auto
SOURCE: 2007 FBI CRIME REPORTS
Theft
This data from 2006 shows that, in East St. Louis a person is:
• 18 times more likely to get assaulted
•8 times more likely to get raped
•7 times more likely to get robbed
•4 times more likely to get your car stolen
•3 times more likely to get your home burglarized
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9. www.alliance1820.com
ELEMENTS OF MURDER
The statistical data indicated ratios between murders
and other crimes as demonstrated in the table below:
Crime 2006 Murder Ratio
Assault Rate Rate
Rape
Rape 251 102 2.46
Robbery 1,347 102 13.2
Burglary
Assault 5,847 102 57.3
Burglary 2,442 102 24
Auto 2,068 102 20.3
Theft
Murder or Homicide
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10. MURDER 101
200
100 US (5.6)
East St. Louis (102)
East St. Louis (102)
0 US (5.6)
Murder (2006)
•In 2006, East St. Louis tied with Opa Locka, Florida for the highest per capita
murder rate in the United States at about 102 per 100,000, which means that a
person is 20 times more likely to get murdered.
•With an estimated population at that time of 30,000 people, we see that there
were about 31 murders that year;
•Put another way, 97% of the United States was safer than East St. Louis, Illinois
according to NeighborhoodScout.com.
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11. LONG TERM PROPERTY TAX REDUCTION
 Property Tax Reduction Project: 5 to 10 Years
 Phase 1: Develop legislation to authorize a property tax rebate program
based upon duration and condition of property;
 Phase 2: Develop legislation to authorize at least a 20% reduction in
overall municipal tax rate each year for the next four years;
 Phase 3: Develop departmental reorganization plan that establishes TIF
as part of Planning Dept.;
 Phase 4: Formulate intergovernmental agreement with District 189 to
alleviate tax burden on property owners;
 Phase 5: Submit 2012 budget proposal that eliminates over $8M in
historical waste, fraud, and abuse;
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12. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
The Laffer curve was popularized by
Jude Wanniski in the 1970s, with Revenue (Millions)
Wanniski naming the curve after the
work of Arthur Laffer. Laffer later 90
pointed out that concept was not
original, noting similar ideas in the 80 The optimal property tax
writings of both 14th century North rate in this graph is
African polymath Ibn Khaldun — who 70 around 6%, or .06.
discussed the idea in his 1377
Muqaddimah — and John Maynard 60
Keynes,[3] and other historical
precedents exist. 50
Revenue
40
Laffer presented the curve as a (Millions)
pedagogical device to show that, in
some circumstances, a reduction in 30
tax rates will actually increase
government revenue and not need to 20
be offset by decreased government
spending or increased borrowing. For 10
a reduction in tax rates to increase
revenue, the current tax rate would 0
need to be higher than the revenue
maximizing rate. 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
THE LAFFER CURVE: WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL PROPERTY TAX RATE?
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13. PROPOSED TAX REBATE OVERVIEW
 Rebate program has an estimated total cost of about $4.5M per year maximum;
 There are an estimated 6,000 owner-occupied property owners that would be
eligible for the program; (www.factfinder.census.gov)
 Rebate amounts would vary from $500.00 to $1,000.00 depending upon
tenure and the condition of the property;
 Property owners who are currently receiving abatements will not be eligible for
rebates;
Units Average Annual
Rebate Cost
3,500 $750 $2.63M
4,000 $750 $3.00M
4,500 $750 $3.40M
5,000 $750 $3.75M
6,000 $750 $4.50M
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14. www.alliance1820.com
PROPERTY TAX REDUCTION PLAN
14
12
10 ESL Tax Rate
8
6 Belleville
4 Illinois
2 US
0
2012 2013 2014 2015
•As the tax rate becomes aligned with regional, state and national averages, the
potential for economic development becomes real based purely upon the numbers;
•This plan assumes the other tax rates remain constant as we cut 300 basis points, or
3 percentage points, from the cumulative tax rate per year on average;
•Some parts of this will require the cooperation of District 189 and we have developed
strategies to account for whether that cooperation is voluntary or involuntary.
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15. www.alliance1820.com
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
14
12
10
ESL Tax Rate
8
Tax Avg
6
4 Murder Rate
2 Murder Avg.
0
2012 2013 2014 2015
•The per capita murder rate used here is modified from “per 100,000” to “per 1,000,000” so
that the relationships could be graphed more readily;
•We believe that there is a direct, proportional relationship between the average murder rate
and the tax rate so when one goes down the other should follow;
•Higher property tax rates seem to accompany higher murder rates;
•So, by reducing property taxes there should be direct, proportional reduction in the per capita
murder rate with a lag in time of about 12 to 18 months between the two events
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16. 2015
2014
Revenue
2013 Expenses
UFB
2012 •UFB = Unrestricted Fund
Balance or the Reserve
Fund or Savings Account
$(10.00) $- $10.00 $20.00 $30.00 $40.00 $50.00
•Increasing our capital position will lead to increased bond rating & insure the ability to access funds
needed to address Infrastructure Repairs comprehensively, from sewer to street;
• Recent estimates predict this amount to be between $200M and $350M and would take about 2 years;
• Even with the above budget strategy, it will take about 40 years to reserve in the General Fund;
• Federal and State grants may be available for some of these efforts but this data assumes none;
•The Financial Advisory Authority’s (FAA) departure in 2014 will restore “regular government” which will
allow for City to access municipal finance market to secure sufficient funds for Comprehensive
Infrastructure Repairs (CIP);
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17. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
2009 REVENUE ANALYSIS
Revenue Taxes 2009 TOTAL REVENUE: $39, 590,905
Grants
Service Charges
Interest/Investments
Miscellaneous
Source (2009) Percentage Amount
Taxes 86.2% $34,127,360
Grants 10.7% $4,236,226
Service Charges 2.4% $950,181
Interest/ Investments 0.3% $118,772
Miscellaneous 0.4% $158,363
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18. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
2010 STAFFING LEVELS: 196 2012 STAFFING LEVELS: 140
DEPARMENT STAFF DEPARTMENT STAFF
Police 86 Police 75
Fire 59 Fire 40
City Council 3 City Council 2
Public Works 22 Public Works 12
Treasurer’s Office 5 Treasurer’s Office 2
Mayor’s Office 3 Mayor’s Office 1
City Clerk 3 City Clerk 2
City Manager 4 City Manager 2
Finance 4 Finance 2
Reg. Affairs 4 Reg. Affairs 2
TOTAL 196 TOTAL 140
BANKRUPTCY OR CHANGE???
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19. www.alliance1820.com Friday, January 07, 2011
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 By focusing our budgetary and legislative efforts on Property Tax Reduction, we will
have a positive and measurable impact on:
 Homeownership and business retention;
 Public Safety
 Revenue Generation
 Balanced Budgets
 Fiscal Management & Execution
 Some 2014 benchmarks that will indicate success along the way to meeting our
ultimate objective of getting to the State average of 2%:
 Population shrinkage will cease and new property owners will begin to occupy vacant lots and empty
homes and tax revenues will respond accordingly by 2014;
 Per Capita Murder Rate will decrease in 2014 as new homeowners and businesses return based purely
on numbers and the increased population may also have the effect of more crime reporting which is
most important when it comes to meaningful public safety ;
 The Financial Advisory Authority will depart after Council has satisfactorily complied with the schedule,
content, and management requirements for at least three years around 2014;
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