Most Lyons Township Poor Aid Goes To Overhead

LA GRANGE, IL – Just 10 percent of Lyons Township's aid to the poor actually goes to the poor.

Under state law, townships have three mandated jobs – maintenance of roads in unincorporated areas, assessment of property values and distribution of "general assistance."

The assistance function may be the least known. General assistance money, which comes from property taxes, is for those with absolutely no income; many recipients have pending applications for governmental help such as Social Security's supplemental income.

In Lyons Township, $190,000 was spent from its general assistance account last budget year. Of that, just $18,092 was spent on actual assistance. The rest – or 90 percent – went to overhead.

Of the overhead, $57,000 was spent on a social services coordinator. Other expenses included $50,000 for employees' health insurance and $40,000 for full-time office help.

The township's elected supervisor, Christopher Getty, who has sole authority over general assistance, did not return a message for comment.

Other area townships also spent most of their assistance money on overhead – 77 percent in Addison Township, 60 percent in Downers Grove Township and 59 percent in York Township.

In the nonprofit world, CharityWatch considers a group to be highly efficient if it spends less than 25 percent of its budget on overhead.

In Illinois townships, a specific property tax levy is designated for general assistance. It can only be spent on that purpose.

In an interview, Jerry Crabtree, executive director of the Springfield-based Township Officials of Illinois, spoke generally about general assistance budgets, but did not want to comment on any specific township.

He said the general assistance account can go toward the overhead of distributing the money. But he said the money could not be spent on unrelated items in the township government.

He said his downstate township had not seen a general assistance case in years. But he said that differs in other places.

"General assistance is not a blanket benefit," Crabtree said. "It is the benefit of last resort."

The supervisors for Addison and York townships did not respond to Patch's inquiry.

However, John Valle, York's supervisor, said his township's 59 percent overhead rate was justified.

"We have to have employees to give help. Our employees are trained," he said. "It costs money to have programs. We do offer a lot."