'Orland Residents Are Getting Royally Ripped Off': Mayor Pekau

ORLAND PARK, IL — The Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees met Monday evening to discuss the CARES Act in Cook County, with Mayor Keith Pekau declaring that the village is getting "ripped off."

Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, Cook County received approximately $429 million from the U.S. Treasury, according to the Cook County website. Local governments with a population of 500,000 or more are eligible to receive part of this funding to distribute among municipalities for expenses related to COVID-19.

Funding from the CARES Act is not eligible to cover revenue lost in local jurisdictions, and Cook County has allocated $51 million of the relief among municipalities, according to the county.

"The people of Orland Park are getting royally ripped off by the county and the state," Pekau said at the board meeting. "Either way you slice this we are getting ripped off by about nine million dollars, and we're getting $450,000."

Trustee Jim Dodge was frustrated with the lack of money received from the CARES Act. " I want to register my frustration that levels of government above Orland and between here and Washington are basically standing in the way of resources that were intended by the United States Congress which of course we help fund."

In June 2020, Pekau proposed a federal lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his restore Illinois plan. The U.S. District Court denied the motion in early August.

In an Aug. 3 Board of Trustees meeting, Trustee Dan Calandriello said, "I think it is safe to say that the judge thinks this lawsuit has no merit. That's what our taxpayers spent, I want to say $66,000, on — getting laughed [at] by the judge."

For more information and to hear other comments on this act, you can watch the board meeting below.