Orland Park Mayor Blasts Comptroller Over Withheld Funds

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau fired back at Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza Monday, calling her office's actions in response to the Village’s missed financial filing deadlines "selective and inconsistent," and allegedly singling out the Village.

In a resolution issued and approved Monday, the Village Board said the comptroller's office has created a "misleading impression that Orland Park was singularly noncompliant and deserving of punitive measures."

The comptroller in September issued notice of possible action in response to the Village's delinquency in filing its 2022 and 2023 audits. With a forced audit and withheld funds threatened by the comptroller's office, the Village was required to present a plan for compliance, which it did. A completed 2022 audit was also submitted to the comptroller's office last week, staff said.

The comptroller has "decided to try to inflict harm on the people of Orland Park" by withholding specific, offset state funds, Pekau accused Monday. The comptroller's doing so is "capricious" and "unacceptable," he added.

"She should immediately release our residents' money," Pekau insisted.

Offset funds are typically past-due traffic and other fines collected from state income tax refunds and other state sources, the comptroller's office said. For Orland Park, that's about $120,000 yearly.

In the resolution, Pekau went on to cite support from Sean M. Morrison, chairman of the Cook County Republican Party, who "raised significant concerns" that the comptroller’s actions "appear politically motivated," as he also cited Orland Park’s "cooperation in submitting its audit and the unprecedented withholding of offset funds, despite numerous other units of local government with delayed audits not facing similar penalties."

But Orland Park, the comptroller's office said, is "hardly the first" suburb to be threatened with forced audit, a spokesperson said.

"When municipalities are delinquent in filing their state-mandated financial reports with our office, we work with them—sometimes for years—trying to get them compliant with the law to submit their financial reports," said Abdon Pallasch, director of communications for Mendoza's office.

The measure has been used with other municipalities — including Dolton, Harvey, University Park, Dixmoor and Ford Heights, Pallasch said.

"Often, the tool works: the municipality gets up-to-speed and becomes a model citizen again, as we are hopeful will happen with Orland Park."

In Dolton's case, a forced audit was implemented, and payments from the state also frozen—action taken in August, the comptroller's office said in a release.

"Since then, Dolton’s village administrator, working with some of the village trustees, has been communicating with our office and preparing the way for our forced audit team to come in and work with village staffers to help complete the overdue financial reports," the release reads.

In the Village's response to the comptroller's notice sent in September, Village of Orland Park Finance Director Chris Frankenfield cited reasons for the delinquencies including staff turnover and loss of institutional knowledge dating back to 2021, in addition to a firm merger that delayed the completion of its 2021 reports, transition to a new finance management system, and staffing disruptions — namely, the resignation of the Village's finance director in June 2024.

In addition to hiring Sikich LLP, he said, the Village has restructured its finance department, "hired permanent and qualified staff, and implemented new internal controls" to ensure the Village meets its requirements moving forward.

The Village does not dispute the delinquent status, he wrote, yet "we disagree with any implication the Village has been negligent in addressing its financial obligations."

Frankenfield again pointed to delays caused by external auditors in addition to transitioning to a new system as "extraordinary, unavoidable challenges."

Pallasch said the comptroller's office can also fine municipalities for being late.

"We have not yet exercised that authority with Orland Park," Pallasch said.

Orland Park and the other suburbs participating in the office’s offset fund program see their share of their money after filing taxes in March and April, he added.

"So if Orland Park gets all its past-due reports filed before then—as they tell us they are on-track to do—they won’t be out a penny," he stated. "They already filed FY22 last week, so they may very well do this."

Mendoza said in a release online that fines issued to the Village, should they not come fully into compliance, total $27,720.

"That can all be avoided if the village comes into compliance by submitting the overdue reports," the release reads. "The village has told our office that they are on track to submit the overdue reports."

The Village has said it will submit the 2023 audit by early next year.

Pallasch further responded to Pekau's accusations of unfair treatment.

"The mayor suffered a minimum of social media and local media attention on this issue but seems to crave an even greater spotlight on his village’s failure to file," he said. "One would think that to avoid bad publicity, the Pekau administration would put their heads down, get their reports in, and have the problem gone like most municipalities do."