Last August, the state of Illinois allotted $1 million to help Livingston County, Ill., to restore the old Illinois State Police Headquarters on old Route 66 in Pontiac.
However, there’s been a snag, reports the Bloomington Pantagraph.
State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, said the governor’s office has yet to provide Livingston County with either the paperwork needed to buy the land or the restoration money.
Livingston County Board Chairman Bill Flott said the county cannot proceed without the money promised by the state. […]
“I understand money’s tight… but when it was in the budget, the governor signed it into law,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford said he has not heard from the governor’s office about the facility.
“To date, funds for this project have not yet been released,” Rutherford said in a March 14 letter to the governor. “What does the county need to do to move this effort forward?”
The state police headquarters was built in 1941 and recently was added to the National Register of Historic Places. There are tentative plans to turn it into a tourist welcome center. However, the building is not fit for occupation, and that can’t be rectified until the state provides the cash to renovate it.
As a former resident, I can assure readers that when government money is tight, the state of Illinois has a great tendency to hold on to cash as long as humanly possible. It’s not right, but this is a tactic that has used by numerous governors of all political stripes. Apparently, in the Land of Lincoln, being a skinflint is nonpartisan.