St. Charles was recently given the honor of being chosen as the number one place to live in the August 2011 edition of Family Circle Magazine. We are blessed to live in the Fox Valley area and beyond where we continue to grow and amaze people with our culture. Read More

Illinois is ranked the best state in the union to make a living due to relatively high average wages, a low state tax rate, and a below-average cost of living. Read More

In a Crain’s Chicago Business article published in October 2011, Illinois is listed as the top midwestern state to do business, outranking Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. Although it is easy to look at all the negatives associated with living in this state we must remember that we are the greatest state and growth is still possible. Read More

We have opportunity for growth in small business and entrepreneurism with the Advantage Illinois Program. “Small businesses are the backbone of the Illinois economy, and the Great Recession was tough on them. Advantage Illinois will be a shot in the arm to our small businesses. By working with the state's banking community and venture capitalists, we'll get entrepreneurs and small businesses starting up or expanding and creating new jobs at a faster rate.” Pat Quinn Read More

Infrastructure Improvement will play a key role in creating jobs and increasing efficiency of small businesses. Improving railroads, bridges, highways and the other failing infrastructures in this state will help to increase business productivity. Better transportation will make for better business. “Infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity. For the safety and security of our families, we can no longer afford to ignore the congested roads and contaminated drinking water we face every day. We can no longer stand by and accept the status quo, or worse, reductions. The time has come for the citizens of Illinois to demand better.” ASCE Read More

Finding ways to reduce spending when faced with a budget deficit can be difficult. Batavia School District has done just that in partnership with Energy Education. A savings of $363,000 was obtained. This type of program should be implemented throughout Illinois in both schools and state buildings. The program would help to reduce spending and increase funding for necessary services. Read More

Communications as a way to defeat the deficit. Expanding the states broadband system and intranet is very important in opening up communications. According to 42nd District State Sen. Linda Holmes, in February, the Auditor General’s office released a report on the state’s outdated and inefficient accounting systems. The report found that state agencies were using 163 different financial reporting systems to track funds and more than half of the systems did not have the capability to share that information with each other. In addition, only 16 percent of the systems were compliant with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and some were almost 30 years old. This makes it very difficult to track spending. It is imperative that we integrate the system to better track income and expenditures to clearly determine our true budget needs.