SPRINGFIELD – As the heat of summer approaches, some kids are working to make a little bit of cash mowing lawns, babysitting or establishing a lemonade stand outside their home.

Hayli Martinez, an 11-year-old girl from Kankakee, had the perfect idea last summer to sell lemonade with different flavors in order to earn money for her college funds.

However, after much success, her lemonade stand was flagged by Kankakee Health Department officials and it was shut down soon after.

SPRINGFIELD – In order to bring awareness to the rewarding, well-paid jobs resulting from career and technical education, the Illinois Senate adopted State Senator Patrick Joyce’s (D-Essex) resolution declaring February Career and Technical Education Month.

“Technical, vocational and trade education are an important and often overlooked part of the higher education system,” Joyce said.  “Too many people forget that many technical education degrees lead to careers that are as good as or better than jobs you can get with a bachelor’s degree.”

Senate Resolution 983 explains and praises the many benefits of career and technical education.

SPRINGFIELD – Because local governments deserve a bigger share of the state’s income tax revenue, State Senator Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) introduced Senate Bill 3392, an initiative to relieve the burden of property taxes and shore up critical services and programs.

Originally introduced by State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, the plan increases state payments toward the Local Government Distributive Fund. When lawmakers increased the state income tax in 2011, they also reduced the amount of the LGDF for municipalities from 10% to 6%.

PARK FOREST – Senior citizens who have qualified for property tax exemptions in Cook County will only need to reapply one more time, State Senator Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) announced.

Public Act 101-0622 removes the requirement that recipients of the Senior Homestead Exemption in Cook County reapply for the exemption every year.

“Senior citizens in the South Suburbs are going to have a big weight lifted off their shoulders next year,” Joyce said. “I’m pleased that Illinois is taking steps – even small ones – to correct our broken property tax system.”

ESSEX – State Senator Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) announced that several school districts in the South Suburbs have received the Illinois State Board of Education Property Tax Relief Grant.

“I think this is a great step toward correcting our broken property tax system,” Joyce said. “We all know how big a burden property taxes are on homeowners, which is why I am glad to see several communities receiving some relief from these grants”

The Property Tax Relief Grant gives school districts with high tax rates relative to other school districts with an opportunity to lower the property tax burden on local taxpayers. Allocating more state funding to local schools that have disproportionate high property taxes allows the amount of school funding provided by property taxes to go down.

The amount of funding received by the grant will be included in future state funding for those school districts.

More information on the Property Tax Relief Grant and a listing of each eligible school district can be found at www.ISBE.net/proptaxrelief.

School districts receiving the Property Tax Relief Grant include:

• Flossmoor School District 161
• Homewood – Flossmoor Community High School District 233
• Park Forest School District 163
• Rich Township High School District 227

SPRINGFIELD – To help address one of the top problems facing the South Suburbs and communities throughout Illinois, Senator Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) is joining the Property Tax Relief Task Force, which will propose concrete ideas to help reduce residents’ property tax bills.

Joyce has major concerns regarding the high property tax rates Illinoisans pay compared to the rest of the nation.

“I represent communities where the property tax rate is higher than 30%,” Joyce said. “That’s not sustainable or fair to the people who live there.”

Residents of Park Forest paid a 33.62% property tax rate in 2017. In neighboring Will County, according to Tax-Rates.org, residents pay twice the national average in property taxes.