Post edited 5:23 pm – March 14, 2010 by marionrevealed

I thought I would post a little of whats going on in Marion, Illinois, so the people of the surrounding area and Marion would KNOW ;
Mr.Butler of Marion has been the Mayor of Marion,Illinois for 46 years, he is a man that thinks he is in 100% control of the City of Marion, he does anything he wishs to, it doesnt matter if its right or wrong, illegal or legal, he does it.
Just so others know whats going on in Marion here are somethings to think about that he has done;
1. The Marion Centre Mall; When the contractor started building the Mall, Mr.Butler told him that the Mall would be put in a TIF, when the courts found out about this, they said NO to putting it in a TIF. So Mr.Butler told the Contractor that he, Mr.Butler would pay for the parking lot for the Mall, it cost us the tax payer……over $19,000,000.00. We paid for the parking lot with out one VOTE from the tax paryers, NONE….just so we can park a car there ! Now the owner of the Mall is having problems selling the Mall because we the people own the parking lot and we are still paying for it.
2. The Williamson County Pavilion, many people have no idea whats going on or happened with the Pavilion in Marion, here are somethings to note;
The Williamson County Events Commission, Corporation is a PRIVATE company, they built the Pavilion with it costing the tax payers $3.7 million . Keep in mind it was and still is a PRIVATE business. In 2004 Mr.Butler said the Events commission was broke and the City took it over with a quick claim deed, then Mr.Butler leasted it back to the PRIVATE business for $1.00 a year. In doing so that it ereased the $136,000.00 in real estate taxes due, it also caused the Unit2 school system to lose out on their part of that tax. By the Unit2 school system figures, the Williamson County Events Commission owes the school system over $700,000.00 in real estate taxes and at this point is in review by lawyers and commissioners. The Pavilion is collecting a %5 bed tax from all of the hotels and motels in and a round Marion, which is about $450,000 to $500,000 a year, we want to know why that is, remember its a PRIVATE business ! Insiders working for the williamson county tourism bureau and the "suspicious" williamson county events commission corporation, a second company which was started by board members of the bureau, have turned over copies of the aaa moody "public" bonds which were sold to construct the pavilion.Even though the "public" had nothing to do with actually voting to construct the facility, nor, according to the bond package, does the "public" own the pavilion, as claimed by marion's mayor, bob butler, in his move to hide millions in real estate tax dollars.Until now, county treasurer (and tourism bureau, and events commission treasurer), bruce troutman, had taken great pains to keep the "public" bond package hidden from the public – even going so far to make sure the "public" never saw the bond package by keeping records related to the bonds from being filed in the county clerk's office.But, with insiders turning over copies of the bonds, the mystery is solved. I have those Documents and I have posted some of them on my web site..www.marionrevealed.com on the Home page.
The financial documents show the owner and debt holder of the multi-million dollar facility to be the Tourism Bureau… as was the claims of those pointing to fraud – all along. And now, some of those INSIDE the TOURISM BUREAU also realize and wish not to be part of the conspiracy to hide the truth from county tax payers, and are attempting to pass along proof of just how mayor butler and troutman's pavilion is milking the tax payers in the county – in the name of tourism.
　
3. TIF's in Marion; They say we have 9 TIF's in Marion and one pending which has been on the marion TIF map since september of 2008, it is the Marion HUB TIF. if no one knows what a TIF is it is "Tax Increment Finance" Districts, it is said and shown that Marion has more TIF's then Chicago. Mayor Butler and City Councilmen, of the city refuses to explain to whom or how the TIF money in any given District is paid out. They say that Marion would NOT grow with out the TIF's and or with out Mayor Butlers help…..thats a JOKE !
It was just found out at a meeting with the school board, Mr.Butler and City Council that after 23 years of not getting any of the TIF money, Mr.Butler told them they didnt get the money because they didnt ASK for it. So our school system, the kids LOST out of the money, more money that would have helped the kids out, just because they didnt know they had to ask for it. Mr.Butler didnt and does not care about the kids in the school system, the proof is and was the point that they with held that money from them for 23 YEARS.(Millions of Dollars).
There is a lot more going on and I will post more later, but it gets more interesting.