Trustee Derrick Keith Cox says Collinsville Township is in violation of Illinois law as it has failed to pass a budget within 90 days of the beginning of the fiscal year.
Cox, a frequent critic of the way the municipality is governed, has detailed what he describes as the illegal spending on bills because of the failure to pass a budget. A temporary budget passed last week and will run until Aug. 23.
Town Supervisor Terry Allan told the Record that there are some laws that "everybody and his mother" has been breaking.
"It is no big deal. We are sorting it out, and nobody is doing anything wrong," Allan said.
But Cox, who posts video of the township meetings on Facebook, said the failure to pass a budget is a violation of the law and that spending on bills is an illegal use of taxpayers' money.
"As of July 1 no budget had been passed," Cox told the Record. "The board didn’t meet until July 12 only to be informed we had not legally informed the public of the budget hearing."
An emergency meeting was held four days later, largely to pass the temporary budget, Cox said.
"The other trustees appear to just want this meeting to go as quickly as possible and willing to approve any amount," he added.
"The temporary budget number changed six times as office management were doing these numbers on the fly."
Cox said, "When I was elected, I kept my promise to video each meeting so the public could see just how their tax dollars were being spent, plus the positive changes that would take place.
"The other board members have hated this and have fought me tooth and nail on so many positive changes.
"My concern has always been the taxpayers' money. For six weeks the board has not had oversight on bills and spending is scary."