01/14/2026
The Collinsville Township has become aware of an incorrect narritive circulating online about The Township’s Assessors Office. Let me be clear: All employees within the Township including the Township’s Assessors employees have at all times been paid for their work.
To correct any misunderstanding, please see attached correspondence sent to Mr Poletti’s attorney on January 3rd.
From : Warren, Kathryn M.
Sent: Saturday, January 3, 2026 4:04 PM
To: William D. Stiehl
Subject: Collinsville Township Assessor
Mr. Stiehl,
When we spoke earlier this week, you conveyed that Assessor Poletti presently has no intention of making any changes to his personnel, despite the fact that no money remains within his budget to pay their salaries and benefits after Friday’s paychecks went out. In compliance with Illinois law, the Township Board of Trustees approved a budget ordinance for the Township in June 2025, which included a set budget for the Township Assessor office. Under 50 ILCS 330/3, “no further appropriations shall be made at any other time within such fiscal year . . . .” Despite this legislative mandate, and despite having known since June what the Board approved for his office, Poletti has refused to make any changes in spending to comply with the approved budget. As you know, Illinois law prevents the Board from making any personnel decisions within the Assessor office. Only Poletti, as the elected Assessor, has control over staffing within his office. At the same time, Poletti previously entered into a collective bargaining agreement with his office staff, wherein he agreed to pay certain wages for certain positions in his office. This CBA does not guarantee any Assessor Office employee a job, but it does require that employees who are working in certain positions within the Assessor Office receive a designated salary, if Poletti chooses to employ them in that position.
Thus, Poletti’s unauthorized spending of taxpayer money has not only put the well-being of his employees at risk, it has left Township taxpayers in a lose-lose situation. The Township will violate the budget ordinance, and state budget law, if it pays additional monies to fund Assessor staff payroll, because the Assessor budget is completely depleted. On the other hand, Poletti will violate the union contract if he employs staff in his office who are not paid what the terms of their union contract require. Should those employees then sue Poletti for violating his contract with them, the Township runs the risk of being forced to pay for Poletti’s attorney fees and/or pay for any monetary judgment awarded to those employees. Either way, the Township taxpayers lose. By completely ignoring the budget set for his office, Poletti has acted as if this money were his and his alone, to spend however he pleases. It is not. That money belongs to the taxpayers. Those taxpayers elected this Board of Trustees, many of whom campaigned on eliminating wasteful spending by the Township. The duly-elected Board passed a budget that required Poletti to reduce spending within his office. By completely ignoring that budget, he has intentionally violated his oath of office, to the detriment of the taxpayers he was elected to serve.
While the Township explores its options to address Poletti’s willful violation of the law, the purpose of this correspondence is to put Assessor Poletti on notice that, absent a court order requiring otherwise, the Board will not approve any further expenditures for his office for the remainder of this fiscal year, other than those emergency appropriations needed to comply with the collective bargaining agreement in effect with his staff and to ensure basic necessities such as electricity bills are paid. Other than these expenditures, no additional funding will be approved absent a clear showing to the Board by Assessor Poletti, prior to his spending of the money, that said additional spending is “necessary for the efficient operation” of his office.
If you would like to discuss this matter further, please feel free to give me a call.
Respectfully,
Kathryn M. Warren
Attorney at Law
[email protected]
