I found four more units of local government who would get money if last week’s budget is implemented. Earlier, I listed social service agencies, municipalities, townships and libraries which are written into the budget.

The most would go to McHenry County government:

• $1 million for Crystal Lake Road and
• $250,000 for a stop light at Route 31 and Half Mile Trail

The Special Education District of McHenry County (SEDOM) would receive $25,000 for print shop, security system, and a therapeutic greenhouse. It was the only school to receive special member initiative money, not to say that schools didn’t do exceedingly well elsewhere in the budget.

The only fire department I could find was the Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District – $20,000 for fire equipment. There was money allocated to various municipalities, but none of them, to my knowledge, run fire departments. I don’t know whether that means the legislators in those area don’t know that fire protection is provided by a separate fire protection district or what.

Finally, I found $473,076 for McHenry County College. It is to be spent for constructing classrooms and a student services building and remodeling space. I suspect this is holdover money, appropriated in a former year and re-appropriated this year because it has not bee spent.

Previously I had assumed that all of the money in the budget was put there by McHenry County’s three state representatives–Mike Tryon of Crystal Lake, Jack Franks of Bull Valley and Mark Beaubien of Barrington Hills. Since then, I have read that the senate Republicans put their member initiatives, more commonly called pork, into the budget as well.

That would mean, of course, that $1.3 million of what I have outlined is attributable to State Senators Pam Althoff. Retiring State Senator Bill Peterson of Lake County may have also put in some projects.