Nancy Gonsiorek
While attention is being focused on this November’s elections, filing for next spring’s municipal, school, junior college, park district and lesser districts happen shortly after the election.
At the Republican Party’s Headquarter’s Grand Opening last Thursday night, Crystal Lake Grade School Board member Nancy Gonsiorek told me that she is not running for another term.
She has served two and thinks that is enough, that it is time for new blood.
With seven on the board, there will be at least two vacancies.
School boards spend the bulk of the property tax dollars in McHenry County–$531,992,680.66–when junior colleges are included.
That’s out of a total of $797,394,337.99 on McHenry County tax bills this year.
Virtually all school districts take every dime they are allowed by state law.
The Property Tax Cap allows local governments to obtain 1.5%, plus new buildings.
Below is a table showing what was requested last year (called the “extension”) for countywide governments, junior colleges and school districts, plus what will be requested of taxpayers this year. (Remember that the property tax cycle is always on year behind, so the 2012 extension was collected in 2013 and the 2013 extension will be collected this year.)
| Tax District | 2012 Extension | 2013 Extension | % Change | |
| McHenry County | 78,535,191 | 78,627,451 | 0.12% | |
| McHenry County Conservation District | 19,565,165 | 19,713,015 | 0.76% | |
| Elgin Community College | 4,368,547 | 3,984,898 | -8.78% | McH Co only |
| McHenry County College | 26,917,740 | 26,922,036 | 0.02% | |
| Grade School Districts | ||||
| Nippersink (Richmond-Spring Grove) Grade School Dist 2 | 10,779,926 | 12,101,943 | 12.26% | |
| Fox River Grove Grade School Dist 3 | 5,552,780 | 5,551,436 | -0.02% | |
| McHenry Grade School Dist 15 | 46,121,592 | 47,596,924 | 3.20% | |
| Riley Grade School Dist 18 | 3,672,942 | 3,747,447 | 2.03% | |
| Cary Grade School Dist 26 | 21,997,245 | 22,505,622 | 2.31% | |
| Harrison (Wonder Lake) Grade School Dist 36 | 4,411,171 | 4,489,751 | 1.78% | |
| Prairie Grove Grade School Dist 46 | 9,966,783 | 9,934,965 | -0.32% | |
| Crystal Lake Grade School Dist 47 | 69,275,174 | 70,715,547 | 2.08% | |
| High School Districts | ||||
| Marengo Grade School Dist 165 | 6,593,399 | 6,705,516 | 1.70% | |
| Marengo High School Dist 154 | 9,535,261 | 9,775,357 | 2.52% | |
| Crystal Lake High School Dist 155 | 70,415,851 | 71,672,171 | 1.78% | |
| McHenry High School Dist 156 | 25,581,470 | 25,385,979 | -0.76% | |
| Richmond-Burton High School Dist 157 | 10,375,229 | 10,678,728 | 2.93% | |
| Unit School Districts | ||||
| Johnsburg Unit School Dist 12 | 19,949,096 | 20,707,035 | 3.80% | |
| Alden-Hebron Unit School Dist 19 | 4,246,359 | 4,056,732 | -4.47% | |
| Harvard Unit School Dist 50 | 13,729,426 | 14,116,821 | 2.82% | |
| Wauconda Unit School Dist 118 | 6,649,265 | 6,723,377 | 1.11% | McH Co only |
| Huntley Unit School Dist 158 | 49,948,610 | 51,621,632 | 3.35% | McH Co only |
| Woodstock Unit School Dist 200 | 58,177,080 | 58,706,774 | 0.91% | |
| Barrington Unit School Dist 220 | 4,868,733 | 4,238,905 | -12.94% | McH Co only |
| Carpentersville Unit School Dist 300 | 47,967,724 | 49,090,325 | 2.34% | McH Co only |
The following document describes the entire property tax process including tax cap exceptions.
Bond debt service for instance is outside the tax cap.
Exceptions are why taxes can increase more than the tax cap.
Illinois Department of Revenue.
Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) Technical Manual
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/publications/LocalGovernment/PTAX1080.pdf
Just because taxes are not increasing much is not necessarily a good indicator that taxpayer interests are being served by the taxing district.
The overall financial health of the taxing district includes various factors depending on the taxing district.
Eight major categories to consider:
Unfunded pensions.
Unfunded retiree healthcare.
Unpaid bills (State of Illinois a notorious offender).
Non referendum bonds issued (should be legal only under extreme emergency, not nice to take people’s money without asking permission).
Refunding existing bonds to extend debt service (lengthen the payback period to reduce current payments).
TIFs (money diverted to TIF district which would otherwise go to taxing district).
Current salary and benefit increases.
Current spending (are costs competitive).
Various other hide and seek, and/or kick the can games to keep current taxes low and maintain a good PR image.
Following up on yesterday’s comment about the overall financial health of the taxing district.
Look what shows up today.
As noted by Wirepoints.com, look what appears in the June 2014 edition of Governing the States and
Localities.
Finance 101 – The Special Series.
The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Finance.
“There’s no sure-fire way to get fiscal policy right. But there are a few simple ways to get it disastrously wrong.”
by Liz Farmer.
This is part of the ongoing Finance 101 series that breaks down the basics of public finance for public officials.
1. Balancing the Budget with One-Time Fixes.
2. Ignoring the Long-Term Consequences of a Deal.
3. Taking on Too Much.
4. Misapplying a Temporary Windfall.
5. Shortchanging Pension Obligations.
6. Making Unrealistic Projections About Rate of Return.
7. Ignoring Financial Checks and Balances.
http://www.governing.com/finance101/gov-deadly-public-finance-sins.html
The schools suck every last dollar we have left for stupidity like buying iPads for students.
They waste our money, line their pockets, and no one in government wants to be the ones who say no to their requests for increasing taxes.
W A S T E! W A S T E! W A S T E!
And still the children come out of those schools talking like they don’t know anything.
The worst misuse of taxpayer money in the history of our country.
Oh, I forgot to say what’s politically correct….
But, it’s for the children….Yeah, right.
At $13,000 per McHenry County student, per year, that’s more than some universities.