My precinct is not a large one, but it does have a higher turnout than most.
With Senate Bill 3341 still sitting on Governor Quinn’s desk, I decided to let residents of Algonquin 7 know that Senator Pam Althoff’s, Senator Karen McConnaughay’s and State Rep. Mike Tryon’s bill would result in increased property taxes.
So, I sent the following first class mail to all of the precinct’s households.
The address side of the post card.
The message side of the post card.
You don’t have to be in my precinct to contact the Governor’s Office about the McHenry County Conservation District tax hike bill.
Besides the sponsors, the only other legislators representing McHenry County who voted for the bill were
- Tim Schmitz (just replaced by Steve Andersson)
- Barb Wheeler
Voting against the bill were
- Dan Duffy
- Jack Franks
- David McSweeney
The Conservation District is strapped for cash and one of their solutions is to take taxpayer money without taxpayer approval by issuing non-referendum bonds, but first their bond counsel said the conservation district needs to get a state law passed to make the scheme permissible.
Plus, the Conservation District does not have complete financial information on its website.
Plus, the Conservation District does not audio and video tape board meetings and archive them on their website.
Plus, the Conservation District deleted the 2013 and prior board agendas and minutes from its website.
Plus, the Conservation District does not post employee pay and benefit information on its website (maybe it’s on the County website, but even if it is, it should also be on the Conservation District website).
Plus, the Conservation District does not post information on the funding status of its pensions on the website, you have to do a google search to find it in their annual report.
Plus, the 2014 CAFR results in an error message on the Conservation District website (CAFR is annual report).
Plus, clicking on this FOIA link results in an error, untrusted connection.
https://www.mccdistrict.org/web/ab-Freedom-of-Information.htm
Another error message for another financial document on the Conservation district website.
http://www.mccdistrict.org/web/documents/AnnualReport_12_13web.pdf
Finally a working link with no security warning for a Conservation District financial document, except it’s just the summary document, and it does show a $2.4 Million deficit for fiscal year 2014.
http://www.mccdistrict.org/rccms/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2013-14-Annual-Report-Finalsingles_web.pdf
That should raise some eyebrows.
Another taxing district in need of a watchdog to stay on their case and clean that mess up.
Looks like we need to form a Neighborhood Watch.
How might we protect our homes and neighborhoods from the theft that occurs when rulers are empowered by law to steal the ownership rights of our homes (which we may annually re-purchase every year (for a one year period, in raised property taxes)), and borrow money against the ownership rights of our homes, without our consent or knowledge?
1. Assume that Tryon, Althoff, McConnaughay and any Board Member who has not actively opposed SB3341 are not to be automatically trusted with prudent stewardship of taxpayer money.
Also, MCCD is to be actively distrusted with taxpayer money.
2. Given strong reason to suspect bad behavior(such as 3-4% property tax rates in a country with average property tax rates of 1.25%), we must examine all details of spending and borrowing by those whom we distrust.
3. In the case of MCCD, we should start by examining the prices paid for all parcels purchased since the big borrowing referendum of 2006. We should look at the identities of sellers of land to MCCD. We should look at whether the land MCCD purchased changed hands within the three years prior to purchase by MCCD.
4. We must continue to scrutinize every spending and borrowing decision by this taxing body until such time as taxpayers in this county are no longer obligated to a property tax which is in the highest one percent of all tax rates in America.
Too bad, this bill is going to pass.
It already has passed.
The question is whether it will be signed.
Bruce Rauner inauguration Monday January 12th.
If an Illinois taxing district exceeds statutory borrowing limits, such as MCCD, legislatively attempt to raise the limit, justifying the hike by stating some other taxing districts have more generous limits than us.
If it is against the law, just change the law.
So the government can hike your taxes without asking you by issuing non referendum bonds, the amount borrowed which is supposed to be capped by the DSEB.
When property values decline, that throws a monkey wrench into the amount some taxing districts can borrow.
It all depends on if the bill will be signed.
It could just remain dormant.
Glad that you keep us up to date Cal!