Commentary by “Cautious Voter” on County Tax Levy Cut

Here’s what “Cautious Voter” had to say in a comment under the article,

Commenter Dissects 11.2% County Real Estate Cut

Last year the majority on the County Board made possible the supposed “cut” that is being shouted to the rooftops now.

The County Board increased Property taxes last year $3,135,594.93.

11 Township Boards reduced their property taxes or kept them flat

6 Township Road Districts reduced their property taxes or kept them flat

13 Municipalities reduced their property taxes or kept them flat

7 School Districts reduced their property taxes or kept them flat

1 Fire District, 1 Library District plus MCC and MCCC reduced their property taxes last year.

Those government bodies who reduced their property taxes accounted for a total reduction of $6,474,895.68 in property taxes = twice the amount that the County Board increased their property tax.

The County Board is responsible for over 26 % of the total County property tax increase last year which was $11,873,215.80.

Now we have a so-called Chairman shouting about “CUT 10”.

“Sorry I missed you!” is printed on this message with Jack Franks’ “Cut 10” logo featured prominently on top.  Note that the promise is not to cut county taxes by 10%.  Note the wording is “to reduce property taxes in McHenry County by 10%.


The taxpayers in this County know better.

Municipalities in total REDUCED THEIR PROPERTY TAXES LAST YEAR $698,316.24.

Township Road Districts REDUCED THEIR PROPERTY TAXES LAST YEAR $508,616.28.

Township Boards REDUCED THEIR PROPERTY TAXES LAST YEAR $629,329.31.

School Districts (in total) INCREASED THEIR PROPERTY TAXES LAST YEAR $2,994,417.30.

Library Boards INCREASED THEIR PROPERTY TAXES LAST YEAR $311,858.24 .

Fire District Boards INCREASED THEIR PROPERTY TAXES LAST YEAR $1,517,032.88.

Many of the County Board members who are now advocating property tax reductions for other units of government are the same ones who voted for the increase last year.

Have the taxpayers been ‘dumbed down’ so much they do not realize the Chairman and his cohorts are trying to pull the wool over their eyes?

BTW U.S. Census reports for 2016 show that Firemen and police in this state are still some of the highest paid in the country and library employees are second highest paid in the country.

Transit workers rank fifth highest paid and Park district employees are sixth highest paid.

One more little tidbit: Only one other State has MORE public sector pension plans than Illinois and only two states have a heavier public sector pension burden than Illinois.

The problem in Illinois is not the number of units of government – the problem is we pay public sector employees more than the taxpayers can afford plus our public sector pension guarantee is strangling the taxpayer.

Add this to our liberal use of social welfare programs and you have a taxpayer disaster in the making.


Comments

Commentary by “Cautious Voter” on County Tax Levy Cut — 8 Comments

  1. Astute observation for sure.

    Just to add another, more homes/properties remain for sale this winter
    than in any previous year.

    I sense a trend developing in fiscally bloated McHenry County.

  2. Above states:

    “the problem is we pay public sector employees more than the taxpayers can afford plus our public sector pension guarantee is strangling the taxpayer.”

    There are at least 3 issues that are greatly harming we taxpayers in McHenry County and Illinois:

    1. Public sector employees paid too much
    2. Pension guarantee of a cola which doubles a retiree’s pension less than 30 years after retirement.
    3. Too many employees in the school sector. Consolidation is needed.

    McHenry County and Illinois ought to benchmark or look at best practices of other States which have lowest ratio of school administrators/staff (excluding teachers) and are effective and efficient. That is these States have proven high results/outcomes of student capabilities at the lowest possible cost. Whatever these States are doing needs to be emulated in McHenry County and Illinois.

  3. Cautious makes sense to me!

    Who authorized McHenry and Nunda Townships to build million dollar buildings?

    Why was there never a referendum?

    Why do these townships have parks? [Which take land off the tax rolls, making homeowners pay more]

    That’s not what they are supposed to do!

    Why do these townships run bus lines?

    That’s not what they are supposed to do!

    Why do these townships give money to illegal aliens?

    That’s not what they are supposed to do!

  4. The County Board did not “increase” the property taxes last year.

    The County Board took the levy for Valley Hi which it had to do because it has to be taken in alternate years to take advantage of the “look back” without losing the levy amount.

    Doing this has effectively cut the Valley Hi tax in half.

    However, this has to be done in alternating years so in one year the taxes are “reduced” because the Valley Hi levy isn’t taken whereas in the next year they are “increased” relative to the previous year.

    Would you rather the Board took the full 2.5 Million Dollars each and every year or take it over other year?

  5. McHenry County property tax bills increased this year by 4% because of what the County Board did with reference to the Valley Hi levy.

    You can find the article on this web site.

  6. Yes, Cal, but it DECREASED the year before because the Board was able to skip taking the levy.

    So when you average it out, it is the same.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *