Tax Cut Argument for Abolishing McHenry Township

A letter to the Northwest Herald from McHenry Township Trustee Steven R. Verr, published here with the permission of its author:

Dump McHenry Township and Its Wasteful Spending

Vote yes to dissolve cash-hemorrhaging McHenry Township to get a 10% property tax cut mandated by a new state law.

Taxpayers, McHenry County has consistently ranked among the top highest twenty-five counties in the entire nation (out of 3,262).

Illinois also burdened as the sad state with the most government taxing bodies.

Illinois is in a state pension crisis, and all our home valuations are being liquidated to pay for it.

Now we have a chance to cut a redundant and costly government layer crated in the early 19th century, becoming ever-useless in the 20th, and now a crushing monstrosity in the 21st.

To abolish McHenry Township, one must vote “Yes.”

Here’s a few questions I put to our kelptocratic township officials who prance like gradees of old wasting our money:

Why did Oklahoma and Iowa abolish all townships y themid-1930’s?

Why did Michigan consolidate township road districts into counties in the 1930’s?

Why did Indiana get rid of township assessors in 2009?

Why did 17 counties in Illinois get rid of townships in the 1930’s, and function just fine without costly townships and their pensions ever since?

Why were Evanston and Belleville Townships abolished in 2013 and 2017, respectively?

Have you read the 2020 McHenry Township Cost Benefit Study, which concluded that McHenry Township is a tax drain and cost-ineffective?

Have you seen the Better Government Association’s non-partisan 2011 study “Why Townships Don’t Add Up?”

Have you peruse the many editorials and exposes Chicago Magazine, Illinois Policy Institute, Taxpayers United of Illinois, Crain’s, Chicago Tribune and many others have put online?

Besides the horrific waste, government bloat and pension piggery, townships function opaquely, like banana republics where patronage, graft, influence-peddling, vote-buying and outright theft rule the roost?

What about all the double and triple-dipping politicians who are township officials, along with other part-time government jobs racking up hefty multiple pensions?

Don’t believe me?

Use a standard search engine “Illinois township official sentenced.”

Yes, it is high time to abolish McHenry Township.

Vote for your very own tax cut!

Remember 1776!


Comments

Tax Cut Argument for Abolishing McHenry Township — 15 Comments

  1. Why is this guy on the township board?
    Is it because his other grumpy old guy buddies got him in? Of course*
    Reminds me of Benedict Arnold. (he was going to turn West Point over, for £20,000 to the Brits)

    From the NWH:

    McHenry Township has a new trustee, and some area residents are deeply upset about it.

    Steve Verr was appointed to fill the seat left vacant by former Republican Trustee Bill Cunningham during a special meeting Thursday at McHenry Township Hall, 3703 N. Richmond Road, Johnsburg.

    About a dozen residents attended the meeting to decry the appointment and voice their concerns about the board’s conduct.

    The board voted, 3-1, for Verr, with Supervisor Craig Adams in opposition.

    At a special meeting Monday night, township officials interviewed three candidates interested in filling Cunningham’s seat after he moved to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

    Those candidates were JoAnne Neumann, Mark Jaeger and Verr. Both Neumann and Jaeger interviewed with the board in an open forum. Verr requested that his interview take place in a private executive session.

    Although three candidates remained on the board’s list to interview for the job, Trustees Bob Anderson and Mike Rakestraw later called for Thursday’s special meeting to name a replacement. Both men are vocal supporters of Verr.

    However, Adams and some residents interested in taking the job have accused board members of orchestrating a backroom political deal to appoint Verr, an attorney and former chairman of the McHenry Township Republican Party.

    Verr was not one of the four candidates recommended by the McHenry Township Republican Party to fill the vacant seat. Still, township officials put out a call for candidates, and Verr applied.

    “I’m not necessarily against any one candidate, but I feel like the process should have been followed,” Adams said, adding that a handful of candidates were being considered. “We should have interviewed all the candidates and made a decision. That’s where I’m coming from. There’s still time to do this.”

    “I haven’t been seated, and I’m already being attacked,” Verr said during a public comment portion after the vote.

    Before he was finished speaking, Verr demanded Adams control the public laughter and booing.

    “This wasn’t something that I cooked up,” Verr said. “Apparently, some people don’t want to understand the law.”

    When Verr told Adams he wasn’t adequately controlling outbursts, Adams said, “You’re not in control, Mr. Verr, I am.”

    Adams then slammed his gavel on the table.

    https://www.nwherald.com/2018/08/23/mchenry-township-board-appoints-verr-trustee-during-heated-meeting/aff3rjy/

  2. You only get a 10% cut on the Township portion of your tax bill which amounts to approximately $10.

    You do not get a 10% tax cut on the whole bill.

    You will mostly lose services also.

  3. I guess for 10 bucks you could get a haircut from Snowplow Bob 😖

  4. There is a 10% tax reduction built in to the Township elimination Law that was sponsored by McSweeney, but only for the first year and only for the township portion of your taxes.

    Let’s do the math:

    Example My Taxes:

    $53.83 (Township) + $113.81 (Road District) = $167.64

    10% of that is $16.76

    My total tax bill:
    $4,301.26

    With the proposed 10% reduction
    $4,284.50

    A whopping 0.39% Decrease in my overall tax bill….

    After the first year there is this no guarantee that the county will keep that 10% reduction or that the county will not increase taxes beyond what they were before the township was eliminated.

    There are numerous issues with the cost study done by Urban Analytics.

    Starting with the application of club theory on purely public goods.

    The use of per capita comparisons in road district spending and not comparing the more relevant center lane miles

    Ignoring the fact that the township road district is required to pass through a specific portion of the roads & bridges levy directly to the municipalities in their territory, he used the total levy for his comparison not the net amount they have after the pass through.

    On that same topic, nowhere does he mention that the county is not required to do the same pass through of road maintenance money.

    He states that there will be no “significant ‘ramp-up’ or ‘leveling-up’ costs associated with absorbing these General Assistance services into the County” – but ignores the fact that there is currently no general assistance services at the county so if the county should choose to take on the general assistance there would be significant ramp up because there is currently no department to handle that. He falsely assumes the County’s Veterans’ Assistance Commission could take on General Assistance

    He mostly compares the township with other townships and this continues into the property assessment portion of the report – the only comparison he makes to the county is the cost difference between the county’s oversight of the township assessment (a form of checks and balances) with the cost of actually going out and doing the assessments, a 100% apples to giraffes comparison.

    All this makes me wonder what instruction he was given in the closed door phone meeting with the committee comprised of Trustees Anderson and Verr – a meeting that we have no minutes of and was not open to the public and therefore in violation of the Open Meetings Act as it was an official committee of the board.

    For a full critique on the cost study please visit the Save McHenry Township website.

    http://savemt.org/Cost-Study-Critique/

  5. An off the record and likely illegal phone meeting with Anderson & Verr with the questionable Urban Analytics study author?

    If true, I smell lawsuits.

  6. All the commies out in force.

    Townships suck as much as these wipes do.

    Township are great…… for township ’employees’ and their obese families.

  7. when your tax bill comes in at 20% more that 10.00 looks good … wanna pay my bill for me?

    since you think its not much!

  8. “Dissolve Your Township – You’ll Keep Paying For It, But Your Money Goes To Jack Franks Instead”

    There, I’ve corrected the article for you…

  9. Verr is a right wing extremist. That’s well known. How many people has he killed?

Leave a Reply

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