UPDATED with Draft Map: County Board Remap Updates

2011 McHenry County Board Districts

McHenry: Reducing Board Members from 24 to 18
Kane: Maintaining 24 single member districts

While much attention being paid to the congressional and IL General Assembly remaps taking place in Springfield, local county boards have begun their own 2021 remap for their respective county board districts.

Focusing on McHenry and Kane counties, both boards, in committee saw action during the spring thus far.

Currently, the McHenry County Board is structured under a configuration of 6 multi-member districts with 4 members elected from each district, and the board chairman elected at-large by the voters, or (6 x 4) to 1.

In other words, each McHenry County voter has direct election to 5 members, including the chairman, of the 25-member County Board.

Kane County operates under a single-member district format of 24 members elected, 1 from each district, with the board chair elected at-large by the voters, or 24 to 1.

Kane County Board members double as Forest Preserve District of Kane County commissioners, with an elected president elected by the 25 commissioners every 2 years.

McHenry County Conservation District is led by an appointed board.

With this background, this table, going into the remap, shows how McHenry and Kane counties compares with neighboring counties in configuration, as well as salaries and boards where members double as forest preserve commissioners:

COUNTYESTIMATED POPULATIONCUR
SIZE
CURRENT
DISTRICTS
ANNUAL SALARYFOREST PRESERVE?CHAIR ELECTED AT-LARGECURRENT
BOARD CONFIG
MAJORITY PARTY
MCHENRY       305,888246         21,000NOYES(6×4)-1R
KANE       531,0102424         25,000YESYES24-1D
LAKE       693,5932121         43,018YESNO21-0D
DUPAGE       917,481186         52,102NOYES(6×3)-1D (Chair R)
DEKALB       104,4912412 Varies-per diem YESNO(12×2)-0R
KENDALL       130,638102         17,500YESNO(2×5)-0R
WILL       688,7262613         23,000YESYES(13×2)-1D
COOK   5,108,2841717         85,000YESYES17-1D
Assembled by McHenry County Blog

In the past 3 weeks, both counties made significant developments:

  • Kane County’s Reapportionment Committee came to consensus to keep the board size to 24 single member districts
  • McHenry County will implement the direction expressed by voters and reduce the size of the County Board from 24 to 18 members, converting to a (9 x 2)-1 board configuration, or 9 smaller multi-member districts where voters elect 2 members, while continuing to elect the chairman at-large

Full details from last Thursday’s Northwest Herald article can be viewed here.

UPDATE of Rough Draft Map

This past week, McHenry County Blog through media inquiry obtained the draft maps displayed at the recent county committee meeting discussing McHenry County districts.

Please note, these maps are very rough, and without any 2020 detailed Census data included and will likely change as detailed Census data is released this summer, possibly as early as mid to late August.

The latest McHenry County population projection for the 2020 Census is 305,088, divided between nine 2-member districts, is nearly 33,988 population in each district, give-or-take.

Please note, “population” is not the same as “registered voters”.

Source: McHenry County

Comments

UPDATED with Draft Map: County Board Remap Updates — 30 Comments

  1. I absolutely don’t want single member districts.

    And it is possible to have 6 districts with three members.

    Just do 2 get elected in one cycle and 1 gets elected in the other cycle, and if you want to make the number of board members elected each cycle equal because you have OCD or something then you just stagger the districts.

    For example, district 1, 3, and 5 would elect 2 then 1 while district 2, 4, and 6 would elect 1 then

    Or, yeah, you can do 9×2.

    If you do a 9×2 would you just be electing one person every time?

    I don’t think I like that.

    Whatever it is, I want to see these maps asap.

    Please release the plans so that the PUBLIC can see.

  2. However, having three member districts means that one year you will elect two people and the next time you will elect only one.

    This places the latter at a potential disadvantage two people running can split the costs of the campaign by running as a team.

    Also the 6th District as it stands is very large and includes communities like Sun City which have little in common with communities like Alden or Hebron and is difficult for candidates to cover.

    In single member districts you will be stuck with your member for up to 4 years at a time.

    Don’t expect costs to go down however.

    Members will argue that they have “more work” to do because there are fewer of them and deserve a bigger salary.

    Also they may try to get their pensions back citing an “increased workload.”

  3. I think any Board member should be on a Per diem basis.

    Few of them do any actual research that enriches the lives of taxpayers.

    I would like to see a running accomplishment list.

    We have no idea what they work on.

  4. How long ago were the district areas established? What were the criteria? Should the areas, boundaries be studied to see if adjustments need to be made?

  5. When members were paid per diem they jacked up the committee meeting schedules to pad their hours.

    Also there is a lot of work that doesn’t involve meetings that members have to do and per diem does not compensate them for that.

  6. I enjoy reading about journalists digging up what a run-of-the-mill Illinois Politician actually costs.

    But in many cases, John may have to rent a backhoe.

  7. D J,

    Ha Ha Ha!

    Don’t you love your county government in the form of the Dallas County Commissioner’s Court w/ the County Judge leading with 4 elected commissioners from 4 single member districts?

  8. Look at a County Board Meeting Agenda Packet.

    Some of these are many, many pages long with a lot to read, comprehend and then make a judgement on a vote.

    Board Members need to spend a lot of time digesting the material for each Board Meeting.

  9. Bred, they don’t. Insects like virulent Vijuk or “the abetter” Acosta never read a dog gone thing!

    Because is beginning to have glimmerings of rational thought…… everything he wrote is so!

  10. No surprise bred winner wants to pay county board members MORE money because they’re supposed to do the grueling task of skimming a packet once every few weeks, even though they don’t have to anyway and most don’t.

    Make sure to MASK UP BRED WINNER! Some guy on Fox News said so!

  11. If you don’t like your county board member because you don’t feel they work for you vote them out or run against them!

    The county board members that do work you want to punish because of the ones that don’t!

    Wonder how many people that are keyboard warriors ever really do anything?

  12. So “Correcting”, how many board meetings have you attended? Have you listened to board members, comments and questions before a vote is taken on particular matters?

  13. Yes

    1. Been present at meetings more than you.

    2. Participated in more meetings than you.

    3. Made more points at meetings than you.

  14. I think you are gay, you have no idea what goes on at board meetings, and I don’t respect you, bred winner.

    Wanna meet up in person?

    I have no problem doing so.

  15. Oh look – correcting is trying to pick a physical fight again.

    You feeling ok?

  16. First of all, lets be clear on this.

    Voters voted for an 18 member board rather than a 24 member board because they thought it would reduce costs and hence, taxes.

    It will not.

    Eventually the smaller board members will give themselves raises or staff support or both to compensate for the supposed greater workload.

    It also eliminates the argument that the board members don’t qualify for health insurance because they don’t work 20 hours per week which was tacitly admitted to when they eliminated their pensions.

    Now it is a different animal so it’s apples vs oranges.

    The voters also didn’t consider that they would be creating a system in which you have two members running for election in one cycle and one in another.

    All of which is why government by referendum is not a good idea.

    Voters simply don’t have the information to decide these types of questions.

    That’s why you elect people who then have the time to invest in studying all of the ramifications instead of making knee jerk reactions.

    The referendum was simply another one of Jack Franks’ publicity stunts.

    Then he was going to push for single member districts which would benefit Democrats.

    Fortunately he shot himself in both feet by his antics in Springfield so he won’t get the chance.

    So it is the misplaced attempt to place the onus on county government for the absurdly high real estate taxes in Illinois, something which Franks started in his campaign and continued as Chairman, that gave this result.

    County government is not the source of high property taxes.

    Just because your taxes are paid into the county treasurer as a convenience to you so you don’t have to write out 20 different checks to every taxing body, doesn’t mean that those taxes come from county government.

    Property taxes come from schools.

    They are higher than they should be because the STATE government has been irresponsible and has foisted responsibility for tax raising on local school districts instead of paying for more of those costs itself.

    Also state government doesn’t collect enough in other forms of taxation such as income taxes, which, unlike property taxes, is keyed directly to ability to pay in a given year.

    So when you vote against something like a state graduated income tax, you are voting for continued high property taxes.

    Then you get dislocations as people wrongly try to blame the folks who are mere collectors of the taxes thus necessitated.

    That’s why you are going to 9 county board districts.

  17. All this does is make more work for fewer people.

    More of the same people on the committees.

    Less representation for the people of McHenry County.

    They are going to be asking for more money.

    This was a JACK FRANKS idea and anyone with half a brain would know that it would NOT BE A GOOD IDEA.

  18. BecauseScience, Fierabras and Sara,

    It’s always good to remember conservative precepts, like fewer-is-better, when applied wisely, will yield the biggest return for taxpayers.

    By “applied wisely”, it is hoped as decisions are made concerning pay for county board members, I enhanced the metrics in the table in this article to insure McHenry County Board members are accurately, and fully comparing themselves to their counterparts in neighboring counties.

    For example, McHenry County Board Members DO NOT double as forest preserve district commissioners as their counterparts in Lake and Kane counties do.

    Therefore, that makes apples to oranges comparison right there, and cannot justify “equal pay” when significant additional duties like forest preserve commissioner is not being done by a McHenry County Board Member.

    Something I didn’t have on my enhanced comparison was which counties have a county administrator. Both McHenry and Lake counties have county administrators, and that should factor-in to pay discussions, too.

    DuPage County, based on statute, is at an 18-member County Board, and county board members in Wheaton no longer double as forest preserve district commissioners.

    Given projected population of McHenry compared to DuPage is 1/3 the size, than 1/3 the pay is appropriate pay, not the current ratio of $21K vs. $52.1K (40%).

    May discerning voters not get fooled when hearing the “comparison” and “salary survey” game to sell a pay increase, as is being played out very loudly in Kane County, per Jeff Ward’s blog entry of earlier this month:

    https://thefirstward.net/the-first-ward-report-may-3-2021/

  19. BecauseScience is being a realist in his post, but I don’t get the impression he thinks it’s a good idea that they want to fleece us.

    Like he said
    “because they thought it would reduce costs and hence, taxes.”

    Yes, that’s right.

    The only answer I can think of is for voters to pledge to not support any candidate who raises their own pay, and for candidates to emerge that support capping their pay instead of raising it. Other suggestions are welcome.

    No more supporting petty tyrants, and I’m sick of politicians talking about how hard they work.

    They don’t work hard.

    I’ve been on jobsites where people passed out and puked for working hard.

    That doesn’t happen at the administrative building.

  20. Jack Franks was elected because he told the BIG LIE (I will reduce your property taxes by ten percent).

    Beware of politicians that tell you the BIG LIE. 🙂

  21. I’m not entirely convinced that individual Board Members’ workload would be significantly greater.

    General Board duties would be the same, each member still plowing through their packets same as always.

    Committee work, not entirely sure.

    Committee and Board demands on staff remain the same.

    Could be committee work might move more expeditiously, less blather and blah, blah, blah…

    ✌️😎

  22. But will the board be satisfactorily diversified enough for our local BLM-Antifa combine????

    Sweet folks like Mary Mahatey; Pam “the scam” Althoff; our besotted atheist, the gin-reeking Steverino Reick; “Jefe” Acosta, the DCFS child care specialist of great accomplishment; the creepy Parishes of Nunda Township; the cunning remnants of the Bob Miller Crime Family of Algonquin; our illustrious pantominist and LGBTQ ‘clever girl’ Underwood; the Negrolators on the Woodstock Libary Board; Grand Poobah and Ground Hog Day Nightmare, “Bri” Sager of Gay Pride stardom.

    Will they approve of the new map?

    They are far more important people than any of us. They are our degenerate overlords and deciders.

    We are mere footmen and taxpaying servants for them.

    They are our betters they are always telling us.

  23. Yo, Cal or John, a lady just told me I should superimpose a picture of these maps over where the county board members live.

    To be honest, I’m probably not going to get around to that.

    It’s a good idea though.

    I know off the top of my head where like half of them live but I have a hectic upcoming week.

  24. Only one question.

    Since currently right now there is a member from each district on a committee.

    Will they still have a representative on every committee.

    If not then you have to stay at 6 districts so a member can be on every committee to have representation.

Leave a Reply

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