Pension Funding for McHenry County Townships

Looking at the financial shape of townships in McHenry County, a Friend of McHenry County Blog found the following Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund information filed with the State Comptroller for 2017 (for Algonquin, Chemung, Dorr, Grafton, McHenry, Nunda, Riley and … Continue reading

Burton Township’s Road District Would Barely Survive Abolition under McSweeney’s Bill

With only 15.69 miles of township roads, the office of Burton Township Road Commissioner would be abolished at the end of the current commissioner’s term under House Bill 4637. The bill was sponsored in the Illinois House by Republican State … Continue reading

Comparing Township Costs & Surpluses

A friend of McHenry County Blog ran these figures on McHenry County Townships: Comparison of McHenry Township Finances Township Fund Balance to Revenue Per Capita Expenditures Per Household Expenditures Alden 124.7% 266 747 Algonquin 72.8% 44 124 Burton 176.7% 59 … Continue reading

What Happened to Township Taxes?

Here is what is happening to taxpayers as a whole: Township  Inc/Decrease  2015-2014 in Total Tax Inc/Decrease 2014-2013 in Total Tax HARTLAND $95.24 ($518.43) ALDEN $1,484.21 ($2,923.60) DUNHAM $877.76 ($10,905.30) HEBRON $4,219.09 ($5,118.21) RILEY ($2,678.90) ($1,172.12) SENECA ($6,000.31) ($4,000.73) GRAFTON … Continue reading

Last Chance for Angry Voters to Get Really Involved – Precinct Committeeman Write-In Opportunities

The Washington Post has found an academic, Sam Wang, who says, “based on polling data based on polling data, Donald Trump is in as strong a position to get his party’s nomination as Hillary Clinton in 2016, George W. Bush … Continue reading

Ten Townships’ Welfare Costs

Found this comparison of Township General Assistant handed out and accompanying administrative costs. You don’t have to guess that it came from Bob Anderson … Continue reading

Roads Cared for By Township Highway Commissioners

In an attempt to get people thinking about the proposal to combine townships, look at the number of miles of road each Township Road Commissioner maintains: In addition, Algonquin Township Road Commissioner Bob Miller writes that he offers assistance to … Continue reading

A Benefit of Consolidating Township Governments

Back in the 1970’s, Algonquin Township Assessor Forrest Hare computerized his office, probably the first to do so in the State of Illinois. He also took an interest in how assessment could be made more accurate. Hare looked at measures … Continue reading

County Board’s Legislative Committee to Consider Bob Anderson’s Advisory Township Referendum

Thursday, July 10th, at 8:30, the Legislative Committee of the McHenry County Board will consider advisory referendums. One was suggested by township abolition advocate Bob Anderson, a Republican Precinct Committeeman from Wonder Lake. Included in the committee packet is a … Continue reading

Most Township Boards Ask for Less or Same Amount of Taxes as Last Year

Townships are a much maligned form of local government. Today we show you how much McHenry County’s seventeen townships will extract from pocketbooks this year compared to last year. Extensions are the amount of taxes which are billed.  The tax … Continue reading

Townships and Tax Caps

Let’s go through the townships in alphabetical order to see how the Real Estate Tax cap affects how much money they can collect. This information, as with previous articles about the Tax Cap, comes from the McHenry County Clerk’s web … Continue reading

BGA Goes After Township Government – Road Costs

A couple of weeks ago news media unloaded the latest attack on township government. They were working from a Better Government Association report. Most of the attention was aimed at Cook County townships. That’s where most of the land is … Continue reading

McHenry County’s Township Road Costs

Today let’s look at the cost of maintaining township roads. As you can see, the cost varies a lot,. So do the number of miles of roads for which the various township road commissioners are responsible for maintaining. The townships … Continue reading

How Much Do McHenry County’s Township Governments Cost?

Today McHenry County Blog looks at the cost of township government in McHenry County. The cost per person is the column that I find most interesting.  Below you will see them listed from lowest cost to highest cost for the … Continue reading

More Opportunities to Join the Republican Party

Yesterday we looked at Alden and Algonquin Townships. Algonquin Township has 13 precincts with no Republican Precinct Committeeman. (I’d do Democrats, too, but the McHenry County Democratic Party web site doesn’t have a handy listing.) Today, we’ll look at the … Continue reading

Real Estate Tax Assessments Down Almost 10%, Don’t Expect a Lower Bill

The 2010 assessed valuation has been totaled for McHenry County and it’s down almost 10%. That’s what a comparison of raw figures from the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Office indicate. McHenry County real estate taxes this year will be … Continue reading

Democrat Loses Road Commissioner Contest in Burton Township

Former Democratic Party County Board candidate Jeff Thirtyacre lost his try to become Burton Township Road Commissioner yesterday. Daniel Sutton beat him 492 to 275, taking 64% of the vote. Sutton is the current road commissioner. Thirtyacre is an employee … Continue reading

Larry Snow Keeps Up the Pressure to Recapture Unauthorized Fringe Benefits to Huntley School District Administrators

It’s pretty interesting how the comment section below Northwest Herald stories allow other stories to be updated. Huntley School Board member Larry Snow—still in a minority, but no longer in a 6-1 minority after April school board elections in which … Continue reading