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

Rauner Announces Treasury Department Approval of Opportunity Zones – One in NW McHenry County

A press release from Governor Bruce Runer: Gov. Rauner announces Opportunity Zones US Treasury certifies 327 Economic Opportunity Zones in Illinois CHICAGO (May 18, 2018) Gov. Bruce Rauner today announced that 327 Opportunity Zone census tract recommendations submitted by the … Continue reading

Comparing the Number of Employees of McHenry County Townships

The Illinois State Comptroller has a data base contacting information about tax districts throughout Illinois. Looking at 2017 data from those for the seventeen townships in McHenry County, one finds the number of employees running from a low of 2 … Continue reading

Chemung Township Assessment Level and Uniformity Measurement

Because the average median assessment over a three-year period is 31.36% of fair market value, those living in that township (the Harvard area) can expect their assessment to be increase to the state-mandated level of 33.3%. The measure of uniformity … Continue reading

Compensation of Chemung Township Officials

Chemung Township Supervisor Don Staver was kind enough to send me what his township’s elected officials are earning. The information is below: Supervisor 2017-18 $14,935 2018-19 $15,385 2019-20 $15,845 2020-12 $16,320 The Supervisor also receives $240 per year for serving as … 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

Elected Officials in McHenry County in IMRF Pension System

Thought folks might like to know what elected officials besides most McHenry County Board members participate in the pension fund of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF). I filed a Freedom of Information Request asking for the following: “All employers … 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

Tax Considerations on Township Consolidation

Commenter Susan has done the math on a couple of the townships which consolidation proponents suggest should be merged. Her analysis is below: Am I missing something, or is the voter’s decision made by simply looking at the comparative tax … 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

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

First Day Filings in Chemung Township

Updated Wednesday Looking at those who have filed for Chemung Township so far, there are three offices with vacancies: Supervisor Trustee Two candidates are running for Highway Commissioner: Donald L. Staver (incumbent) Paul Hereley Running for Assessor is Doug Hawthorne. … 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