McHenry County Blog

Robert A. Getz, Trustee at Elgin Community College, sends the following email:

“Since my last Newsletter, we have moved forward on the Burlington Project.

“If you drive by the land purchased, you will see a sign designating the point where our project will be located.

“This will not only be a positive addition to ECC’s support of our communities but also an economic boost to Burlington and its surrounding communities. Elgin Community College supports all of the communities within District 509!

“On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, the ECC Board held a special meeting to accept the offer from the City of Elgin to purchase the remaining acreage of the Spartan Meadows Golf Course. For a recent article on the purchase please click on the following – Read This

“My hope is that we will soon have a Community Meeting where you will voice your thoughts on how we will manage the vacant property on the South, Southwest and West sides of the campus.

“Some ideas I’ve had are to use the land along McLean Blvd for commercial leases to provide funding for the College and relieve you of a part of your tax burden while converting the remainder of the property to a natural environment to include an arboretum, botanical garden and floral garden with nature trails throughout for community enjoyment and student study.

“In April, we have the election of three Trustees.

“Two will be for six-year terms while one will be for a four-year term.

“Nadia Daley is running for the four-year term. I have discussed the issues of the College with her and am very comfortable with her positions. Most important, she concurs with my positions on Real Estate Taxes.

“I fully expect that we will support one another in working to reduce the Real Estate Tax Levy while keeping the excellence of education at ECC intact. I endorse Nadia Daley for election as a Trustee at Elgin Community College and urge you to vote for her.”

“After you’ve read this email, I look forward to your providing me with your thoughts, comments and suggestions. Please reply to  rgetzecc@yahoo.com or call at 630-777-8574 and provide your thoughts. I would be very happy to provide replies at the first opportunity.

The only way to freeze McHenry County College’s tax rate is for the Board to do so.

This past week I have been writing articles about how close various tax districts are to reaching their statutory tax  rate limits.

The basic information came from a search of the McHenry County Clerk’s tax rate web site.

I was looking for tax districts near their statutory rate maximum, ones that could not tax dollars, even if the Consumer Price Index increased.

The CPI is the limit on increase for those tax districts (pretty much all but Home Rule municipalities) under the Property Tax Cap.

When I looked at community colleges, I found one that levies almost no taxes in McHenry County.

It’s Rock Valley College, the junior college based in Rockford.

It’s maximum corporate rate is 23 cents per $100 of assessed valuation and that’s what it got last year.

That’s also what it will get next year for its Education Fund. No limit on the amount needed to pay back the bonds and pensions, of course.

No similar situation with McHenry County, Harper or Elgin’s community colleges.

They all are beneath the limits set by law or referendum.

Chris Lauzen was elected Kane County Board Chairman in an at-large election. His wife Sarah looks on as he announces for the office.

A view of the Kane County elections from a Friend of McHenry County Blog:

“Here are a couple of items you may have heard about, including the result of creating a vacancy on the Elgin Community College (ECC) Board of Trustees.

“ECC Trustee John Dalton (D, Elgin) won election as a Circuit Judge in the 2nd subcircuit of the 16th Circuit by defeating appointed Judge John Walters (R, Elgin).

“His election will create a vacancy on the ECC Board of Trustees, as he will need to resign his trustee’s post sometime this month.

“Judge-elect Dalton was elected to the ECC board in last year’s local elections.

“The vacancy will need to be filled, and should create an unexpired term (4-year seat?) to fill in the April 9th, 2013 election for ECC Board.

“The ECC district includes all of Algonquin and parts of Lake in the Hills, [covering the same territory as District 300].

“The second ECC Trustee on the ballot yesterday, Bob Getz (D, Elgin) lost his bid for the 22nd district of the Kane County Board by a mere 18 votes to Republican Doug Scheflow in the open seat election.

“I’d anticipate a recount in that race.

“Because of Scheflow’s narrow victory (as it stands now), the composition of the Kane County Board will be 14 Republicans to 10 Democrats.

“Kane County Board Member Maggie Auger (R, Algonquin) won re-election in the 23rd district with nearly 55% of the vote over Kevin Smith (D, Lake Marian).

“In the other Kane County board election which touches a McHenry County community, Board Member T.R. Smith (R, Burlington) was re-elected to a 2nd term in the 9th district, which includes all of the Kane County portion of Huntley.”

Today’s masthead of Elgin Community College’s web site.

Elgin Community College Board member Robert A. Getz sends out periodic reports on his take on his institution.

I have just seen my first one.

As those in District 300 know, their school districts feeds into ECC, rather than McHenry County College.

While I was in the Illinois General Assembly during the 1970′s, I had ECC, MCC and Rock Valley College in my State Rep. district.

Previously, I have found no way to cover what ECC does and now offer this Trustee’s viewpoint:

On October 4, 2012, we had a special meeting of Elgin Community College’s Board of Trustees. The purpose was to approve an agreement with the Village of Burlington and consider funding their ability to negotiate that agreement with the College. I had no problem with the agreement. However, I do have a problem with funding the Village of Burlington’s negotiations with the College.

My Real Estate Tax Contribution for this year to Elgin Community College was ~ $500. When my fellow Trustees voted to give the Village of Burlington $75,000 to cover the Village costs for negotiating with the College, my Real Estate Tax Contribution to ECC along with that of 149 of my fellow taxpayers was eliminated with no benefit to the business of the College.

I understand the Village of Burlington is not a well funded governmental body and may not have the funds to support this initiative. I understand that the College’s locating these facilities in that Village is advantageous. However, the business of the College is not to provide the wherewithal for the Village of Burlington to accomplish its duties.

We had a recent situation with the City of Elgin where Elgin did not have the funds to support the constriction work on Spartan Drive. In that instance, we loaned them the funds which they will pay back with interest. We should have done the same with the Village of Burlington.

Elgin Community College can not identify how to lower the Levy to reduce the Real Estate Tax Rates but the College can give away funds to others for a variety of expenditures and subsidies not associated with the business of the school.

On November 12, 2012, there will be a Committee of the Whole Meeting in the University and Business Center (Building E) from 3:00-6:00pm. A variety of subjects are discussed and you will have a number of opportunities before, during and after the meeting to meet with and discuss your concerns with the Trustees and representatives of the College.

On November 13, 2012, there will be an Open Board Meeting at the University and Business Center (Building E) from 6:30-8:00pm. Part of that meeting will be a hearing on the Tax Levy. You may address the Board at the Meeting or at the Hearing to provide them with your concerns. This is a point in time when you will have the full attention of the Board and the College’s Administration.

If you would like to meet with me to review the Tax Levy and your opportunities to have your concerns heard by the Board, just contact me at 630-777-8574 or my email at rgetzecc@yahoo.com.

On another item, John Dalton is the only Trustee to have voted NO with me on last year’s Tax Levy. He is currently running for the Position of Judge for Kane County’s 16th Circuit Court. I wholeheartedly recommend him to you for this position and suggest you review his qualifications on his website, www.johndaltonforjudge.com.

After you’ve read this email, in addition to your attending these meetings, I look forward to your providing me with your thoughts, comments and suggestions. Please reply to rgetzecc@yahoo.com or call at 630-777-8574 and provide your thoughts. I would be very happy to provide replies at the first opportunity.

RAGMAN

Robert A. Getz
Trustee at Elgin Community College

Indicating these are not the salad days for teachers’ unions is the settlement reached between the Elgin Community College Board and its faculty.

It’s not a “no raise” situation, even though there will be no increase in base pay.

The details are contained in an article by Elgin’s Courier-News

Teachers will receive pay inteases when they take more college courses and additional time on the staff.

Part-times, who get paid by the credit hour, will see one or two percent increases each year, depenidng on their classification, which is not explained.

Health insurance costs will begin to be shared. The first year, staff will pay 5%, the second-7.5% and the third-10%.

Fred and Delores Doederleinat at a Camp Algonquin Veterans Stand Down.

In 1989, I was standing next to State Rep. Delores Doederlein on the House floor the night that the Hoffman Estates Tax Increment Financing District for Sears was passed.

As the debate neared its end, she asked me if I though that her Dundee and Algonquin Township (and points west) constituents would want her to vote for the TIF bill.

Having represented the same area for eight years in the 19770′s, I told her I doubted it.

“That’s what I thought,” she said before voting against the bill.

The Daily Herald reports the benefit to Sears and its purchaser, the owners of K-Mart, got a $240 million subsidy.

That came out of the pockets of local taxpayers not in the TIF district. .

What a TIF district does is force everyone else located in tax districts covering the TIP district to subsidize the development of the enterprise or enterprises within the area.

District 300 map, blue for McHenry County, white for Kane County.

Think the Vulcan Lakes TIF district.

Everyone is McHenry County is subsidizing it, because all tax districts, including McHenry County, the McHenry County Conservation District and McHenry County College raise their taxes on us to make up for the loss along Route 14.

The biggest loser in the Sears TIF district is Carpentersville School District 300.

District 300′s Cheryl Crates discovered House Bill 3435, introduced by State Rep. Fred Crespo, who used to be on the Hoffman Estates Village Board.

The legislation would pull property tax dollars out of the pockets of taxpayers in Algonquin, Dundee, Hampshire and other townships into which District 300 and Elgin Community College snake for 15 more years.

The contemplated deal would allow the failing firm to cut its local workforce by one-third.

Hoffman Estates will also be on the hook for about $60 of the $180 million which it borrowed.

Needless to say, Hoffman Estates politicians would rather have District 300 taxpayers share the pain of its faulty projections 20 years ago.

Already Crates estimates that District 300 has lost $195 million in tax revenue.  District 300 received $30 million during that time period.

This is not the only local example of Sears wanting a public subsidy.

Spring Hill Mall was built by a subsidiary of Sears called Homart.

Instead of building in Downtown Elgin, the Hill Nursery property was selected.  It was at the intersection of two two-lane state highways.

Homart would not even pay for adding the needed extra lanes next to its property.

Oh, it fronted the money, but cut a deal with at least Carpentersville to give the firm the extra sales taxes for ten years to repay Homart for the extra lane.

And, did Sears pay for doubling the size of Route 31 from Elgin to the shopping center?

A December race starts at the Center of Elgin's pool.

In the “politics is everywhere” category is what happened to me at the Elgin swim meet.

ECC Board Candidate Darwin Adams

One of the McHenry Marlins’ swim Dads introduces me to Darwin Adams, a candidate for the Elgin Community College Board.

He’s a retired Streamwood policeman who is not a stranger to community service.

Before retirement, he started the Children’s Advocacy Center.

While emphasis has certainly been on McHenry County College on McHenry County Blog, District 300 is all included in the Elgin Community College District.

Thomas Kaltenecker was appointed Instructor of Culinary Management, Executive Chef, by the McHenry County College Board last month.

He was Assistant Manager at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake since 2008 and also serves as a part-time instructor at Elgin Community College.

He previously worked for three years at the Schaumburg campus of Roosevelt University in the same field.

Thursday the Elgin Courier-News and McHenry County’s Northwest Herald both featured junior colleges as a low cost way to go after high school.

But what a difference three generous millionaires made in McHenry County—at least for the McHenry County College district part. (District 300 is in the Elgin Community College District and ineligible for MCC’s free tuition offer.)

The headline above the fold on the NW Herald was

It’s a story about the McHenry County College Promise.

In the Kane County paper, there was a photo of South Elgin High School Counselor Chris Boden talking to three 17-year olds.

Along the left was

HIGHER
TUITION
+ books
+ room
..equals

then in large block letters,

The NW Herald article indicates that the donated money might run out sooner than the five years for which it was thought to last.

Before I learned that the college board had decided to waste upwards $300,000 on Ex-President Walt Packard’s little-work going-away present, I sent in a contribution.

I had second thoughts after I read of that monumental exercise of poor judgment (I’m willing to be convinced otherwise), but have concluded that really bad management should not be used as an excuse to discourage others to contribute to this earmarked fund.

It’s not as if the college board can spend it on a baseball stadium.

You might want to consider doing so, too.

Click to enlarge any image.

Some of the same people who participated in the TEA Parties may show up outside the Elgin Kiwanis Club meeting noon Tuesday at the Highlands Golf Course, described as “a Public Golf Course Supported by Elgin Taxpayers,” to peacefully protest the appearance of “Unrepentant Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers.”

I wonder whether the program chairman is the same guy bold enough to invited me to speak to the club when I was running in 2002 for Illinois governor on the Libertarian Party ticket against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan.

Top finance guys for both of those power party opponents are facing Federal felony time, you may remember.

In any event, just in case you might want to join in the demonstration, here’s the address, which is next to Elgin Community College:

I’d guess it is off Randall Road, just south of U.S. by-pass 20.