Yvonne Barnes Gets Special Finance Committee Meeting on Valley Hi Finances

At the beginning of Thursday’s McHenry County Finance and Audit Committee McHenry County Board Chairman candidate Mike Walkup called for the abolition of the property tax levied for the Valley Hi Nursing Home. He pointed out that the nursing home … Continue reading

State’s Attorney’s $75,000 Settlement Runs into Rough Waters

When Assistant State’s Attorney George Hoffman came before the McHenry County Finance and Audit Committee Thursday morning for permission to settle the suit filed by former Assistant State’s Attorney Kirk Chrzanowski for $75,000, he made a cost-benefit argument. He estimated that … Continue reading

Walkup Calls for Abolition of Valley Hi Tax

During the public comment period before the McHenry County Finance and Audit Committee Thursday morning, Republican McHenry County Board Chairman candidate Mike Walkup called for the abolition of the Valley Hi tax. Walkup led the fight last year to zero … Continue reading

Finance Reverses Course, Cuts Valley Hi Levy by $750,000

What a difference five days makes. On Thursday, the members of the McHenry County Board’s Finance Committee voted 4-3 against lowering the $3 million Valley Hi Nursing Home levy by one penny. First-term member Chuck Wheeler, who was recently appointed … Continue reading

Budget Back to Finance Committee

McHenry County Board Chairman Joe Gottemoller has apparently decided not to put next year’s levy ordinance on the Board Agenda without a positive vote from the Finance and Audit Committee. As you can read exclusively here, the vote was 3-3 … Continue reading

Valley Hi’s Future

Below are the August 4th County Board minutes of the discussion of hiring a consultant to made recommendations on the future of Valley Hi. The County nursing home, an enterprise account (meaning it is separate from other parts of McHenry … Continue reading

Provenzano Froths on Dental Audit Supression

Here is the comment that McHenry County Finance Committee member Nick Provenzano wrote under the article about the County Board’s pending vote to allow the public to see the Veterans dental care audit: Audits are completed by the Auditor [Pam … Continue reading

Nunda Township Senior Services Audit Discussed in County Committee

For your information, here are McHenry County Finance Committee minutes concerning the Senior Services grant audit which Nunda Township and McHenry County have refused to release. Both used the excuse that the Freedom of Information Act allows “internal” audits to … Continue reading

County Finance Committee Rejects 2.75% Raise for Board of (Assessment) Review Members

McHenry County Board of Review Chairman Clifton A. Houghton and regular members Mark A. Ruda and Sharon L. Bagby will not be getting a raise this year. It had been recommended that the salaries of the Board of Review be … Continue reading

Hiring DC Lobbyists Gets 4-3 Approval of County Finance Committee

$82,000 will be paid to Ferguson Group, LLC for Federal legislative consultant services. After being previously approved by the McHenry County Board’s Legislative and intergovernmental Affairs Committee, the Finance Committee voted 4-3 to agree to keep the same lobbying firm … Continue reading

2.75% Raise for Non-Union Employees Passes Committees

Today a combination of the Human Services and Finance Committees voted to raise the salaries of non-union county employees by an average of 2.75%. That does not mean that each such employee will receive a raise that high, however. Department … Continue reading

McHenry County Blog Makes The Stephenson Blumdoggle

The founder of Freeport, Illinois, Tutty Baker, who died in 1855, is the pseudonym of a Stephenson County blogger. He calls his publication the Stephenson Blumdoggle. The blog seems to have been inspired by Stephenson County’s Board Chairman, whose last … Continue reading

County Finance Committee Scheduled to Approve Sale of Two Lots for $1,300 to Z Financial

Looking at the McHenry County Board’s agenda and committee packet for Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, I saw that a Freeport company called Z Financial Illinois G Properties, LLC, is going to be allowed to purchase two parcels for $1,300. The … Continue reading

McHenry County Buying Squad Cars from Decatur

The State of Illinois allows local governments to purchase things state government buys at the same price the state pays. So, local governments, in many instances, can find a cheaper price using the bulk buying power of Illinois largest employer … Continue reading

Will Huntley School Board Violate the Open Meetings Act Tonight? And What About Sweetening Retirement Benefits?

You need a quorum for a board meeting. Right now the Huntley school board has only one board member as a carryover for its Finance Committee. That would be Kevin Gentry. Hard to have a quorum with one committee member. … Continue reading