McHenry County Blog

Real estate tax bills being sent out in McHenry County this year will total $783,689,437.41 this spring.

That compares with $773,325,977.50 a year ago.

That’s an increase of 1.34%, which those with good memories will recall is less than the 1.5% allowed by the state’s Property Tax Cap.

McHenry County

McHenry County government’s tax bill–just under 10% of the total tax bill –will be $78,285,064.42.  That’s compared to $76,846,500.12 last year, up 1.87%.  The County Board, you may remember, voted to take every dime possible under the Real Estate Tax Cap.

Education

The Big Daddy in the Property Tax Game is always education.

Including junior colleges, elementary and high schools, that category consumes almost two-thirds (66.4%) of our tax bills.

$520,283,124.49 this year; $511,040,206.22 last year.

That’s almost a 1.8% increase.  The Tax Cap does not cover bond payments, so my guess is that some districts back-ended bond payments to keep taxes lower in past years.

Junior Colleges

Looking at the junior colleges separately, we see that the total tax bill is $31,323,344.25 this year, while it was $30,347,809.74 last year.

That’s a 3.2% hike.

Since the junior colleges are getting so much higher a percentage the the education group as a whole, it would probably be interesting to see what the unit, grade and high school districts are getting in comparison.

Unit Districts

This year the unit districts will pull in $202,025,310.67, compared to $199,937,737.99 last year.

The difference?

A bit over 1%.

Elementary Schools

Grade school districts are charging $174,244,829.51 in 2012.  Last year’s bill was $171,086,182.51.

Doing the division yields a hike of over 1.8%.

High Schools

The last component of the educational tax bill is high schools.

$112,689,640.06 is the bill this year, compared to $109,668,475.98 this year.

Up 2.7%.

So, with the exception of the K-12 unit districts, which generally have lower tax rate limits, it appears the higher one goes in the grade level, the deeper the educators dig into our wallets:

• Unit Districts – +1%
• Grade Schools – +1.8%
• High Schools – +2.7%
• Jr. Colleges – +3.2%

McHenry County College covers most of McHenry County with the exception of District 300 School District, which is in the Elgin Community College District.  Small parts of McHenry County in the Barrington School District are in the Harper College District and a bit in the Wauconda School District goes to the College of Lake County.

Cities and Villages

Municipalities are next in the order of those pecking at our pocketbooks.

$66,644,908.46 being billed this year, compared to $66,885,115.04.

To their credit, cities and villages actually are taking less money out of our checking accounts for real estate taxes–about 4/10 of one percent–than last year!

That’s worth a headline, don’t you think?

Fire Protection Districts

Let’s look at Fire Protection Districts.

$40,598,421.16 this year, $41,448,795.39 last year.

No one looks at how Fire Protection Districts are governed or what they spend, yet, so far, this category of tax district has been parsimonious with our tax dollars.

It should be noted that some municipalities have their own fire departments, e’g., Crystal Lake, so the $40 million, plus, does not comprise the whole cost of fire protection.

The FPD’s are taking over 2% less this year than they did last year.

Townships

Townships will take $25,770,362.84 this year, less than the $25,577,572.45 last year.

That’s an increase for the governmental form taking the most heat in the metropolitan media of $193,000, about a three-quarters of a one percent increase.  It should me noted that township officials are up for election next spring.

McHenry County Conservation District

The next highest taxing entity is the McHenry County Conservation District.

It will slice $19,317,898.84 out of property owners’ income this year.

Last year the total was $18,964,957.38.

The tax hike is almost 1.9%.

Library Districts

Library Districts cover a lot of the county (although Crystal Lake’s is in that city’s budget).

This year they ask you to pay $15,902,674.96.  Last year it was $15,901,974.39.

The Property Tax receipts for Library Districts will almost be constant.  Up just $700.

Park Districts

Park Districts take about as much out of the private sector as Library Districts, although municipalities like Lake in the Hill, McHenry and Woodstock do not have separate taxing districts.

$15,370,365.51 will be taxed this year compared to $15,059,395.19 last year.

The increase?

Plus 2%.  More than the Tax Cap allows, so, as with others that exceed 1.5%, it probably has to do with bond payments exempt from PTELL.

Sanitary Districts

The rest of the districts are under $1 million, so I won’t bother with them except for the Sanitary Districts, which like Fire Protection Districts, no one ever examines.  There are only two of which I am aware, the Lake in the Hills and the Island Lake (re-named the Northern Moraine) Sanitary Districts. ( I wrote about the McHenry County Health Department’s suing the latter  in a thrust for revenue, but that’s the only time I have dipped into that type of government other that attending the dedication of both of their waste treatment facilities.  The “Royal Flush” in Island Lake was a  hoot.)

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Hoe to find your bill here.

$677,590.39 is the tax “request” from Sanitary Districts this year.  It was $667,056.58 last year.

Essentially no change for Sanitary Districts, up just $534.

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ow to find you

The Daily Herald has a story about an audacious rape by a 16-year old of a 15-year old girl, not once, but three times in a Barrington High School stairwell.

“’The high school has an extensive video surveillance system and campus attendants who regularly monitor student behavior throughout the 72-acre, 570,000-square-foot complex,’ [District 220 Superintendent Tom] Leonard wrote.

“’Unfortunately, cameras and attendants cannot be focused everywhere at once. The brief encounters did not disrupt or attract attention and allegedly occurred in two secluded stairwells at the high school, just beyond the view of video cameras,’” reports the Daily Herald.

From letters and testimony during the 1990′s about sexual assaults in Illinois prison, I know it occurs.

I also know that the Illinois Department of Corrections could greatly diminish such demonstrations of dominance by installing cameras.

When I had DOC cost it out, the price was $11-12 million.

Never enough money, naturally.

And DOC really doesn’t care about prisons having sex in prison.

Some of the victims are so cowed by threats that the sex acts appear to be consensual.

So, it seems obvious neither Illinois’ so-called “Correctional Centers” nor Barrington High School have enough protection for their wards.

And, come to think of it, high schools have a lot more in common with jails than rapists.

A note and some pictures from my sister, who lives in Joplin:

We drove the new high school last Thurs.

It happened to be open so we went in to investigate.

It turned out we were crashing Gov. Nixon’s press conference. He had not arrived yet, so we decided to look around.

We were quite impressed with everything. Apparently the kids are each going to be given a laptop and will have no books.

No lockers in sight in this view of the inside of Joplin's fall 2011 high school.

There are no lockers because of this.

I don’t know where everyone is supposed to put their coats but I guess they have a couple of months to figure that out.

The name of Joplin High School's mascot--the Eagles--covers a wall inside, along with a drawing of a fiece raptor.

Nixon was there to share with us that the state was going to make up the $1.5 million the schools will not receive because of tornado damage. It’s to compensate the school district for the taxes they are going to lose because of fewer businesses and homes owners paying their taxes.

It’s nice to be on the receiving end for once.

Future Joplin High School stars stand in front of the mascot Eagle head.

The high school is now in the old Venture or Shopco building in our mall.

It really is amazing that it has been converted into a state of the art school.

There are also a couple of modular units outside. I think these may be for science.

Joplin High School after tornado destruction.

Also there are quite a few tornado shelters in the parking lot. I need to take a pic of those.

You can see the data above.

But, just to make sure people can use a search engine to find out how well each McHenry County College high school prepares its students who attend McHenry County College in math, I’ll type the results below:

• Harvard – 69%
• Johnsburg – 63%
• Woodstock – 52%
• Richmond-Burton – 51%
• Alden-Hebron 50%
• Marengo – 56%
• McHenry – 47%
• Crystal Lake, Cary-Grove – 47%
• Huntley – 46%

Huntley High School does best in preparing McHenry County College students for college math.

“Only” 46% need remedial assistance.

What is going on when the best a high school district can do is 46%?

How did these incoming MCC students get out of high school?

I am sure there is some explanation. Please share it or them in the comment section.

This post is a continuation of my sister Ellen’s email about what happened as a result of the tornado that devastated much of Joplin.

The hospital that was destroyed has mobile units set up and is back in business. They have room for about 35 patients and have started doing surgeries.

The hospital just reported that they were keeping all of their employees and continuing to pay them.

[For an excellent article on what happened at St. John's, read this Sunday Kansas City Star article.]

Our schools sustained over 150 million dollars damage.

Fortunately our school district has insurance that has a $5000 deductible per event.

A fence how surrounds the destroyed Joplin High School.

Next year 11th and 12th grades will go to school in a former Venture store in the mall.Home Depot has a large tent up and is selling outdoor stuff such as building supplies.

How long is the right amount time to not do your regular routine?

Denny didn’t golf for almost two weeks. The country club canceled their 100 year celebration.

Joplin postponed our annual “Boomtown Days” (I know, classy name, huh?).

Our tennis facility is not having their annual professional tennis tournament.

Since the tornado, we have received more love from others than you could imagine.

Several of the big schools in MO, have sent their football teams to help. The KC Royals (a few of the retired ones) served us lunch (along with our grandkids) at Sam’s Club the other day.

Denny said the Cardinals stopped by the boys free baseball clinic today.

Three Louisiana chefs brought seafood and a fiddler. The chefs called themselves "The Taste Buds." "Three Chefs - One Mission" was also on their tee shirts.

Last night we went to a park where three chefs from New Orleans had come here to cook for us. They even brought a fiddle player and band on stage for our entertainment.

The Oklahoma casino so close to Joplin that it has Joplin water and sewer.

The Casino had a benefit concert for Joplin last weekend.

Some of the kids on the south end of town had their baseball equipment destroyed. Some organization donated 250 bats, helmets, shoes and gloves to the kids.

One boy, in the grandkid’s game tonight, broke his glove, and son-in-law Brandon, gave him a new one.

A young girl is knitting elephants for children in Joplin.

I saw in the news today that Brad and Angelina are donating $500,000 to Joplin. Pitt grew up in Springfield, MO which is about an hour away.

Home Depot, Walmart, and our local roofing company, TAMCO, are a few companies that have each donated 1 million dollars. I wonder where all of this money is going.

The governor has been here several times.

Two more days of stories in this series.

What follows is the first part of a long note from my sister, who lives in Joplin. Mercifully, her family lives in Leawood, about a quarter of a mile south of the Interstate on which I saw a photo of overturned trucks. I have written previously about my niece’s brother-in-law’s experience in the AT&T Store across the main shopping street (Rangeline). The store was demolished and one of his co-workers was killed by the tornado.

If you are interested in what the eyes of a child saw during the tornado, my sister tells of a four-year old who saw “butterfly people.” You’ll have to hang in until the final installment, though, because that’s where she put it.

Hi All,

I have been thinking a lot about what we have been going through lately and I know you have been concerned about us. You don’t know how much that means to us.

During the 1965 tornado in Crystal Lake, I was in the Methodist Church being confirmed.

A friend of mine did not show up, so we went to her house afterwards. Their garage had blown into the house across the street. Their house had shifted slightly, but enough that they had to totally rebuild. I think 12 people died that day.

On May 22, Denny & I had taken our 10 year old granddaughter, Keaton, golfing in preparation for junior golf at the country club.

Tornado damage to the strip mall where Orange Leaf Yogurt is located in Joplin.

On our way home, she wanted to try out the new yogurt place, so of course, we stopped there.

We knew a storm was on the way, but we were not overly concerned. We went across town on 20th street.

Little did we know that 45 minutes later that street would never look the same.

Also several stores in the same strip mall as the yogurt shop were demolished. The yogurt shop has reopened.

The tornado alarm sounded right after we got back into the car.

Daughter Lissa was meeting us at our house to help with our youngest daughter Kelly’s wedding invites.

Then son-in-law Brandon joined us with grandsons, Fielding & Hobbs and their cousins, Maggie and Carson. They had been at a ball field practicing.

We were all in our basement watching TV about the storm.

Maggie gets very nervous during storms and ended up throwing up on our carpet. (It’s old and not a big deal.)

Then our electricity went out, and we think that’s probably when the tornado hit Joplin.

At that point, I was running up and down the stairs, looking for radios and batteries. (I’m good to go now.)

When we started to hear about damage, I began occupying the kids with stories about how I sunk my dad’s motorboat when I was a kid.

Then Denny would walk by and whisper, “Home Depot is gone.”

On the Joplin High School sign, the "J" has been replaced by an a duct taped "H" and"IN" with an "E." Nearby tree trunks have been carved into eagles, the team mascot.

A few minutes later, he would whisper, “The high school is gone.”

After the rain stopped, Denny took the kids to a neighbor’s yard, where the water rushes through a ditch. The kids like to play there after storms and they came home all wet.

Lissa was able to post on Facebook that we had not been in the tornado’s path and we were safe.

[And I was snapping photos off the TV and emailing them to Lissa.]

The AT&T Store in Joplin.

Brandon became very concerned about his brother, David, who was working at an AT&T cell phone store across from Walmart, which was also destroyed.

He was about ready to go look for him, when he heard that David was OK. It had taken him an hour and a half to get out from the rubble. One co-worker died that day.

More installments for the next five days.

The Chicago Sun-Times released a school teacher and administrator data base this week that some might find interesting.

“Salary data includes base, summer-, after-school pay, benefits, vacation- or sick-day payouts, pre-retirement salary bumps. Average includes only full-time employees,” says the print on top of the search engine page.

Not specifically mention, but included is the pension payments that taxpayers pay for teachers and administrators. Teachers are supposed to pay 9.4%, but many in McHenry County and elsewhere don’t. Those who must pay the employee share of Social Security might be envious of this negotiated deal.

First I looked for average salaries for high school teachers in McHenry County’s districts. You see the results below:

You might find it of interest to compare the salaries with the percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards.

Those high schools where students do the best are Crystal Lake and Richmond-Burton.

67.9% for Richmond-Burton High School District and 67.3% for District 155.  Both have a similar percentage of low income kids.  Richmond-Burton’s is a tad higher than Crystal Lake’s.

Compare the average compensation of Crystal Lake and Richmond-Burton and there is no contest.

Crystal Lake High School District 155 ranks 16th highest in the state with average compensation of $91,960.  $62,237 is Richmond-Burton’s average, almost $30,000 less.

District 155 is currently in secret negotiations with its IEA teachers’ union.

Even a cursory review of the salary data will show that teaching in a high school district is the way to make the most money.

As I have explained before, the legislator who wrote the Resource Equalizer State Aid to Education formula in the mid-1970′s was a high school teachers from a high school district.

State Rep. Gene Hoffman figured out how to make sure high school districts benefited most for the formula.  From the figures above, you’d have to agree he achieved his goal.

It doesn’t always work out as well as it does for Crystal Lake’s District 155 teachers. Marengo and Richmond-Burton are also high school districts. The others are unit district, meaning all 13 grades are governing by one school board.

I am sure some commentators will want to share their analyses of these statistics.

Not having figured out how to make charts, but wanting people to be able to search the data, I present below the raw data.  Get the headings from the image above.

16	CHSD 155	McHenry	$91,959.72	11.86	7.8	67.4	High School Teacher
74	McHenry CHSD 156	McHenry	$68,392.57	9.7	10.5	58.3	High School Teacher
96	Marengo CHSD 154	McHenry	$65,754.02	11.78	18.4	60.9	High School Teacher
110	Johnsburg CUSD 12	McHenry	$63,468.73	12.55	14.2	61.7	High School Teacher
115	Woodstock CUSD 200	McHenry	$62,614.35	11.42	27.8	58.9	High School Teacher
120	Richmond-Burton CHSD 157	McHenry	$62,236.80	9.89	9.7	67.9	High School Teacher
239	Cons SD 158	McHenry	$53,288.16	7.35	9.9	63.1	High School Teacher
254	Harvard CUSD 50	McHenry	$52,338.04	9.62	49.7	41.3	High School Teacher
331	Alden Hebron SD 19	McHenry	$48,584.08	11.77	18.3	58.1	High School Teacher

The sign in front of the demolished Joplin High School was altered after the tornado.

All that was left of the letters in “Joplin” were the “O” and the “P.”

Someone duct taped an “H” in front of those two letters and an “E” after them.

Now it spells “HOPE.”

Southwest Airlines is popping for two free plane tickets to Washington, D.C., for a talented high school artist living in the 16th congressional district. U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo has sent out this press release about the opportunity:

Rep. Manzullo Invites Northern IL High School Students to Enter 2011 Congressional Art Contest Winner receives 2 free plane tickets to DC, artwork hangs in Capitol for 1 year

[ROCKFORD]  Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) today invited northern Illinois high school students to participate in the 2011 Congressional High School Art Competition.

The winner from Illinois’ 16th Congressional District will receive two free airplane tickets (courtesy of Southwest Airlines) to Washington, DC for the winner’s reception in June.

In addition, the winning artwork will be displayed in the halls of Congress with other winners for the next year. Winners also qualify for an annual $1,500 scholarship to the prestigious Savannah Center for Art and Design (www.scad.edu).

Deadline for submissions to the 16th District art competition is 3 p.m. May 6 at the Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 North Main St., Rockford. Artwork can be delivered earlier to Congressman Manzullo’s district office in Rockford (415 S. Mulford Road) or artists can request a pick up of their art (art will be picked up on May 5).

Judging will begin at 4:30 p.m. May 6 at the museum, and Congressman Manzullo will host a reception for all artists and their families in the museum’s Riverview Room from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The winner will be announced during this time.

Any high school student living within the 16th Congressional District of Illinois may participate. The District includes the counties of Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Ogle, Carroll, the majority of McHenry County and parts of DeKalb and Whiteside counties.

Those interested in participating in this year’s competition should contact their high school art teacher for an entry form and rules of the contest. The rules and forms can also be found at http://www.house.gov/house/ArtGuidelines.shtml

For further information, contact Pam Sexton at Congressman Manzullo’s office at 815-394-1231.