McHenry County Blog

Last August Democrat Jack Franks raised expectations on the sign outside of his Route 47 Woodstock office. The message was "JACK PASSED LAW TO HELP LOWER PROPERTY TAXES." This couldn't have related to the Property Tax idea, because it was defeated during the later Fall Veto Session. Anyone have any idea what he was talking about during McHenry County Fair time?

• article about the motivation for Democrat Jack Franks’ Real Estate Tax Cap bill and
• the one about his Senate sponsor’s outright rejection of the idea and
• the posting of the email from Crystal Lake Grade School District 47 bemoaning the House passage of Senate Bill 2073

must have caught the attention of someone at the paper of record in McHenry County.

There were three paragraphs in the article resulting from the interview with Brett Rowlan:

“One local political observer dismissed Franks’ bill as being just for show.

“’It’s a [media] headline bill,’ said Cal Skinner, a former state legislator and local blogger. ‘It has no chance of passage.’

“He suggested it might be an election year stunt by Democrats to distract voters from last year’s income tax increase. Nonetheless, Skinner said the bill ‘certainly catches the mood of the taxpayers.’”

My little part made the first page of the internet edition, but not on the print edition, where the story was top right on the page.

But there was no link to McHenry County Blog.

If you want to see the future of Crystal Lake Tax Increment Financing Districts, you need look no farther than McHenry.

In a new blog run by the Northwest Herald, McHenry Blog, Jillian Duchnowski reports condo developer Curtis Commercial wants

“$200,000 more in incentives to build a complex with 27 condo and 12 retail spaces downtown.”

The developer of property, right across the creek from the movie theater, has “discovered” that the cost of building a parking deck is a couple of hundred thousand dollars more than the firm expected.

So, where does the developer think the extra money should come from?

That honey pot called the Tax Increment Financing fund.

The City of McHenry has already committed itself to shelling out $2 million in incentives “to boost a project that otherwise wouldn’t be profitable.”

The article continues:

”The value of those incentives is similar to what the city offered Cunat Inc. for a similar project proposed across the street.”

Am I the only one who has a problem with this concept?

The same thing has happened in Elgin, by the way.

How long before the Crystal Lake City Council follows suit?

Oh, I forgot.

Crystal Lake is going to use its 75% hike in sales tax, plus TIF money to bail out developers of choice.

If you want to see the future of Crystal Lake Tax Increment Financing Districts, you need look no farther than McHenry.

In a new blog run by the Northwest Herald, McHenry Blog, Jillian Duchnowski reports condo developer Curtis Commercial wants

“$200,000 more in incentives to build a complex with 27 condo and 12 retail spaces downtown.”

The developer of property, right across the creek from the movie theater, has “discovered” that the cost of building a parking deck is a couple of hundred thousand dollars more than the firm expected.

So, where does the developer think the extra money should come from?

That honey pot called the Tax Increment Financing fund.

The City of McHenry has already committed itself to shelling out $2 million in incentives “to boost a project that otherwise wouldn’t be profitable.”

The article continues:

”The value of those incentives is similar to what the city offered Cunat Inc. for a similar project proposed across the street.”

Am I the only one who has a problem with this concept?

The same thing has happened in Elgin, by the way.

How long before the Crystal Lake City Council follows suit?

Oh, I forgot.

Crystal Lake is going to use its 75% hike in sales tax, plus TIF money to bail out developers of choice.