McHenry County Blog

Many elected officials will be at dinner at the McHenry County Council of Governments at the Huntley Park District-owned Pinecrest Golf Club on Algonquin Road.

Hosting the June membership meeting will be Mayor Chuck Sass and the Village of Huntley

The Wednesday, June 19, 2013, meeting starts with a cocktail reception at 6, followed by dinner at 6:30 and a program featuring the “highlights” from the spring legislative session and, then, a business meeting and committee updates.

For $38, dinner options (“please choose one”) include:

• Filet Mignon with Grilled Shrimp
•  Chicken Breast with Grilled Shrimp
•  New Zealand Grouper

All entrees include bread, a garden salad, green beans almondine, red roasted potatoes and dessert

Non-member governmental and non-profits will be charged $40, while others will pony up $43.

Members of the organization are Algonquin, Algonquin Township, Barrington Hills, Bull Valley, Cary, Crystal Lake, Fox River Grove, Grafton Township, Greenwood, Harvard, Hebron, Huntley, Island Lake, Johnsburg, Lake in the Hills, Lakemoor, Lakewood, Marengo, McCullom Lake, McHenry, McHenry County, McHenry Township, Prairie Grove, Richmond, Riley Township, Ringwood, Spring Grove, Trout Valley, Union and Woodstock.

Spring Grove at the McHenry County Council of Governments Awards Banquet:

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) has reversed the House defeat of his bill to prevent local tax districts from raising the tax take when assessed valuation is not growing…regardless of the increase in the Consumer Price Index.

Only voter approval could overcome the mew tax cap rule

While last time around he only got 34 votes, this time the bill garnered 74 votes.

Locally, the taxpayer-financed McHenry County Council for Governments sent the following email of opposition Monday night:

Good Evening,

Attached is a letter we have drafted to Rep. Bradley, requesting his “No” vote on Representative Franks’ PTELL bill. This same letter will be amended to be addressed to all members of the House Revenue and Finance Committee.

We request your consideration of including member Mayor’s, President’s, County Board Chairman Koehler and Township Supervisor’s signature on this letter. If you agree, please e-mail an electronic version of your signature to me at your earliest convenience.

As of this evening, Rep. Franks’ bill HB4608 is still in the House Rules Committee. However, there is a good chance it could be assigned to the Revenue and Finance Committee this week or early next week. Therefore, we request that you provide your signature, if you wish to include it, as soon as possible.

I will be in Springfield this week and will provide updates as they occur. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need more information.

Best regards,

Anna

The bill that passed was Senate Bill 2073.

If you like to express your opinion about tax dollars being used to lobby against the best interest of taxpayers, here are some email addresses that might be useful:

amoeller@mchenrycountycog.org
To: a.osten@foxrivergrove.org; williamganek@algonquin.org; robby723@comcast.net; bsager@woodstockil.gov; peterson@village.lakewood.il.us; cblack@ci.mchenry.il.us; csass@huntley.il.us; cpeters@johnsburg.org; djohnson@huntley.il.us; d.brouder@foxrivergrove.org; edh@rdthiel.com; eplaza@woodstocklawpros.com; erin.smith.lakewood@gmail.com; kbeatty37@gmail.com; gmayerhofer@crystallake.org; gsagona@lith.org; Mayor@cityofharvard.org; jattermeier@villageofhebron.org; glindagood68@aol.com; johnschmitt@algonquin.org; jblakemore@cityofmarengo.com; jolson@springgrovevillage.com; mgeraghty@ci.mchenry.il.us; meisenberg@springgrovevillage.com; nsujet@lith.org; nelson@cityofharvard.org; mack5207@mchsi.com; rmcmahon@huntley.il.us; troutmayor@aol.com; rparr80069@aol.com; sduda@prairiegrove.org; suelow@mc.net; mccullomlake@comcast.net; tclifton@woodstockil.gov; toddweihofen@yahoo.com; supervisor@mchenrytownship.com; lindamooregt@hotmail.com; algtwsp@mc.net; pbaustin@co.mchenry.il.us

There will be, of course, a bitter fight between the tax eaters and the taxpayers in the Illinois Senate.

Below is the House Roll Call:

From the roll call you can get an idea of where the first priorities of these legislators are.

At the last Grafton Township Board meeting, the following slip of paper was handed out by Township Trustees to those in attendance:

Noting that the document has no letterhead, I gave it no credence, even though it seemed to make sense.

Today, Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore shared what she heard when she talked to the IRS Agent who did the audit of township books. McHenry County Blog’s original story is here. Her email follows:

“Recent Township IRS Audit

“At the township meeting last week, an attorney misinformed the board that IRS Auditor John Lauer had recanted ‘Taxable Income’ dinners ruling made during the audit.

“I have spoken with the IRS agent today and he informed me that there will be no amendment made to Grafton Township’s audit.

“Unfortunately, the trustees distributed a slip of paper to all in attendance at this meeting, with a misquote of the IRS agent.

“At this point, I recommend that the IRS documents are the most reliable source of information from the IRS and any statements made by third parties should be disregarded to avoid any further confusion.

“As the Township Supervisor I will follow the direction of the IRS when administering the township payroll operations.”

= = = = =
I have added additional parts of the IRS Audit here.

Look at the reaction of McCOG to the McHenry County Blog story about the IRS determination that the cost of its dinners, reimbursed to Grafton Township elected officials, are taxable fringe benefits.

Good Afternoon,

I’ve been contacted by a couple of our local government members regarding whether or not MCCG dinner costs are considered a taxable fringe benefit.

It appears that some local governments are being contacted by local media regarding this issue based on discussions regarding this matter in one of our Townships.

According to the Fringe Benefit Guide (see attached with specific reference on page 46), it is our interpretation, and that of Sikich, LLC a municipal auditing firm, that MCCG meal costs are not taxable fringe benefits because they are expenses directly related to and necessary for attending business meetings of certain exempt organizations and attendance is related to your trade or business.

Exempt organizations include chambers of commerce, business leagues and trade or professional associations.

Further clarification is being sought from the actual IRS auditor.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need more information.

Best regards,

Anna

A while back McHenry County Blog took a look at how the Republican Party was faring, based on the number of people who filed GOP Precinct Committeeman petitions.

Let’s take a walk down that same path with McHenry County Democrats.

To put McHenry County political landscape into perspective, there are 212 election precincts.

People filed to run for Democratic Party Precinct Committeeman in only 40 of them.

Less than 19% of the precincts in a county carried by Barack Obama have people with enough energy to get ten of their neighbors’ signatures.

That’s compared to the 49% of precincts where there are GOP candidates, which was pathetic in itself.

Unlike in the Republican Primary, there are no contests for Precinct Committeeman in the Democratic Party.

I know that local Democrats like to call their Precinct Committeemen “Precinct Representatives,” but the title is “Committeeman.”

As I have suggested more than once, if local Democrats want to change the title of the office, folks in their party control the legislature and the Governor’s Office.

Hey, there’s even a Democrat in the Illinois House from McHenry County.

Just ask Jack Franks.

That should not be a hard bill to pass.

Alden Township

(Alden)

ALDEN – No Candidate Filed

Algonquin Township

(Algonquin, southern Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills, Cary, Fox River Grove, Barrington Hills)

ALGONQUIN 1 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 2 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 3 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 4 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 5 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 6 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 7 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 8 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 9 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 10 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 11 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 12 – No Candidate Filed

ALGONQUIN 13 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 14 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 15 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 16 – Patricia A. Abboud (Barrington Hills)
ALGONQUIN 17 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 18 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 19 – Loreen (Lori) Keller (Crystal Lake)
ALGONQUIN 20 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 21 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 22 – No Candidate Filed

ALGONQUIN 23 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 24 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 25 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 26 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 27 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 28 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 29 – Katherine M Tremont (Cary)
ALGONQUIN 30 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 31 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 32 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 33 – Debbie Chirikos (Algonquin)
ALGONQUIN 34 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 35 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 36 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 37 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 38 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 39 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 40 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 41 – Robert R. Waddell (Algonquin)
ALGONQUIN 42 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 43 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 44 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 45 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 46 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 47 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 48 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 49 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 50 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 51 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 52 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 53 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 54 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 55 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 56 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 57 – No Candidate Filed

ALGONQUIN 58 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 59 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 60 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 61 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 62 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 63 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 64 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 65 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 66 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 67 – No Candidate Filed
ALGONQUIN 68 – No Candidate Filed

Burton Township

(Spring Grove, Fox Lake)

BURTON 1 – Jeff S. Thirtyacre (SpringGrove)
BURTON 2 – No Candidate Filed
BURTON 3 – No Candidate Filed

Chemung Township

(Harvard, Lawrence)

CHEMUNG 1 – No Candidate Filed
CHEMUNG 2 – No Candidate Filed
CHEMUNG 3 – No Candidate Filed
CHEMUNG 4 – No Candidate Filed
CHEMUNG 5 – No Candidate Filed

Coral Township

(Union)

CORAL 1 – Ryan Anderson (Union)
CORAL 2 – No Candidate Filed
CORAL 3 – No Candidate Filed

Dorr Township

(Woodstock, Bull Valley)

DORR 1 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 2 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 3 – Robert E. Gibson (Woodstock)
DORR 4 – Ann Legg (Woodstock)
DORR 5 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 6 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 7 – Thomas J. Cynor (Woodstock)
DORR 8 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 9 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 10 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 11 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 12 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 13 – No Candidate Filed
DORR 14 – Thomas G. Erlenborn (Bull Valley)

Dunham Township

(Southern Harvard)

DUNHAM – Scott Summers (Harvard)

Grafton Township

(Huntley, Lakewood, western Crystal Lake, western Lake in the Hills, western Algonquin)

GRAFTON 1 – Diane E. Oltman Ayers (Huntley)
GRAFTON 2 – Sara Ryerson (Lakewood)
GRAFTON 3 – Elizabeth A Puchmelter (Crystal Lake)
GRAFTON 4 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 5 – Mary Mackowiak (Crystal Lake)
GRAFTON 6 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 7 – Jill McCutcheon (Crystal Lake)
GRAFTON 8 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 9 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 10 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 11 – No Candidate Filed

GRAFTON 12 – Michael Bissett (Lake in the Hills)
GRAFTON 13 – James P. Kennedy (Lake in the Hills)
GRAFTON 14 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 15 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 16 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 17 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 18 – Denise Barreto (Lake in the Hills)
GRAFTON 19 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 20 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 21 – No Candidate FiledGRAFTON 22 – Samuel S. Melei (Huntley)

GRAFTON 23 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 24 – Michael A. Henry (Huntley)
GRAFTON 25 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 26 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 27 – No Candidate Filed.
GRAFTON 28 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 29 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 30 – No Candidate Filed
GRAFTON 31 – No Candidate Filed

Greenwood Township

(Northern Woodstock, western Wonder Lake & Greenwood)

GREENWOOD 1 – No Candidate Filed
GREENWOOD 2 – No Candidate Filed
GREENWOOD 3 – No Candidate Filed
GREENWOOD 4 – No Candidate Filed
GREENWOOD 5 – No Candidate Filed
GREENWOOD 6 – Brian D. Meyers (Woodstock)
GREENWOOD 7 – No Candidate Filed

Hartland Township

HARTLAND 1 – No Candidate Filed
HARTLAND 2 – No Candidate Filed

Hebron Township

(Hebron)

HEBRON 1 – Andrew J Georgi, Jr. (Hebron)

HEBRON 2 – No Candidate Filed

Marengo Township

(Marengo)

MARENGO 1 – No Candidate Filed
MARENGO 2 – No Candidate Filed
MARENGO 3 – No Candidate Filed
MARENGO 4 – No Candidate Filed

McHenry Township

(McHenry, eastern Wonder Lake, Johnsburg, McCullom Lake, Lakemoor, Holiday Hills, Ringwood)

MCHENRY 1 – Martha B “Marti” Swanson (Ringwood)
MCHENRY 2 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 3 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 4 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 5 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 6 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 7 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 8 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 9 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 10 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 11 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 12 – Irene Wolff Raven (McHenry)
MCHENRY 13 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 14 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 15 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 16 – Michael Mayo (Johnsburg)
MCHENRY 17 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 18 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 19 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 20 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 21 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 22 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 23 – No Candidate Filed

MCHENRY 24 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 25 – Brian Peters (Lakemoor)
MCHENRY 26 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 27 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 28 – Herbert Hassinger (McHenry)
MCHENRY 29 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 30 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 31 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 32 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 33 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 34 – No Candidate Filed
MCHENRY 35 – No Candidate Filed

Nunda Township

(Northern Crystal Lake, Southern McHenry, Prairie Grove, Island Lake, Oakwood Hills, Holiday Hills)

NUNDA 1 – Kathleen Bergan Schmidt (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 2 – Pauline Walker (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 3 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 4 – No Candidate Filed

NUNDA 5 – Patrick Murfin (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 6 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 7 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 8 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 9 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 10 – Kevin L. Klopfenstein (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 11 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 12 – Alexander Bielsky (Holiday Hills)
NUNDA 13 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 14 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 15 – Mitchell J. Wisumierski (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 16 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 17 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 18 – Nancy Schietzelt (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 19 – Nan Kueller (Crystal Lake)
NUNDA 20 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 21 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 22 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 23 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 24 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 25 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 26 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 27 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 28 – No Candidate Filed
NUNDA 29 – Robert Routzahn (Crystal Lake)

Richmond Township

(Richmond, Spring Grove)

RICHMOND 1 – No Candidate Filed
RICHMOND 2 – No Candidate Filed
RICHMOND 3 – No Candidate Filed
RICHMOND 4 – No Candidate Filed

Riley Township

(Southern Marengo)

RILEY -No Candidate Filed

Seneca Township

(Western Woodstock)

SENECA 1 – No Candidate Filed
SENECA 2 – John Bartman (Marengo)

“We want more!”

might be the motto of the McHenry County Council of Governments, a taxpayer-supported local meeting ground of local officials, elected and appointed.

The McCOG group’s Executive Director has sent out the following email in opposition to State Rep. Jack Frank’s House Bill 3793:

Good Afternoon-

The MCCG is strongly opposed to HB3793. This bill, if passed, would provide that if the total EAV of taxable property in a taxing district for the current levy year is less than the total equalized assessed value of all taxable property in the taxing district for the previous levy year, then the extension limitation is 0%. A taxing district could impose a rate increase only after that increase is approved by voters via referendum (instead of the lesser of 5% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index during the 12-month calendar year preceding the levy year).

This bill will be heard in the House Revenue and Finance Committee Tuesday October 25th at 2:30 pm.

Although Rep. Franks and many of the bills co-sponsors have discussed this bill with several of our Mayors, Managers and County officials and are well aware of our opposition to this bill, it is important to continue advocating against this legislation- especially since it is now being heard in committee.

New this year, we have the ability to submit “witness slips” on bills being heard in House committees on-line. Before hearing testimony, the committee is read all of the witness slips filed on a bill and I encourage you to file a slip in opposition to this bill via this new on-line communications tool.

The process is easy to use:

1. click on the link below, which directs you to the home page of the Illinois House of Representatives Witness Slips database
2. click on “hearings”
3. select “Revenue and Finance Committee Tuesday October 25, 2011 at 2:30 pm”
4. click “create slip”
5. complete information- in the case of HB3793 click the “opponent” button and “record of appearance only”
6. finally, click “create slip”Witness Slip Website

You can also contact Rep. Gaffney, who represents part of McHenry Co. and serves on the Revenue and Finance Committee. His e-mail address is repgaffney@gmail.com.

Best regards-

Anna

Your tax dollars at work.

Not on your behalf, but on the behalf of those who govern you.

Boy, do I wish I had been at the McHenry County Council of Governments last night.

Right there in the background material was a summary of Governor Pat Quinn’s income tax hike proposal.

I can’t tell you which version (it looks like the most recent), but here are the details that were presented:

• Change from 3% to 4.5% individual income tax rate revenue: +$4.5 billion
• Personal exemption increase from $2,000 to $3,000 cost: ($400 million)
• Property tax credit increase from 5% to 105 (with $500 cap) cost: ($300 million)
• Earned Income Tax Credit increase from 5% to 10% cost: ($100 million)
• Net new individual income tax revenue = $3.7 billion
• Change from 4.8% to 7.2% corporate income tax rate revenue: +$350 million

• 10% local government share before tax increase: $1 billion
• 10% local government share after tax increase: $1.4 billion
• New local government revenue: $400 million

I guess the last line of the explanation was for the gathering of elected and appointed tax eaters who can’t subtract.

I have noted previously that those who favor the Democrats’ 50% income tax hike never say it’s a 50% tax hike.

Look at that first line above.

Do you see anything about this being a 50% increase?

And no where is the what business will see taken out of their income presented. (Hint. It’s more than 7.2%.)

Wouldn’t you think if the officials can’t be expected to subtract $1.4 billion from $1 billion and get $400,000 million that they might also need help figuring out the percentage increase proposed in the income tax rate?

Considering McHenry County property taxpayers would be discriminated against by the property tax credit increase to 10% of one’s tax bill, why would anyone in the room vote for this proposal.

Tax bills that are over $5,000 are not all that unusual in McHenry County. At least if my neighborhood is any indication. (Yes, I know the houses in Lakewood are valued higher than average, but the average tax bill here is way over $5,000.)

But they are quite, quite unusual in Cook County.

So, Cook County homeowners would get a 10% credit, but lots of us in the collar counties wouldn’t.

I wonder if our locally elected officials picked up on that.

I guess I should be thankful that enough mayors, managers, county board members, etc., figured out that McHenry County will be a big loser in this income tax scheme to learn to the conclusion:

As the folks on the Grafton Township Board learned, a tie doesn’t mean victory.

But Quinn has received approval from taxeaters in the Will County Municipal League, Metrowest COG, South Suburban Mayors and Managers, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and (a) “number of COGs (MCCG included).”

Fortunately,

“The MCCG Executive Committee members discussed the request this morning and decided that all voting members be polled on the proposal.”

The outgoing president of the organization is Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager. Replacing him is Rick Mack, Village President of Ringwood.

And the presumably Republican-dominated group of local officials has put Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud in line to be president when he might be running for election again against Republican 16th District Congressman Don Manzullo.