McHenry County Blog

Take a look at what the McHenry County Board will look at when they decide whether to give taxpayers a break next year.

You remember, the break the Board majority did not give in the real estate tax bills we just received.

Approximate 20 Year Effects of Not Taking CPI Increase on Future Levies

The right hand column shows what taxpayers would save each year through 2023 if the McHenry County Board doesn’t squeeze taxpayers for all they can get.

On May 22nd, the County Finance Committee approved this wording for leveling a tax increase for the 2013 Budget:

Consumer Price Index – The County of McHenry is mandated to follow the Illinois Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) by the State of Illinois.

PTELL allows governing bodies the ability to cover the costs of inflationary increases incurred in their day to day operations by increasing their previous year’s extension by the CPI or 5%, whichever is smallest.

For the fiscal year 2013 budget, in the event that revenue projections should grow less than 2% or show declines (see Revenue Estimation paragraph above), the County Board will allow usage of the CPI to cover only the additional increased costs of

• union/non-union wage adjustments,
• health insurance increases,
• pension increases,
• fuel,
• utilities (electricity, natural gas, water & sewer) and
• all other new costs that have been presented and approved by the County Board (without source of funding stated) since the passage of the fiscal year 2012 budget up to the passage of this budget policy.

Once a balanced budget is presented to the full County Board with a prioritized listing of the supplemental requests, and if the full amount of the CPI was not needed to cover the costs mentioned above, the County Board will bring forth a decision on using the remaining CPI funds available to cover the costs of the recommended supplementals.

Can’t imagine why the song “I’m Just a Girl Caint Say, ‘No’.”

“I’m just a girl who caint say, “No.’”

What percentage of the budget do you think the items listed above comprise?

If you prefer the original, which I remember seeing in Baltimore, Maryland, on the first row of the balcony when I was about 5, the movie version is below:

Can anyone spell “tax hike?”

Oklahoma United States Senator Tom Coburn was in Chicago Tuesday night as the featured speaker for Paul Caprio’s Family PAC’s annual cruise.

Having heard people senior to myself question whether the real purpose of the bill was to withhold expensive end-of-life services from people, my ears perked up when he said the bill is about

“abandonment of life at the end…about the very ethics of being human.

“There isn’t a life that doesn’t have value,” Coburn continued.

He reported only two amendments had been accepted by the Democratic Party majority:

1 – “a conscience clause for assisted suicide” and

2 – “making sure members of Congress are in any plan we pass”

During the question and answer session on deck of the boat, Coburn declared,

“First of all, it’s will not pass.”

Asked about the political consequences of passage, he said that

“next year’s elections will be impacted, but not nearly as much as 3-4 years from now.”

The doctor described the bill as giving “you access to a waiting line” and predicted that 15% of doctors will retire to work in other countries or do mission work, if it does pass.

Asked about the Democratic agenda, the obstetrician said he it his

“hope and prayer is that they keep overreaching.”

“They actually believe in a nanny state. You don’t have the ability to look after yourself and your family.”

A later observation about politicians:

“Politicians routinely give what they don’t have.”

Encouraging people to follow him into elective politics, Coburn observed,

“I’ve seen liberty diminished in my adult life.”

A final analytical comment on who will pay for the $1.7 billion the Democrats health care plan will cost over the next seven years:

“50% will come from small business tax increases.”

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In the bottom photo, U.S. Senator Thomas Coburn indicates the size of a baby which any doctor could recognize as a human being.

When we were down in Missouri visiting my little sister, the first Saturday we went to Oklahoma’s Grand Lake.

At the lakeside resort which my niece’s father-in-law developed, I saw this Oklahoma Ducks Unlimited license plate.

What do you want to bet that its owner had something to do with getting approval for the issuance of these special license plates?

When we were down in Missouri visiting my little sister, the first Saturday we went to Oklahoma’s Grand Lake.

At the lakeside resort which my niece’s father-in-law developed, I saw this Oklahoma Ducks Unlimited license plate.

What do you want to bet that its owner had something to do with getting approval for the issuance of these special license plates?