From State Rep. David McSweeney: On May 31st, the legislative session came to an end and the General Assembly passed another unbalanced budget. It has revenue adjustments, interfund borrowing and a handful of buzzwords that simply translate to more spending. The … Continue reading
St. Clair County, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, has 210,000 people. So it’s smaller than McHenry County with 308,000 population in 2010. For the last five years the St. Clair County Board has lowered its property tax take. … Continue reading
Before the McHenry County Republican Party’s Convention last month, State Rep. Mike Tryon and I spent some time talking about the bills that State Senators Pam Althoff and Karen McConnaughay had passed unanimously sent to the House of Representatives. After … Continue reading
Reader Susan provided two commentaries on property taxes this weekend. The first tells how to compare real estate taxes from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, state to state. It’s called the effective tax rate. Divide one’s tax bill by what one’s property … Continue reading
Below the total tax requests from Fire Protection Districts in McHenry County for last year are compared to the ones which will be reflected in the real estate tax bills about to arrive in people’s mailboxes: The Barrington Countryside Fire … Continue reading
Townships are a much maligned form of local government. Today we show you how much McHenry County’s seventeen townships will extract from pocketbooks this year compared to last year. Extensions are the amount of taxes which are billed. The tax … Continue reading
Last year McHenry County real estate taxpayers were billed $797,419,250.88. This year the McHenry County Clerk’s Office has determined that bills amounting to $809,385,180.76 will be issued. That’s a dollar increase of $11,965,930, a percentage increase of 1.5%. The Property … Continue reading
The bill that will allow the McHenry County Conservation District to hike corporate fund taxes 50% passed without opposition in the Illinois Senate. State Rep. Mike Tryon is the House sponsor of Senate Bill 3342. Tomorrow: Why the tax referendum … Continue reading
A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff: Senate Week in Review: March 31 – April 4, 2013 April 4, 2014 Springfield, Ill. – As Senators approach an April 11 deadline to move Senate Bills to the Illinois House, State … Continue reading
The Show You Care for the Developmentally Disabled Political Action Committee campaign to hike taxes in Kane County has the following post-election day results (a few absentee ballots yet to be counted): Yes 14,805 36% No 25,826 64% I have … Continue reading
The base tax rate for the McHenry County Conservation District is 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. (Any bonds increase that rate, of course.) Take a look at the language introduced by State Senator Pam Althoff sand Karen McConnaughay. … Continue reading
Take a look and give your reaction to Al Zielinski’s ideas for a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Zielinski takes office as Grafton Township Assessor the first of the new year. Initial, Conceptual Property Owners’ Taxpayer Bill of Rights Discussion Points … Continue reading
The following came from a friend of McHenry County Blog in Richmond: Of course, Richmond Township is not the only township setting the amount of taxes it will collect next year. Taxpayers who do not want that part of their … Continue reading
The McHenry County College Board asked for the same amount of money from taxpayers next year as it got this year. The McHenry County Board is planning on doing almost as well. And, as you can see from the chart … Continue reading
Into my computer popped the following press release from Kane County Auditor Terry Hunt: Score Another One for the Taxpayers Cal Skinner certainly knows how to get a reader’s attention. The headline of his recent article in the McHenry County … Continue reading
The three newly-elected McHenry County College Board members joined with the Board President they elected to pass a property tax levy that will collect the same amount next year as this year. The zero increase levy was originally on the … Continue reading
Peter Breen is the acting Village President of Lombard. He is running for the Republican nomination for State Rep. against incumbent Sandra M. Pihos, who was first elected in 2002. Breen is using his elected position to advance his candidacy. … Continue reading
The inadequate language of the Property Tax Cap encourages tax districts to “balloon” levy. The Tax Cap, know as PTELL to the technocrats, has two parts. In the first, which is most widely known, tax districts like schools and county … Continue reading
Back in 1978, first term Governor Jim Thompson was looking for a campaign gimmick. He came up with an advisory referendum which asked voters if they wanted to be notified if a tax district planned to spend more than 5% … Continue reading
McHenry County College’s Board of Trustees discussed next year’s budget against last night at its Committee of the Whole meeting. Three members lined up on the side of keeping the tax levy flat next year. They are (in alphabetic order) … Continue reading
