Surges Calls Late Property Tax Payments Cited by McConnaughay “Old News”

Yesterday State Senate candidate Karen McConnaughay issued a press release which I characterized as “pounding” her opponent Cliff Surges on not having paid property taxes on time. I asked for a reply and here is what Surges sent: “This is … Continue reading

McConnaughay Pounds Surges on Late Real Estate Tax Payments

A press release from State Senate candidate Karen McConnaughay about her opponent Cliff Surges: Karen McConnaughay Congratulates Opponent for Rare On-Time Tax Payment Cliff Surges meets property tax payment deadline for first time since 2006 St. Charles, Illinois—State Senate candidate … Continue reading

Emphais on McHenry County Board’s Decision to Tax to the Max Continues to Dominate Northwest Herald Coverage for District 3 Candidates

You may remember that Kevin Craver’s Northwest Herald article about District 2 McHenry County Board candidates focused on the vote to increase the property tax levy by the maximum of 1.5% Cost-of-Living increase allowed by the Real Estate Tax Cap. … Continue reading

NW Herald Article Actually Quotes Cal Skinner

Guess my 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 … Continue reading

Senate Sponsor of Jack Franks’ Property Tax Cap Bill Says It’s “Dead on Arrival”

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog noted that State Rep. Jack Franks’ bill was “headline” bill, that is one, that was put up to garner local press, but never intended to be enacted. In fact, I quoted a state legislator close to … Continue reading

Crystal Lake Grade School District Asks Taxpayers’ Help to Fight Their Self-Interest

A email has been sent this morning soliciting parental opposition to State Rep. Jack Franks’ bill to prohibit the collection of more property tax dollars when assessments go down. Apparently Superintendent Donn Mendoza and School Board President Jeff Mason were … Continue reading

The Cost to Local School Districts of Democrats’ Plan to Shift Who Pays Teacher’s Pensions

Here’s how much the Democrats teacher pension payment shifting plan will cost McHenry County taxpayers: Nippersink School District 2   $6,426,544.26 Fox River Grove CSD 3                2,957,690.47 Johnsburg CUSD 12                   12,905,616.00 McHenry CCSD 15                        21,799,110.51 Riley CCSD 18                                 … Continue reading

Tea Leaves at the Northwest Herald

Maybe it’s not tea leaves. Maybe it’s newspaper clippings to which I should allude. In any event, the first two McHenry County Board endorsement editorials got me thinking. McHenry County’s paper of record has suggested dumping Board Chairman Ken Koehler … Continue reading

Jim Bishop Cut My Property Taxes

I cut my political teeth while McHenry County Treasurer in 1959-70 by challenging real estate assessments before the McHenry County Board of Review (a fool’s errand in those days) and, then, appealing them to the newly-former Illinois Property Tax Appeals … Continue reading

Property Tax Hike Becoming County Board Top Issue – Part 1

As I mentioned in my short article Saturday, the records of incumbent County Board members and the positions of challengers on holding real estate taxes constant or even lowering them could become the issue of the March 20th Republican primary … Continue reading

Capturing Growth in Assessed Value Without Raising Taxes on Current Property Owners

Under the Real Estate Tax Cap (PTELL to the technocrats), tax districts are limited to the increase in the Cost of Living as to how much they can receive out of our wallets. This coming year, tax district officials were … Continue reading

Almost 6% Appeal Assessments in McHenry County

The table above shows the seventeen townships in McHenry County, the number of appeals for this tax year (2011 assessments, taxes to be collected in 2012), the total number of real estate parcels, plus the percentage of appeals from each … Continue reading

Where Are We As Far as Real Estate Taxes Go?

The Tax Foundation has some remarkable work comparing property tax burdens across the United States. Want to know what part of the country to look at for retirement, if cutting your property taxes is one of your goals? Take a … Continue reading

New Assessments for Algonquin Township Wednesday

Real estate assessments will be published in the Northwest Herald Wednesday. I don’t know what the news stand price is, but the price for the insert is $2.50 after Wednesday, as I understand it. There’s about a month in which … Continue reading

Tryon Recaps Veto Session

An email from State Rep. Mike Tryon: Our second week of veto session has ended, and while typically this would signify the end of the fall veto session, legislators are being called back to Springfield on Tuesday, November 29 to … Continue reading

Franks’ Tax Cap Bill Shot Down, Roll Call on HB 3793

A press release from State Rep. Kent Gaffney reveals that State Rep. Jack Franks’ bill to rein in the taxeaters when down in flames today in the Illinois House. So much for my predictive ability from 200 miles away. I … Continue reading

Jack Franks’ Tax Cap Firework

That’s “firework.” Singular. In order to give cover to House Democrats who voted to hike state income taxes by 67%, House Speaker Mike Madigan is going to allow Jack Franks to have the spotlight one day this week. One bill. … Continue reading

No Financial Diet for McHenry County Next Year + The Tax Levy Game

There is widespread misunderstanding about the tax process. Today, we won’t look at the assessment part. Instead we will examine what tax districts do to pry more money out of our pockets. News stories talk about levies this time of … Continue reading