McHenry County Blog

A comment from Allen Skillicorn to my article on the Sun City overlapping tax district inequities prompted an explanation of how tax rates are set by county clerks.

 

Here is Skillicorn’s comment:

With a 1 yr average, I assume the McHenry County portion has lower accessed values right now. How much different is the levy though? Kane County is not known for it’s thrifty ways…

In my opinion the levy is more important than the assessment. Lower the levy, and our bills go down. Raise the levy and bills go up, regardless of values.

Here’s my reply:

There are maximum tax rates set by statute.

However, since the Tax Cap was instituted in the early 1990′s, property values have almost always been higher than the increase in the cost of living. In order to limit the tax take, which is set by the county clerk’s tax extension, that meant the tax rate had to go down.

Some will remember the annual tooting of horns by local municipalities and school districts about how they had lowered their tax rate. It meant nothing, but most young reporters have only a vague understanding of how the property tax works.

Now, with the CPI increasing more than property values, which, as all know, have been decreasing, county clerks have to increase the tax rates in order to give tax districts who over levy the maximum allowed under the Tax Cap.

When a tax district reaches a tax rate that is the maximum allowed by law, that tax district will not be able to get an increase in tax take equal to the increase in the CPI.

At that point the tax district in question will have to economize as family units do when their income does not increase as much as the rate of inflation.

Then, tax district boards will have to get voter approval to get more money.

When I saw that “Election Workshop” item on the agenda of the special meeting of the McHenry County Board for Tuesday, I called and asked the President’s Office what was up.

The woman I talked to did not know.

I figured it couldn’t be about board elections, since they were this past spring.

That left referendums.

That means tax hikes.

Thursday, a Northwest Herald article by Brett Rowland verified my premonition.

It is too bad that the MCC Board was unwilling to be more forthright.

The reaction shown in the comments below the article show that the College has a real image problem.

Certainly, the history of opaqueness will be an issue in any tax hike effort.

This is a board that won’t even tape record its meetings so someone could hear what went on, if he or she could or did not attend a meeting.

Let alone live stream the meetings.

The content of comments made by members of the public is not reported in the minutes.

“Transparency” is not part of this government’s philosophy.

This is a board that hid the baseball stadium details that would have put taxpayers on the hook for over $20 million in bonds…plus interest.

This is a board that kept us in the dark while conspiring to allow the tallest broadcast aerial in the State of Illinois.

And new President Vicky Smith made it quite clear that her selection had more than a little to do with raising taxes.

Two summers ago there was a series of “community” meetings put together by the same tax hike consultant that ran the success tax hike campaigns in Woodstock Unit District 200 and Carpentersville District 300.

Read about those meetings and other aspects of MCC’s tax hike preparation efforts in the links below:

• McHenry County’s Power Elite and Meteors
• McHenry County’s Power Elite as Seen by McHenry County College
• MCC’s View of the Power Elite, as Laid Out in it Communications Plan
  
  What Does It Take to Have Democracy?
• McHenry County College Power Elite Nominees
• MCC Power Elite Add-Ons
• McHenry County College Inviting Public
• McHenry County College MAP “Engages” 60 Community Members
• 2010 Referendum Predicted For MCC, District 300 & District 200 Tax Hike Firm to be Hired by McHenry County College
• MCC MAP Meeting Light on Community Participation
• McHenry County College Citizen Engagement Process Attracts 31
• Northwest Herald Reporter Discerns Real Reason for McHenry County College’s $137,750 Hiring of Tax Hike Firm
• MCC MAP Meeting – Part 2 – Building Up Balances
• MCC MAP Meeting – Part 3 – Enrollment Increase & Who Pays What
• Northwest Herald Reveals More Than Ever Before about School St. Louis Tax Hike Firm Unicom-ARC
• MCC MAP Citizen Engagement Process Ends with Maybe 14 Non-Employee Citizens at Last Session

My timing was off on the date of the referendum. The rest should prove instructive to those interested in how a tax district goes about raising taxes.

Or can’t stand the expense of your McHenry County tax bill?

McHenry County Treasurer Bill LeFew’s office has posted all the tax bills on the internet.

There are three ways to find your tax bill.

Of course, virtually no one knows their tax identification number, so go to Plan B or Plan C.

I typed in my address using Crystal Lake.

“No parcels found.”

I changed the town to Lakewood.

“No parcels found.”

I decided to try my name, “Cal Skinner.”

“No parcels found.”

I tried my and my wife’s name.

“No parcels found.”

Getting a bit perturbed, I typed in “Skinner.”

I got all the Skinner homeowners in the county and “Calvin” came in on top. All fourteen.

That’s the first time I can remember benefiting from alphabet discrimination.

No, the second. The list of blogs on Illinoize alphabetizes with the first names of the bloggers, putting me near the top of the list.

$8,537.”

I guess I should say, “$8,537!”

That’s a big bill.

Up $113.

But, it would have been up more had I not entered official gizzerhood.

Assessed value up 5.2%.

But because of the “Elderly Homestead Exemption” of $3,500, our taxable assessed valuation only increased 2.5%.

Because the value of property over the three-year period used to determine the assessment increased more than the Consumer Price Index, my tax rate decreased 7.71 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That’s puts tax districts with a tax rate limit further under their limit.

The better to make up for Mayor Aaron Shepley’s tax increment financing tax shifts onto to those of us not living in the three business corridor TIF districts he has created.

So, thanks all you younger folks and business owners.

But, $8,500 is still a lot of money.

And you wonder why I bird dog the avaricious local tax districts.

There’s part of the answer.

That, plus the fun of watching decent people morph into “officials” to whom people increasing suck up as they are perceived to gain power. Too many get to acting SO important, so above the people who elected them.

Been there.

Tried not to do that three times. Tough not to though.

Interesting phenomenon.

Or can’t stand the expense of your McHenry County tax bill?

McHenry County Treasurer Bill LeFew’s office has posted all the tax bills on the internet.

There are three ways to find your tax bill.

Of course, virtually no one knows their tax identification number, so go to Plan B or Plan C.

I typed in my address using Crystal Lake.

“No parcels found.”

I changed the town to Lakewood.

“No parcels found.”

I decided to try my name, “Cal Skinner.”

“No parcels found.”

I tried my and my wife’s name.

“No parcels found.”

Getting a bit perturbed, I typed in “Skinner.”

I got all the Skinner homeowners in the county and “Calvin” came in on top. All fourteen.

That’s the first time I can remember benefiting from alphabet discrimination.

No, the second. The list of blogs on Illinoize alphabetizes with the first names of the bloggers, putting me near the top of the list.

$8,537.”

I guess I should say, “$8,537!”

That’s a big bill.

Up $113.

But, it would have been up more had I not entered official gizzerhood.

Assessed value up 5.2%.

But because of the “Elderly Homestead Exemption” of $3,500, our taxable assessed valuation only increased 2.5%.

Because the value of property over the three-year period used to determine the assessment increased more than the Consumer Price Index, my tax rate decreased 7.71 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That’s puts tax districts with a tax rate limit further under their limit.

The better to make up for Mayor Aaron Shepley’s tax increment financing tax shifts onto to those of us not living in the three business corridor TIF districts he has created.

So, thanks all you younger folks and business owners.

But, $8,500 is still a lot of money.

And you wonder why I bird dog the avaricious local tax districts.

There’s part of the answer.

That, plus the fun of watching decent people morph into “officials” to whom people increasing suck up as they are perceived to gain power. Too many get to acting SO important, so above the people who elected them.

Been there.

Tried not to do that three times. Tough not to though.

Interesting phenomenon.