McHenry County Blog

New McHenry County Blog Masthead which contains a picture of the Norge Ski Jump in Fox River Grove, something unique to McHenry County.

It was October, 2005, when the Vulcan Lakes TIF proposal by the city council spurred me to start McHenry County Blog.

I knew–and knew that most others didn’t–that every dollar that gets poured into a Tax Increment Financing District’s project comes out of your and my pockets.

That’s because local tax districts are not at their maximum tax rates, as governed by state law.

The Property Tax Cap has forced those tax rates down while real estate values increased far faster than the increase in the cost of living.

This is parking attendant building for the Three Oaks Recreation Area. I invite you to compare it to the portable, wooden one used by the Crystal Lake Park District at the Main Beach Parking Lot.

So, if the value of your house went up 10% one year and the CPI increased 3%, the tax rate of each district had to be decreased to make sure its tax take would not exceed the CPI.

A bit complicated, but the result is that no tax district is at its maximum rate limit.

That means when assessed value is stolen from it by a city’s or village’s creation of a TIF district, the other tax district (read school district, park district, county government, you name it) can just increase the tax rate to get the same amount of money it would have otherwise received.

That’s why I called it a “TIF Tax Hike.”

So, with “free money,” you can expect that cities and villages won’t be too careful with it.

Take a look at the new fee collection gate being constructed at Vulcan Lakes…oops, Three Oaks Recreation Area, a place with precious few oaks, I would imagine.  (You can see other pictures here on the city’s web site.)

Compare that to the one used by the Crystal Lake Park District. It’s portable. Made of wood.

Works fine.

In its Monday editorial, the Chicago Sun-Times took on Tax Increment Financing districts.

The commentary was so similar to my own. I’ll share some with you.

You may remember it was Mayor Aaron Shepley and his city council’s proposal to turn Vulcan Lakes and the Route 14 business strip into a TIF district that led to my starting McHenry County Blog.

Here’s my second article about the interrogation of the Crystal Lake TIF consultant by the Crystal Lake Park Board.

So, what did the editorial say?

“As you might suspect, the mayor thinks the TIF program is wonderful. He insists TIFs don’t result in higher property taxes for homeowners, although, of course, they do.”

Now, remember, the Sun-Times is talking about Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, but it could be writing about Crystal Lake’s mayor.

After a flyer encouraging people to attend the city council hearing on the TIF districts was distributed by Jim Young, Mayor Shepley was adamant that the TIFs would not cause a tax increase. See

The Sun-Times asks where folks think schools and other tax districts will get more money if they can’t get it from rising assessments.

“They raise their tax rates, and they get it, in part, from you,
dear homeowner.

“As you might also expect, if you’d like to learn more about the nitty gritty of how TIF money is spent, and what kind of protections are in place to ensure taxpayers get a good return on their hard-earned property tax dollars—well, those details are not particularly easy to come by.”

The details of the just concluded Downtown TIF are not on the newly revised city web site, for instance.

In its Monday editorial, the Chicago Sun-Times took on Tax Increment Financing districts.

The commentary was so similar to my own. I’ll share some with you.

You may remember it was Mayor Aaron Shepley and his city council’s proposal to turn Vulcan Lakes and the Route 14 business strip into a TIF district that led to my starting McHenry County Blog.

Here’s my second article about the interrogation of the Crystal Lake TIF consultant by the Crystal Lake Park Board.

So, what did the editorial say?

“As you might suspect, the mayor thinks the TIF program is wonderful. He insists TIFs don’t result in higher property taxes for homeowners, although, of course, they do.”

Now, remember, the Sun-Times is talking about Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, but it could be writing about Crystal Lake’s mayor.

After a flyer encouraging people to attend the city council hearing on the TIF districts was distributed by Jim Young, Mayor Shepley was adamant that the TIFs would not cause a tax increase. See

The Sun-Times asks where folks think schools and other tax districts will get more money if they can’t get it from rising assessments.

“They raise their tax rates, and they get it, in part, from you,
dear homeowner.

“As you might also expect, if you’d like to learn more about the nitty gritty of how TIF money is spent, and what kind of protections are in place to ensure taxpayers get a good return on their hard-earned property tax dollars—well, those details are not particularly easy to come by.”

The details of the just concluded Downtown TIF are not on the newly revised city web site, for instance.

It looks like one of those old time gas street lights, doesn’t it?

But it’s not.

It’s styled to look that wa, but it was just installed in front of the Crystal Lake Park District administrative building on East Crystal Lake Avenue with your Tax Increment Financing dollars.

I won’t go off on a rant about how TIFs increase all of our taxes in McHenry County when any municipality imposes one.

Today.

Let’s just enjoy what this beautification project looks like when the afternoon late winter sun was hitting just right.

I thought the city was going to bury all of the wires, but there still seem to be some in the background.

It looks like one of those old time gas street lights, doesn’t it?

But it’s not.

It’s styled to look that wa, but it was just installed in front of the Crystal Lake Park District administrative building on East Crystal Lake Avenue with your Tax Increment Financing dollars.

I won’t go off on a rant about how TIFs increase all of our taxes in McHenry County when any municipality imposes one.

Today.

Let’s just enjoy what this beautification project looks like when the afternoon late winter sun was hitting just right.

I thought the city was going to bury all of the wires, but there still seem to be some in the background.

When I reference the Northwest Herald, I call it the Northwest Herald.

No reciprocity with the NW Herald’s Group Editor (oops, I see the title is now “General Manager and Executive Editor”) Chris Krug.

He was pleasant enough in person when I talked with him at the McHenry Economic Development Commission’s annual dinner. Even introduced me to NW Herald’s editor Dan McCaleb, whom two days before Christmas had his name in one of my headlines.

In Sunday’s column, (note the link) however, Krug does not identify the subject of his critical comments.

He writes about how Mayor Aaron Shepley “has taken it on the grill for months over the ‘75 percent’ increase to the local sales tax in Crystal Lake to fund the Vulcan renaissance.”

Anyone want to Google “Shepley” and “75 percent?”

Use “Crystal Lake City Council” and “75 percent” and one will see I am willing to spread the credit.

Until Krug’s column, McHenry County Blog would have been the only place to look for a relevant source.

I am pleased that the NW Herald has finally informed local shoppers that the Crystal Lake sales tax was hiked 75%.

The rate went up on July 1st, as was reported exclusively until yesterday on McHenry County Blog.

Yesterday was the first time the NW Herald has revealed that fact.

But, Krug gives other clues to McHenry County Blog’s identity:

“The hopelessly myopic, the cat bloggers and those only willing to set down the remote control for a chance to rally behind the status quo have skewered the mayor mercilessly.”

And the columnist completely forgets that the Route 14-Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing district was supposed to finance the Vulcan Lakes makeover.

Only when that didn’t pan out did Mayor Shepley and his city council enact the 75% sales tax for the same purpose.

I don’t want to be too critical of Krug. After all, it is a difficult time to be riding herd over a group of newspapers.

But when I write about him, I will use his name.

And, I haven’t written a lot about Keely cat since McHenry County Blog led the successful fight against the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

Guess Krug isn’t a regular reader.

If he were, he might assign a reporter to trying to find out how now-indicted Springfield Republican powerhouse managed,

first, to find the Crystal Lake Tax Increment Financing district and,

second, to win the bid with Mayor Richard Daley’s favorite developer, to use Chicago Tribune John Kass’ description.

Now, that would be as worthy of a front page story as was the article revealing that Bill Cellini was involved in the Vulcan TIF development group back on December 15, 2006.

And one that puts the short one into context, which follows.

Finally, I would never have thought Krug would stoop so low as to refer to my visual disability in a negative way.

Yes, I am myopic.

My vision is about 20-400 before my extreme nearsightedness is corrected by trifocals to 12-20.

And, yes, that is my idea of a joke.

I readily admit to being pretty single-minded, but not shortsighted, when someone is trying to raise my taxes, whether it be through a TIF tax shift, a property tax hike with or without a referendum (as was the case with the Krug-supported McHenry County College minor league baseball stadium) or a 75% sales tax hike where we do most of our shopping.

Having said that, I have and shall reiterate another way to finance the making of Vulcan Lakes a recreational area Tuesday night at the Crystal Lake City Council meeting.

Every improvement in Crystal Lake does not require a new tax hike.

When I reference the Northwest Herald, I call it the Northwest Herald.

No reciprocity with the NW Herald’s Group Editor (oops, I see the title is now “General Manager and Executive Editor”) Chris Krug.

He was pleasant enough in person when I talked with him at the McHenry Economic Development Commission’s annual dinner. Even introduced me to NW Herald’s editor Dan McCaleb, whom two days before Christmas had his name in one of my headlines.

In Sunday’s column, (note the link) however, Krug does not identify the subject of his critical comments.

He writes about how Mayor Aaron Shepley “has taken it on the grill for months over the ‘75 percent’ increase to the local sales tax in Crystal Lake to fund the Vulcan renaissance.”

Anyone want to Google “Shepley” and “75 percent?”

Use “Crystal Lake City Council” and “75 percent” and one will see I am willing to spread the credit.

Until Krug’s column, McHenry County Blog would have been the only place to look for a relevant source.

I am pleased that the NW Herald has finally informed local shoppers that the Crystal Lake sales tax was hiked 75%.

The rate went up on July 1st, as was reported exclusively until yesterday on McHenry County Blog.

Yesterday was the first time the NW Herald has revealed that fact.

But, Krug gives other clues to McHenry County Blog’s identity:

“The hopelessly myopic, the cat bloggers and those only willing to set down the remote control for a chance to rally behind the status quo have skewered the mayor mercilessly.”

And the columnist completely forgets that the Route 14-Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing district was supposed to finance the Vulcan Lakes makeover.

Only when that didn’t pan out did Mayor Shepley and his city council enact the 75% sales tax for the same purpose.

I don’t want to be too critical of Krug. After all, it is a difficult time to be riding herd over a group of newspapers.

But when I write about him, I will use his name.

And, I haven’t written a lot about Keely cat since McHenry County Blog led the successful fight against the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

Guess Krug isn’t a regular reader.

If he were, he might assign a reporter to trying to find out how now-indicted Springfield Republican powerhouse managed,

first, to find the Crystal Lake Tax Increment Financing district and,

second, to win the bid with Mayor Richard Daley’s favorite developer, to use Chicago Tribune John Kass’ description.

Now, that would be as worthy of a front page story as was the article revealing that Bill Cellini was involved in the Vulcan TIF development group back on December 15, 2006.

And one that puts the short one into context, which follows.

Finally, I would never have thought Krug would stoop so low as to refer to my visual disability in a negative way.

Yes, I am myopic.

My vision is about 20-400 before my extreme nearsightedness is corrected by trifocals to 12-20.

And, yes, that is my idea of a joke.

I readily admit to being pretty single-minded, but not shortsighted, when someone is trying to raise my taxes, whether it be through a TIF tax shift, a property tax hike with or without a referendum (as was the case with the Krug-supported McHenry County College minor league baseball stadium) or a 75% sales tax hike where we do most of our shopping.

Having said that, I have and shall reiterate another way to finance the making of Vulcan Lakes a recreational area Tuesday night at the Crystal Lake City Council meeting.

Every improvement in Crystal Lake does not require a new tax hike.

Someone or someones have played a shell game with local school, park, college district and other tax district officials and they all lost.

The shell game involves what the City of Crystal Lake has done to local tax districts and taxpayers with its Downtown Tax Increment Financing district.

And, at least some city council members don’t even know what has happened?

The Downtown TIF district will disappear as of December 31, 2008.

But, there’s a big “BUT.”

All tax districts have to submit their levies into the McHenry County by the 4th Tuesday of December. That’s last Tuesday.

Before many of them did that, tax district “stakeholders” of the TIF district held a meeting this month at city hall.

Some pretty astute representatives of local schools and other governments attended.

One pointed out that by ending the TIF after the levies had been submitted Crystal Lake would get another year’s worth of money from the Tax Increment Financing district.

This past year the city raked off about $900,000 from the TIF.

It was spent on beautifying East Crystal Lake Avenue. Workers put up ornamental street lights and buried phone, cable and electric lines and, maybe, spent it to put in sidewalks on Williams Street previously financed with money from the same 23-year Tax Increment Financing district.

“Not to worry” was the message from CL Finance Director Mark Nannini, as he moved the shells around.

The pea is under the shell where I say and you think it is.

Once we get the money, we’ll send it to the County Treasurer and he will distribute it to School Districts 47 & 155, McHenry County, McHenry County College, the Crystal Lake Park District, Nunda Township, the McHenry County Conservation District, etc.

(That made little sense. Why not have the city send it directly?)

Here’s the County Clerk’s “Tax Increment Tax District Loss Due to Project Area.” In other words this $900,000 would have gone to each of these districts this year, if there had been no Downtown TIF and if everyone had paid what they were billed.

• Grade School District 47 – $341,361
• High School District 155 – $233,419
• McHenry County – $86,680
• Crystal Lake Corp Fire – $45,908
• Crystal Lake Park District – $43,828
• McHenry County College – $35,791
• Crystal Lake Public Library – $32,723
• Nunda Township Road & Bridge – $26,964
• City of Crystal Lake – $26,374
• McHenry County Conservation District – $18,645
• Nunda Township – $9,051
• Nunda Township Cemetery District – $153

Tax district losses from this TIF diversion ought to be similar for the coming year.

Because the money went for beautification, your tax rates were higher than they would have been otherwise, causing you to pay higher taxes than you would have otherwise, regardless of where you live in McHenry County.

A swifty thing happened between the TIF stakeholders (read “tax district officials”) meeting earlier this month and now.

The pea was not under the local tax district’s shell.

It was really under the City of Crystal Lake’s TIF shell.

The money won’t be distributed to the local tax districts who provide services to Crystal Lake residents.

Your taxes will again be higher than they would have had this $900,000 gone to local schools, the park district, etc.

Crystal Lake will again apparently spend it on TIF beautification or something else in Downtown Crystal Lake.

I emailed Nannini,

“What will the Downtown CL TIF money to be collected next year be spent on? And how much is expect to be collected?”

No answer as of Christmas Day, when I posted this story.

Was there a massive cost overrun?

Was this the plan all along?

Will administrators say elected officials were kept in the loop?

That they just didn’t figure out the implications of ending the TIF a couple of days later.

Or could this have been done on the say-so of appointed city staffers or would someone like Mayor Aaron Shepley have been informed?

If I were on the city council and something of this magnitude had been done without my knowledge, I would be hopping mad.

And, the next city council meeting would be worth attending.
= = = = =
The game illustration is from Ron Allesi’s Quality, Used, Rare & Antique Magic web site. The game costs $35.

Someone or someones have played a shell game with local school, park, college district and other tax district officials and they all lost.

The shell game involves what the City of Crystal Lake has done to local tax districts and taxpayers with its Downtown Tax Increment Financing district.

And, at least some city council members don’t even know what has happened?

The Downtown TIF district will disappear as of December 31, 2008.

But, there’s a big “BUT.”

All tax districts have to submit their levies into the McHenry County by the 4th Tuesday of December. That’s last Tuesday.

Before many of them did that, tax district “stakeholders” of the TIF district held a meeting this month at city hall.

Some pretty astute representatives of local schools and other governments attended.

One pointed out that by ending the TIF after the levies had been submitted Crystal Lake would get another year’s worth of money from the Tax Increment Financing district.

This past year the city raked off about $900,000 from the TIF.

It was spent on beautifying East Crystal Lake Avenue. Workers put up ornamental street lights and buried phone, cable and electric lines and, maybe, spent it to put in sidewalks on Williams Street previously financed with money from the same 23-year Tax Increment Financing district.

“Not to worry” was the message from CL Finance Director Mark Nannini, as he moved the shells around.

The pea is under the shell where I say and you think it is.

Once we get the money, we’ll send it to the County Treasurer and he will distribute it to School Districts 47 & 155, McHenry County, McHenry County College, the Crystal Lake Park District, Nunda Township, the McHenry County Conservation District, etc.

(That made little sense. Why not have the city send it directly?)

Here’s the County Clerk’s “Tax Increment Tax District Loss Due to Project Area.” In other words this $900,000 would have gone to each of these districts this year, if there had been no Downtown TIF and if everyone had paid what they were billed.

• Grade School District 47 – $341,361
• High School District 155 – $233,419
• McHenry County – $86,680
• Crystal Lake Corp Fire – $45,908
• Crystal Lake Park District – $43,828
• McHenry County College – $35,791
• Crystal Lake Public Library – $32,723
• Nunda Township Road & Bridge – $26,964
• City of Crystal Lake – $26,374
• McHenry County Conservation District – $18,645
• Nunda Township – $9,051
• Nunda Township Cemetery District – $153

Tax district losses from this TIF diversion ought to be similar for the coming year.

Because the money went for beautification, your tax rates were higher than they would have been otherwise, causing you to pay higher taxes than you would have otherwise, regardless of where you live in McHenry County.

A swifty thing happened between the TIF stakeholders (read “tax district officials”) meeting earlier this month and now.

The pea was not under the local tax district’s shell.

It was really under the City of Crystal Lake’s TIF shell.

The money won’t be distributed to the local tax districts who provide services to Crystal Lake residents.

Your taxes will again be higher than they would have had this $900,000 gone to local schools, the park district, etc.

Crystal Lake will again apparently spend it on TIF beautification or something else in Downtown Crystal Lake.

I emailed Nannini,

“What will the Downtown CL TIF money to be collected next year be spent on? And how much is expect to be collected?”

No answer as of Christmas Day, when I posted this story.

Was there a massive cost overrun?

Was this the plan all along?

Will administrators say elected officials were kept in the loop?

That they just didn’t figure out the implications of ending the TIF a couple of days later.

Or could this have been done on the say-so of appointed city staffers or would someone like Mayor Aaron Shepley have been informed?

If I were on the city council and something of this magnitude had been done without my knowledge, I would be hopping mad.

And, the next city council meeting would be worth attending.
= = = = =
The game illustration is from Ron Allesi’s Quality, Used, Rare & Antique Magic web site. The game costs $35.

Two of the investors in the Waukegan casino group showed up in Crystal Lake to make a pitch for and won the approximately $115 million Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing district development.

One of them, sitting before the Crystal Lake City Council was Bill Cellini. He is reported to have sold his share in the Waukegan enterprise a year and half ago.

Cellini is known by Gaming Board Chairman and former State Rep. Aaron Jaffe from Jaffe’s time in the General Assembly.

That left Richard Stein, another guy sitting at the table with Cellini.

The Chicago Tribune reported Cellini and

“…others with Blagojevich ties have connections to the businessman he sold it to: Michael Pizzuto, a Hinsdale real estate developer who was once director of finance for Cellini’s New Frontier Development.

“Cellini was indicted this year on charges that he extorted campaign contributions to Blagojevich from a Hollywood producer whose investment firm was seeking state business.

“Blagojevich appointed Pizzuto to the State Universities Retirement System in 2004, and a “clout list” released in the trial of convicted (Rod) Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko suggested that he was sponsored by fellow fundraiser Chris Kelly.”

Board members also pointed to the $1,000 apiece that Pizzuto and Stein donated to Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde as a negative.

Three days after Cellini and Stein’s group won the Vulcan Lakes TIF business, Cellini was named as Individual A in Blagojevich’s buddy Tony Rezko’s indictment.

He personally withdrew from the project. Subsequently, the rest of the consortium dropped out.

As I wrote on March 3, 2008,

“The question that remains unanswered is how a Springfield-based Republican developer in business with a Democratic Party developer described by Kass as Mayor ‘Daley’s favorite’ found out about this Crystal Lake TIF opportunity, let alone captured it from local developer Bo Strom of Charles River Development.“

Just in case you haven’t seen the YouTube postings of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley questioning Cellini, you can link to them below, first the very short version, then the longer on that puts the shorter one in context.

Here’s the one that puts the short one into context, which follows.

= = = = =
In the blurry photo in the middle of the story, you can see a broadly smiling Bill Cellini leaving the Crystal Lake City Council meeting after winning the rights to develop Vulcan Lakes using TIF subsidy money. Behind him Richard Stein can be seen scratching his head.