McHenry County Blog

Boone County Watchdog masthead.

I was reading an article Boone County Watchdog criticizing the Belvidere Township Assessor’s petty cash fund when I ran across the following in a referenced article in the Belvidere Daily Republican:

“In addition, she [Assessor Diann Helnore] said she understands township Road Commissioner Richard Lee has ‘a slush fund, gleaned from selling scrap metal and cans picked up along township roads.

“But [Belvidere Township Supervisor Pat] Murphy said that doesn’t happen anymore. ‘In the old days all the townships did that,’ he said.”

Does anyone know anything about such a practice?

Before I post the next installment of McHenry County Board-elect Mike Walkup’s thoughts on township government in Illinois, let me point out that someone forged his name on a comment under the first article.

The poster used the email address mikewalkup@gmail.com.  If another email from that address comes, it will be marked as “spam.”

The person posted that Walkup wanted to be County Board Chairman.  Here is Walkup’s reply:

Mike Walkup

“I did NOT send the blog entry on the County Chair position.”I DO NOT want to be the Chair and would refuse to serve if somehow I was magically elected.

“This post should be removed immediately!

“Someone is playing dirty tricks here.”

I have chosen to leave the fraudulent comment up, so you can see the dishonesty of the poster.

It is obvious that there are heated opinions on township government.  Lots of people have no idea what it does–including a neighbor who brought up the subject while I was passing out my precinct letter.

Those who want to run for township office have to file petitions from November 19th through November 26th with the township clerk.  Prior to filing petitions, an economic disclosure statement must be filed with the County Clerk.

The number of signatures is minimal and the pay for some of the offices is quite good.  With unemployment what it is, people with lots of time to knock on doors might snag some really decent paying jobs for a minimal printing expense. For instance the Algonquin Township Supervisor pays $66,655.40 for the first two years and will rise to $69,348.28 in the final year, plus $1,000 for being the Road District Treasurer. (See other Algonquin Township salaries here.

Continuing the Township Government Series – Part 2

ASSESSOR

When I was campaigning for County Board, the most common question by far was “why are my taxes not going down if my property is worth less?”

It is natural to assume that if your tax bill comes from the county and you write your check to the county, that it is the county that is responsible for your assessments.

This is not the case. Assessments are done by local township assessors, of which there are 17 in McHenry County. The county has nothing to say about assessments.  [I have to take issue with this statement.  The County Supervisor of Assessments has the power to equalize assessments on a township-by-township basis and can even drill down farther in the process.  There are Supervisor of Assessments who have assumed the role of the township assessor when the assessor does not do the job.]

When townships were first formed, assessors rode around on their horse or in their buckboard essentially carrying the assessment records in their hatbands. It made sense to have the assessments done in a small area so the assessor could physically get around and develop a familiarity with the relatively small number of local properties.

Today, many townships have tens of thousands of properties and everything is done on a computer. In smaller townships, the assessor is part time and may have another job or a farm to contend with.

Assessments could very easily be handled today by the county government. Cook County has an elected County Assessor.

[I'd like to add some research data that Algonquin Township Assessor Forrest B. Hare developed in the 1970's.  He compared the size of assessing jurisdictions with their margins of error throughout Illinois.  Both townships and counties were included because there are no township assessors in Southern Illinois counties under the commission form of government.  The organization seemed to make little difference from the standpoint of the accuracy of the assessments.

[What the data showed was that jurisdictions with at least 5,000 people had more accurate real estate assessments than jurisdictions that were smaller.

[The findings spurred me to sponsor the multi-township assessor bill.  It allows smaller townships to join together for the function of assessing.]

ROADS

The building on the north side of the Nunda Township Road Commissioner’s complex.

Townships have elected Road Commissioners.

The building on the east side of the Nunda Township Road Commissioner’s complex.

Again, when townships were formed, road repairs consisted of hitching up a buckboard, loading a couple of guys onto it with shovels, filling it with gravel, and going out to fill the potholes.

The building on the south side of the Nunda Township Road Commissioner’s complex.

The wagon was heavy and the horse would get tired. It couldn’t go too far.

$6,500, plus labor, flag pole and planters on the road side of the southern building.

Township road crews only maintain township roads.

They have nothing to do with county, state or federal highways.

As the township grows in population, municipalities take over what used to be township roads, causing a crazy quilt patchwork where township road crews have to travel over municipal roads to get to now disconnected pieces of township blacktop.

The only reason that overall township road mileage tends to stay the same despite growth of municipalities is because of the unincorporated subdivisions that have also been built that have added miles of twisting roads and cul de sacs which continue to be the responsibility of the township.

Today, we have trucks with GPS systems.

The road maintenance function could just as easily be done at the county level.

If we would still like the Road Commissioner to be elected, the office of County Road Commissioner could be established.

As an aside, I should mention that there are 17 counties in Illinois which never had townships.

These are located mostly in the Southern portion of the state and are predominately rural.

They still have local road districts, so that could still be possible even without township organization.

So that’s it.

That is what townships do.

They do not function as local mini-governments for unincorporated areas as is sometimes claimed by their supporters.

They have very limited and specific functions, all of which could be done at the county level or other government levels if we didn’t have the townships.

Nxxt installment: What to do about townships

The Republican Parties in all of the five largest townships in McHenry County seem to have decided or soon will decide to hold primary elections in February, rather than hold caucuses.

Those five are

• Algonquin
• Dorr
• Grafton
• McHenry
• Nunda

Paperwork apparently has to be filed first with a local township official, who is supposed to forward it to the McHenry County Clerk’s Office.

According to the County Clerk’s Office as of mid-Friday afternoon, none of the five has jumped through all of the loops yet.

Salaries have to be set prior to the election, before November 21st, according to Algonquin Supervisor Dianne Klemm.

The legislative intent for the law was so that those running would know what they would be paid, plus, if someone won a primary that the incumbents didn’t like, they couldn’t cut the salary.

Woodstock attorney Robert T. Hanlon was in courthouse this past Wednesday to offer his services pro bono to mediate differences between the Township Trustees and the Supervisor.

Grafton Township Board:  Supervisor Linda Moore, Ancel Glink Attorney before Judge Michael Caldwell upheld her firing by Moore, and Trustees Barb Murphy, Rob LaPorta, Betty Zirk and Gerry McMahon.

There were court appearances in

• the Separation of Powers case that Supervisor Moore brought against the Trustees when they tried to usurp her office’s Executive powers (which the Trustees are appealing),
• the case brought by Highway Commissioner Jack Freund to get Moore to pay bills including one for his wife’s health insurance and
• the suit by Assessor Bill Ottley against Moore for her refusal to pay re-modeling bills.

That’s what the story written by the First Electric Newspaper’s Pete Gonigam said.

Apparently Moore has agreed to try that approach, but when I asked the apparent leader of the Trustees, Rob LaPorta, if it were true that mediation had been agreed to by the Trustees, I received the following email:

“This is not true.

“Neither Moore nor Trustees have agreed.

“This event will not occur.”

When I sent LaPorta’s response to Hanlon for his reaction, he sent me the following reply:

“After making the offer to mediate, the Township Trustees’ attorney indicated verbally that she would recommend it to the trustees.

“Additionally, Mrs. Zirk and Mrs. Murphy appeared willing to embrace mediation.

“Attorney Nelson, who represents Mrs. Moore agreed to the mediation.

“To test Mrs. Moore’s good faith, I asked for a small concession on Mrs. Moore’s part.

“That concession was granted. (The subject of the concession is not for public comment.)

“It is my belief that Grafton Township is in a complete and total state of dysfunction as a result of personal animus arising from prior events.

“As indicated in the E-mail below [above here], it appears that the trustees are not willing to mediate.

“Unless and until the trustees agree to a good faith mediation, there is nothing I can or will do.

“If a special meeting of the Township board is called to address the mediation process, I will attend and then and there present to the trustees and supervisor a proposal outlining the mediation process.

“If approved and later I determine that a particular party is not acting in good faith I will immediately end the mediation.

“My time is too valuable to play games.

Since the 1973 fiasco of a caucus conducted by the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee, McHenry County largest township has allowed voters to decide who GOP candidates for township office shall be.

That was the year that first-term Assessor Forrest Hare was challenged by a young school teacher.

While the caucus looked like a three-precinct primary, after the 3 AM Crystal Lake Community High School Field House results showed the school teacher winning by a handful of votes and even the judges weren’t sure the count was correct, the Central Committee members would not allow a recount.

There was no way to legally force a recount, because the committeemen set the rules.

At that time losers could run as a write-in and Forrest Hare did.

And he won.

The local Republican Party really took a beating as every weekday it was taken to task by Crystal Lake WIVS Radio station owner Mal Ballairs on his morning talk show.

To avoid future similar problems, our State Senator Jack Schaffer and I passed legislation to allow township party organizations to select candidates by citizen votes.

When I brought up the idea at Monday night’s meeting in an Algonquin Township Road Commissioner’s building, only I and Lou Anne Majewski remember the 1973 fiasco.

Precinct Committeemen attending the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee organization meeting on April 9, 2012.

I was immediately met with the objection of cost.

I couldn’t come up with a figure, but with the low turnout of 19% from both party primaries in March (plus non-partisan only votes on referendums) it’s pretty easy to predict that the turnout will be less when only township officials are on the ballot.

The result will be a high cost per vote, which could be lowered if McHenry County Clerk Kathie Schultz can combine precincts.

The projected expense was really the only argument.

But it was a long discussion.

I pointed out that Democrats could have a field day challenging Republican candidates who had been selected in a secret meeting.

Conversely, Republicans could make hay of any Democratic Party candidates who were not selected at the ballot box, but rather by party bosses.

With township government under attack, I argued, the potential negative publicity would not be helpful.

In the end, all of the Algonquin Township Republican Precinct Committeemen present voted to authorize a primary election next February in which candidates for Township Supervisor, Road Commissioner, Assessor, Clerk and Township Trustees would be selected.

An IRS finding handed down January 31st will surely be the talk of the next meeting of the Township Officials of Illinois.

Use of Grafton Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund's truck has been ruled taxable by IRS.

It says that heretofore fringe benefits, such as the Grafton Road Commissioner’s vehicle and the reimbursement for dinners at the McHenry County Council of Governments, are income for Federal tax purposes.

And, since the state tax code is built upon the national one, probably subject to state income tax as well.

The Internal Revenue Service writes that Grafton Township owes the Federal government $2,030.36 for 2010 for income, Social Security and Medicare taxes.

“Fringe Benefit Issues” is what the Internal Revenue Service investigator was looking at.

A topic subject to a tirade by Trustee Gerry McMahnon at one of the last meetings I attended was the taxability of reimbursements for dinners at the McCOG. [I have to tell you, except for the volume of his voice, he seemed to be making sense.]

But the IRS Specialist disagreed.

The “audit,” for lack of a better term, specifically addressed this topic:

“In 2010, the elected officials and trustees of the Township received a stipend varying from $26 to $40 per month to attend monthly dinners for the McHenry County Council of Governments. The Township does not require these members to attend these meetings. The total amount of stipends issued to all officials and trustees was $1,300 for the year. These stipends were provided under a non-accountable plan.”

If I am interpreting the documents correctly, the Trustees, in toto, will owe taxes on an additional $729 because of the McCog dinner reimbursements.

Road Commissioner Jack Freund had similar $200 of non-accountable reimbursements, Supervisor Linda Moore $253 and Clerk Harriot Ford $118.

Freund was also cited for $3,125.70 which he received for “medical reimbursements made to the elected official. However, there was insufficient substantiation provided to receive reimbursement. Thus, the payment falls under a non-accountable plan.”

Freund was further cited for getting reimbursement for his spouse’s travel expenses. This included $120.56 for a number of meals, plus “a $35 spouse fee for the conference.”

Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund’s Ford F250 pickup truck was the subject of the final finding.

Purchased on December 8, 2010, “for the Road Commissioner’s use. The vehical was inspected by the Specialist and the vehicle is not deemed to fall into the category of a Qualified Nonpersonal Use Vehicle.

“There was no adequate substantiation of business uses v personal use of the vehicle.

“Therefore, the automobile lease value for this vehicle is $7,250 (see tables in Publication 158). As it was used for 23 days in 2010, the calculation is as follows:

• Annual Lease Value = $7250
• Days of Use in 2010 + 23.365
• %7,250 X (23/365) = 456.85

Also targeted by the IRS were meals provided by Assessor Bill Ottley’s office when employees were not away overnight. Called “Day Meals” by IRS Examiner John Lauer, the reimbursements of those and non-overnight meals for Ottley and Moore totaling $369.28 have been deemed taxable.

Also mentioned are uniforms costing $480.01, but detail is not given regarding the employees affected. The report sys that “under an nonaccountable plan” are considered “wages and are treated as supplemental wages”…”reportable as wages on the employee’s Form W-2.”

“It as been determined by the FLSG Specialist that the taxpayer is wiling to correct all the above mentioned isues found during the examination,” one report concludes.

Implications for the 2011 tax year were not addressed in the report.

Linda Moore

“I was instructed to follow the precedent sent by the 2010 audit when amending the 2011 W-2′s,” Supervisor Moore said.

“All taxpayers know they that have to comply with IRS regulations.

“It’s important that township officials are IRS compliant, too, but I don’t look forward to delivering this bad news to my colleagues.”

It is not clear whether the elected officials will have to repay the township the cost of the fringe benefits targeted by IRS.

The State Constitution says that no elected official can earn no more or less than what was set before he or she was elected:

Illinois Constitution Article 7
Section 9 Salaries and Fees
(b)An increase or decrease in the salary of an elected officer of any unit of local government shall not take effect during the term for which that officer is elected.

Some of the documents can be found here.

A couple of weeks ago news media unloaded the latest attack on township government.

They were working from a Better Government Association report.

Most of the attention was aimed at Cook County townships. That’s where most of the land is incorporated. Only about 2% of the population lives in unincorporated areas.

McHenry County was mentioned in the Chicago Sun-Times article in the last paragraph of its November 9, 2010, article.

It concentrated on the road district part of township government and based its figures on 2010 expenditures reported in an IDOT report.

It was in a cost per mile comparison for the six Chicago-area counties:

• Cook – $80,509
• Lake – $63,164
• DuPage – $42,515
• Will – 32,174
• Kane – 30,048
• McHenry – 27,399

I found the Illinois Department of Transportation 2009 study and extracted the following information about McHenry County Townships:

Doing the math yields the following cost per mile figures:

• 

  Townships in McHenry County with incorporated areas shown.

  Alden – $7,240

• Algonquin – $77,945
• Burton – $7,565
• Chemung – $13,729
• Coral – $8,163
• Dorr – $59,278
• Dunham – $7,986
• Grafton – $63,886
• Greenwood – $25,788
• Hartland – $8,726
• Hebron – $7,351
• Marengo – $15,000
• McHenry -$40,701
• Nunda – $40,719
• Richmond – $17,055
• Riley – $5,737
• Seneca – $9,794

Obviously there are great variances with more urbanized townships spending more to maintain roads than more rural townships.

Today let’s look at the cost of maintaining township roads.

As you can see, the cost varies a lot,.

So do the number of miles of roads for which the various township road commissioners are responsible for maintaining.

The townships with the most miles of streets and roads are the largest three, Nunda, McHenry and Algonquin.

The reason is the large number of unincorporated subdivisions in McHenry County.

A ranking of the road miles follows:

McHenry County with townships and muncipalities.

• Nunda – 98
• McHenry – 95
• Algonquin – 58
• Coral – 56
• Riley – 47
• Greenwood – 46
• Dunham – 43
• Hartland – 43
• Hebron – 40
• Seneca – 40
• Alden – 37
• Dorr – 38
• Marengo – 36
• Chemung – 33
• Richmond – 33
• Grafton – 27
• Burton – 13

The amount each township road commissioner spends per mile of road maintained follows:

Dorr Township Garage

• Algonquin -$67,681
• McHenry – $35,862
• Nunda – $33,413
• Dorr – $30,743
• Grafton – $27,134
• Greenwood – $21,582
• Richmond – $14,117
• Marengo – $13,569
• Chemung – $12,135
• Burton – $11,547
• Dunham – $8,745
• Seneca – $6,521
• Hartland – 5,906
• Hebron – $5,488
• Coral – $4,799
• Alden – $4,178
• Riley – $2,889

The view of Paulson Road after Hartland Township Road Commissioner Mike Murphy's crew finished clearing downed trees off the road.

An observer in Hartland Township sent this “after clean-up” photo of Paulsen Road.

Here’s the commentary that accompanied it:

Interesting that on Monday morning Alden Road was closed to work on ONE tree that was felled during the storm on Sunday night. Here are some pictures that that show the result of the work done by Mike Murray as noted by Ruth in your post.

Note the white fence on the right, This is the same white fence shown in the picture the night before. This is the location where the entire road was covered with trees for a distance of about two hundred feet.

And below is a “before” shot:

Paulson Road was impassible after Sunday night's storm.

How strong was the wind?

Look at these uprooted trees beyond the white fence:

These trees near Paulson Road were uprooted.

Commenting on the Northwest Herald web site Jeremiah P. of Harvard wrote or seeing a tornado near the Route 173 welcome sign:

I wonder how the evergreens near the Route 173 welcome sign look now.

The Harvard, Illinois, welcome sign on Route 173 on a pleasant day.

Storm damage on Paulson Road in Hartland Township northwest of Woodstock.

A friend of McHenry County Blog sent the following photos of  “storm damage on Paulson Road just south of Streit.

A map showing where the trees show here fell on Paulson Road south of Streit Road northwest of Woodstock.

“Behind this tree, hidden from view are about 15 more covering the roadway.

The "tornado warning" storm as it appeared on radar as it passed over the Woodstock area.

“A resident whose drive was also covered by several uprooted trees, said his power was also out.”

Former County Auditor Ruth Rooney gave the following account of the storm in Hartland Township. Her husband is Township Road Commissioner Mike Murphy.

Here’s her reply to my question about damage:

Oh Yes, quite a bit, a large tree down on McCauley Road, had to get it moved off the road, then an old grain bin of neighbors went down. Didn’t have to do anything with that.

That all was at 9:30 then at 10:30 many, many trees were across Paulsen Road, my husband didn’t get home until 2 AM.

During that time the electric lines went down on Deep Cut Road and he had to put up barricades to keep the traffic off.

Now he’s doing the cleanup on Paulsen road, pushing all the debri off the road, (and they’re trying to get rid of Townships NOT SMART). What a mess and we’re to get more late this afternoon or evening.

This damage is minor compared to the devastation in Joplin, Missouri, last night.

Not a building or tree can be seen in this image from the Weather Channel that was taken near the severely damaged St. John's Medical Center in Joplin.

I have a special interest in that city because my little sister and her family moved there in the early 1990′s.

This was a pretty busy road in western Joplin.

St. John’s Hospital was so badly damaged that patients had to be evacuated. One employee said there was only five minutes notice before the massive tornado hit.

It's hard to find a window at St. John's that was not blown out by the tornado