Thanks to The First Electric Newspaper for reminding me that it is that time of year when financial officials at tax districts find out how much more tax money they will be able to get in 2016. They already know … Continue reading
Category Archives: PTELL
Reader “Connecting Dots” inserted this property tax information in a comment under the article, “McSweeney Introduces Eleven Bills.” There are comments on more than one of the bills, but with regard to McSweeney’s House Bill 178 to freeze township extensions … Continue reading
Sophomore State Rep. David McSweeney introduced eleven bills on the first day of the session. To say that it is an ambitious agenda is more than an understatement. You can take a look at them below: House Bill 173 – Repeals … Continue reading
The Northwest Herald reported Friday that Cary Elementary School District 26’s Board decided to take from the property taxpayers next year every dime allowed by the Property Tax Cap. That’s an increase of 1.5% over what was extracted this year. … Continue reading
Taxpayers may be making more of a fuss this year than previously. Maybe not. Tax districts are getting less than 2% more this year, when the Property Tax Cap allowed them to get 3%. So, some tax districts showed restraint … Continue reading
You may remember my critique of the County Board’s budget limiting efforts. My May 30th article was entitled, “County Board Just Can’t Say, ‘No New Taxes.‘” The guts of the article was this table: Approximate 20 Year Effects of Not … Continue reading
An astute political observer noted that Republican Precinct Committee have more power being thrust in their hands at Saturday’s 9 AM meeting of the GOP Central Committee than they have ever had before. Indeed, in times past, Precinct Committee have … Continue reading
Under the heading of “Why your tax bills went up,” in Kevin Craver’s article on the issuance of Property Tax bills is a misstatement from the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments. The Northwest Herald story says Robert Ross indicated, “The … Continue reading
With tax bills having arrived, it seems appropriate to call attention again to those McHenry County Board members who recommended to tax us to the max: Who Voted to Raise Your County Taxes? The Board members voted “balloon” levy, that … Continue reading
An email from the Township Officials of Illinois asking help in killing a bill in the Senate Revenue Committee similar to the one State Rep. Jack Franks got passed the House, but was deep-sixed by the Senate sponsor (Terry Link) … Continue reading
A press release from Cliff Surges, who is running against Karen McConnaughay: REPUBLICAN CLIFF SURGES ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR PROPERTY TAX FREEZE LEGISLATION WHILE McCONNAUGHAY’S WEAK ATTACK ON SURGES MISSES THE MARK “Property Tax Freeze is what is important,” says Surges, … Continue reading
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
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
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) has reversed the House defeat of his bill to prevent local tax districts from raising the tax take when assessed valuation is not growing…regardless of the increase in the … Continue reading
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
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
“We want more!” might be the motto of the McHenry County Council of Governments, a taxpayer-supported local meeting ground of local officials, elected and appointed. The McCOG group’s Executive Director has sent out the following email in opposition to State … Continue reading
Not only are townships and municipalities using taxpayer dollars to lobby against the interests of their taxpayers, so are school boards. And they are all paying for their lobbying with taxpayer-financed dues. Read what is posted on the Illinois Association … Continue reading
The 2010 assessed valuation has been totaled for McHenry County and it’s down almost 10%. That’s what a comparison of raw figures from the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Office indicate. McHenry County real estate taxes this year will be … Continue reading
The rate of inflation has been announced for the year 2008. The chart to the right tells the tale. (Click to enlarge.) The Consumer Price Index increased only 0.1%. That’s not 1%. That’s 1/10 of of 1%. Worse even that … Continue reading