Cary Grade School District Holding Meeting to Explain Next Year’s Tax Levy

Tax districts are required to place “black border” ads in the paper to notify residents if they plan to increase their tax levies more than 5%. Cary Grade School District 26 is not increasing its levy 5% or more, but … Continue reading

Six Years of No Increase in Tax Levy for McHenry County College, New Growth Has Brought Tax Share Down

Since the team of Karen Tirio, Chris Jenner, Ron Parrish and Tom Wilbeck were elected to the McHenry County College Board six years ago,  along with Molly Walsh, the MCC tax levy has remained constant. With new growth occurring, the … Continue reading

State Senate Candidates’ Night – Part 4 – Real Estate Taxes, Cap or Reduce, How Finance Schools & Libraries

Continuing coverage of the League of Women Voters Candidates’ Night for those seeking State Senate seat looking at answers to the question of whether property taxes should be capped or reduced and “how do you propose to help schools and libraries–two … Continue reading

MCC Board Members in Their Role as “Trustees”

Lakewood bond analyst and public policy commentator Steve Willson reflected on the McHenry County College Board’s upcoming decision of whether to increase or decrease taxes. (Board members can do either. (By taking all the money allowed under the Real Estate … Continue reading

County Board’s Legislative Goals Unveiled, Sales Tax Hike Included

McHenry County Board Legislative Committee members will discuss the County’s legislative wish list for the incoming General Assembly on Friday morning at 8:15..  (The draft is here.) Some, but not all of the proposals are reproduced below: Top request is … Continue reading

Grafton Urged to Tax to the Max Tonight or “Lose It Forever”

Grafton Township Clerk Kathryn Francis is doing something that I wish all governmental bodies would do. She is posting draft minutes to be considered at the next meeting. For Grafton Township, that is tonight, Monday, December 15th, at 7:30 PM … Continue reading

By 5-2 Vote McHenry Grade School Board Taxes to the Max

Add McHenry Elementary School District 15 to that list of tax districts planning to take as much money out of local taxpayers’ pockets as state law allows. The legal publication for the public hearing about the proposed levy said the … Continue reading

Two Tax Cap Busting Referendums on the Ballot

Should have caught this sooner. The Village of Bull Valley and the River East Public Library District are asking voter permission to bump their tax rates way up. Look at the ballot question in Bull Valley first: Bull Valley is … Continue reading

Will Lower Assessments Lead to Lower Taxes?

The Illinois real estate assessment system bases one’s share of the total bill on the value of one’s property (unless one has farm land). A short history of how we got where we are. The 1870 Constitution required that real … Continue reading

County Legislative Committee Considering Tax Cap Modification

You may remember that McHenry County Blog revealed that the County’s nursing home, Valley Hi, has $35 million in the bank.  That’s as of the end of November, 2013. Now, it’s $36 million. A lot of that is clearly surplus … Continue reading

Valley Hi Surplus Discussed by Public Health Committee

Today I went to the 8:30 AM meeting of the McHenry County Board’s Public Health Committee. Lots of interesting information surfaced as budgets from various departments were outlined. During the public comment time, I asked for an explanation of the … Continue reading

Comparing This Year’s Fire Protection Taxes with Last Year’s

Below the total tax requests from Fire Protection Districts in McHenry County for last year are compared to the ones which will be reflected in the real estate tax bills about to arrive in people’s mailboxes: The Barrington Countryside Fire … Continue reading