CL TIF Districts

This year McHenry County Clerk Mary McClellan has made it easy to find what Tax Increment Financing Districts are extracting from our pocketbooks. Since my tax bill is composed of most of the tax districts into which Crystal Lakers pay, … Continue reading

A Reminder of What Happens in a TIF District

Since McHenry County Blog was started in reaction to the Crystal Lake City Council’s putting Route 14 next to the Vulcan gravel pit in a Tax Increment Financing District, perhaps you will excuse me for returning to the subject once … Continue reading

Tax Increment Financing Districts Force Taxes Up for Those Outside those TIFs

Included on the Tax Rate Calculation page of the McHenry County Clerk’s Office are totals for taxes levied on property within TIF Districts. Tax Increment Financing Districts are mechanisms that allow municipalities to pry money out everyone in McHenry County … Continue reading

Original Developer of Vulcan Lakes TIF District Sentenced to Year in Prison in Unrelated Case

A 2007 Cub Scout meeting caused me to miss Springfield politician-developer Bill Cellini’s appearance before the Crystal Lake City Council the day it awarded the contract for the development of the Vulcan Lakes TIF District. It wasn’t until a Northwest … Continue reading

Fund Raiser for Scott Milliman Sunday: “No Hurdle Too High”

One of the several deputies fired by McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren has brain cancer. Unfortunately, his firing, coming after he was deposed in Zane Seipler’s Federal wrongful termination suit, came when he apparently needed health coverage. His daughter tells … Continue reading

Bill Cellini’s Laugh

In Friday’s Chicago Tribune column, John Kass wrote about Bill Cellini’s laugh. I sensed Kass believed that when Cellini laughed incriminated him. Read the piece and draw your own conclusion. And, if you want to hear Cellini’s laugh listen to … Continue reading

Is Another Crystal Lake TIF District in the Offiing?

I claim no knowledge that the Crystal Lake City Council might be contemplating another Tax Increment Financing District east of the one altering the “streetscape” between the stone cemetery monuments at Pizza Hut and across the street from Kwik Kopy. … Continue reading

Vulcan Lakes TIF Expected to Generate $115 Million, Lots Out of Taxpayers’ Pockets

In a meeting of Crystal Lake governmental bodies about the Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 Tax Increment Financing district, which the city council will vote upon next Tuesday at 7:30, its consultant revealed that $115 million is expected to be generated. And, … Continue reading

Crystal Lake TIF Pre-Nov. 15h Leaflet: Mayor Shepley/Council Plan TIF Tax Hik

Content of the leaflet being distributed by Jim Young: Citizens Against TIFS, Jim Young, Chairman Mayor Shepley/Council Plan TIF Tax Hike The Crystal Lake City Council is planning to divert money from our school, park & college districts to benefit … Continue reading

Crystal Lake’s Coventry Subdivision Latest To Be Leafleted by Citizens Against TIFs

Crystal Lake’s Jim Thompson, Chairman of Citizens Against TIFs, leafleted much of the Coventry subdivision today. The man is indefatigable. Under his supervision, thousands of leaflets explaining how the Crystal Lake City Council’s passage of two Tax Increment Financing districts … Continue reading

Crystal Lake Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 TIF Delayed Until Dec. 6th

With both Crystal Lake school districts and the park district opposing the Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 TIF, the Crystal Lake City Council approved a pre-meeting agreement to postpone the vote until December 6th. With the seven council members were unanimous in … Continue reading

Another Way To Finance Development of Crystal Lake’s Vulcan Lakes

In Friday’s Northwest Herald is an article about the $23 million that the City of Crystal Lake is scheduled to haul in over a twenty-year period as a result of a proposed Waste Management garbage transfer station to be located … Continue reading

For You Dick Tracy Fans – The Gravel Gertie State Park Idea

Speaking of the old Crystal Lake Dump, as I do in the post below, I once had a phone conversation with Dick Tracy cartoonist Chester Gould about Gravel Gertie. It was when I was state representative in the late 1970’s. … Continue reading

Crystal Lake Park Board Asks for Referendum on Two Tax Increment Financing Projects

In the “better late than never” category is the Crystal Lake Park Board’s resolution last night to oppose the city council’s two Tax Increment Financing Districts. Had the board known the rules of the TIF “game,” it is likely it … Continue reading

Citizens Have Their Say On Crystal Lake TIF Disricts

Introducing himself as the chairman of Citizens Against TIFs, local activist Jim Young stated that he believed the General Assembly made a very serious mistake when it passed the Tax Increment Financing law. “It violates the principles of equity,” the … Continue reading

District 47 Estimates $9 Million Tax Shift If All Three Crystal Lake TIFs Approved

Over one hour and twenty minutes after the Crystal Lake City Council meeting began, Grade School District 47 Superintendent Ron Miller was the first one to get a chance to offer the first public comments in the Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 … Continue reading

When Is a Crystal Lake TIF Tax Shift Not a Tax Hike?

When Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley says so. Or, at least, that is what he would have the audience and fellow council members believe if his performance at Tuesday night’s city council is any indication. Apparently, he was smarting from … Continue reading

Crystal Lake TIFs Will Cost District 155 Taxpayers Minimum of $10 Million

High School District 155’s consultant Joe Christofanelli of the firm of Ernst and Young has conservatively estimated a net loss of $10 million should the two Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts be approved by the City of Crystal Lake. “The … Continue reading

City of Crystal Lake Has No Access to Vulcan Lakes

Wouldn’’t you have thought that the City Council would have made certain that its employees could drive a vehicle into the Vulcan Lakes property when it cut the deal with Vulcan Materials? Did you assume that the road between the … Continue reading

Crystal Lake Libertarian Jim Young Hits Bricks Again Fighting TIF Tax Hikes

Crystal Lake neighborhoods who received the leaflet entitled, “Mayor Shepley/City Council Plan Tax Hike,” can thank Crystal Lake Libertarian Party member Jim Young. Young, who does not believe that tax dollars should be spent to subsidize developers got back into … Continue reading