2016 McHenry County Schools Statistics – Property Tax Comparisons

Right after this year’s real estate tax bills arrived in mailboxes, McHenry County Blog showed how school districts’ tax levies compared with the previous two years’ levies. A Friend of McHenry County Blog did the heavy lifting in manipulating this … Continue reading

2016 Statistics for McHenry County Schools – Demographic Data

A while ago, a commenter asked for more information about schools than whether and how much they increased or decreased taxes since last year. While data for 2017 is not available, that for 2016 is. A Friend of McHenry County … Continue reading

What You Can Do to Stop Higher School Taxes TODAY

Woodstock resident Susan Handlesman offers the following good advice of how you might influence Governor Bruce Rauner to veto a bill that is, if signed, is bound to increase local school taxes: Contact Rauner: Stop schools’ tax cap evasion loophole, … Continue reading

Wonder Lake Jr. High School Teacher Arrested

A press release from the McHenry County Sheriff: McHenry Man Arrested on Disorderly Conduct Charges Detectives from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office served criminal warrants on June 24, 2016, on Scott Smessaert of McHenry, Illinois, for Disorderly Conduct. On May … Continue reading

McHenry County Schools Asking for 1.23% More This Year

Below you can see what McHenry County school districts will be asking to extract from your checking or escrow accounts this year. You will note that all of them put together are requesting 1.23% more, although the rate of inflation … Continue reading

Looking at More School Debt Information

Taken from bond documents by bond analyst Steve Willson is the following information: … Continue reading

WL School District Capitulates to Tax Protesters, $123,000 Being Refunded

St. Charles attorney Tim Dwyer asked property owners associations and businesses on the eastern side of Wonder Lake if they would like to join in protesting excessive taxation by the Harrison Grade School District. Those that took up his offer … Continue reading

Tax Protest Suit against Wonder Lake’s Harrison Grade School

The first part of attorney Tim Dwyer’s tax protest suit is against McHenry County.  You can read about that here. The second section goes after excessive levies at Wonder Lake’s Harrison Grade School District 36. As with the challenged funds … Continue reading

Tax Protest Suit against McHenry County, Harrison School, CL Grade & High School, plus Alg & McH Townships

Four tax districts in McHenry County are targeted in a tax protest suit filed by attorney Timothy Dwyer on behalf of WKS CRYSTAL Lake, LLC, ET AL. McHenry County is accused of having excessive funds on hand for the Valley Hi Nursing … Continue reading

A Second Way to Attack Real Estate Taxes

Residents are by now familiar with real estate tax assessment appeals. That’s an attack on the accuracy of one’s assessed value. McHenry County Blog even has an advertiser, attorney Jim Bishop, who handles such appeals. There is, however, a second approach to … Continue reading

School Stats including Cost per Classroom

Here are some 2013 McHenry County school statistics–average expenditure per pupil and per classroom, plus average teach salary–to ponder. They were calculated by a Friend of McHenry County Blog. I don’t think I have seen average spending per classroom for … Continue reading