As I have mentioned before, the city did not bother to tell all, if any, local merchants that starting July 1st they would have to pay that 75% tax hike whether they collected it from their customers or not.

In its first month it pried more than $400,000 out of Crystal Lake shoppers pockets.

And, the Northwest Herald didn’t run an article either. My guess is some of their advertisers would not have been too happy if they had.

So, far Woodstock and McHenry have not made any effort to promote their sales tax advantage. I can’t begin to wonder why.

Tomorrow, candidates for Crystal Lake’s city council can begin to file their petitions.

The grapevine tells me that the three incumbents up for election—Dave Goss, Ralph Dawson and Jeff Thorsen—are planning to run for re-election. Goss and Dawson voted for the sales tax hike.

Here are the justifications offered for supporting the huge tax hike.

Thorsen voted against it.

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Of the two side by side photographs, Dave Goss is on the left and Ralph Dawson is on the right.

Crystal Lake City Councilman Jeff Thorsen is on bottom left.