The following referendum will be on the ballots of Harvard residents in April:
CITY OF HARVARD
Shall the extension limitation under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law for the City of Harvard, McHenry County, Illinois, be increased from the lesser of 5% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index over the prior levy year to 15.7% per year for 2018?
Northwest Herald
Endorsement: McHenry County Board Chairman: Jack Franks
October 9, 2016
“Franks promises to reduce the county’s levy by 10 percent and use his bully pulpit to persuade other local taxing bodies to reduce their levies.”
http://www.nwherald.com/2016/10/05/endorsement-mchenry-county-board-chairman-jack-franks/a80cle1
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Every single Harvard Precinct voted for Jack Franks.
Linda Dikun, the Treasurer of the Jack Franks PAC, is from Harvard.
Will Jack Franks use his bully pulpit to persuade the City of Harvard Mayor and City Council to reduce their levy.
City of Harvard Mayor: Michael Kelly
City of Harvard Alderman: Ron Burlingame, Chuck Marzahl, Phil Ulmer, Michael Kelly, Bob O’Halloran, Raul Meza, Jeremy Adams, and Carl Opper.
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Instead the Mayor and City Council is asking the voters if they want to grant the City the ability to hike taxes more than is currently allowed by law.
Maybe if the question was phrased something like that, more people would fully understand the meaning of the referendum sentence.
Or, instead of a maximum 5% tax hike, would you like a 15.7% tax hike.
With all the section 8 freeloaders sent to Harvard from Chicago, such a tax hike might just get approval!
……. and such measures will drive even MORE productive taxpayers out of Illinois!
Such a deal!
Chicago is a “sanctuary city”, that makes Illinois a “sanctuary state” by default.
Too late to save the once great Land Of Lincoln, at least not in our lifetime.
Now that Lying Jack Franks is the King of McHenry County, expect to see section 8 housing everywhere.
Remember he is a Democrat.
He’ll go after the money you get from the feds by selling out your own culture.
Keep in mind the relationship between Sager and Franks.
Add to the the relationship amongst: the rulers of Harvard (Stricker / Hensen / Nolan and company) / Eldridge / Aavang / Smith / Kearns / the Crosbys / Harvard State Bank – owned by the Franks.
What is being built in Woodstock?
Lotsa Section 8.
Now read this:
“New migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that from July 2015 to July 2016, Illinois lost 114,000 people, on net, to other states, a record high for the Land of Lincoln.”
AND
” wealth flight data from the Internal Revenue Service, the net loss of one person every 4.6 minutes comes with a net loss of $30,000 of taxable income every 4.6 minutes, too. ”
I think we need to move McHenry County Housing Authority offices to Cary.
I hear that area and Lakewood needs some Section 8 Housing.
Odd system where property owners pay for so much while renters do not.
With such high property taxes in McHenry County the disparity is truly alarming.
Importing poverty is Sager’s specialty and Franks agenda.
Franks is dying to get Chicago style politics out here in McHenry County and he just may succeed unless our County Board members start speaking up and representing the people of their districts, like they’re supposed to.
Steve Reick is close with Woodstock’s Mayor Sager.
That’s disturbing too.
From the NWH:
“The state’s population shrunk by 37,508 people from July 2015 through last July, according to the report. Illinois was one of eight states that lost population during that time period.”
Perhaps the Harvard residents should attend the board meeting and ask why their gov dudes want some much more.
After the Waltz from your gov dudes, just follow Nancy Reagen and JUST SAY NO!
Interesting comment: “Steve Reick is close with Woodstock’s Mayor Sager. ”
Also, interesting was the Reick campaign piece which described Franks as a ‘good guy’.
I think Franks owns the Harvard savings bank,not the State Bank
The tag line of this post and subsequent comments clearly do not understand the issue and the referendum which is being presented to City of Harvard residents.
There will be two questions on the ballot concerning this referendum:
“Shall the extension limitation under the Property Tax Extension Limitation law for the City of Harvard, McHenry County, Illinois, be increased from the lesser of 5% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index over the prior levy year to 15.7% per year for 2018?”
AND
“Shall the City of Harvard, McHenry County, Illinois increase the maximum tax rate to allow for upgrades of the park and recreation system; improved maintenance, design and aesthetic enhancements and modernization to park facilities with additional activity programs to .233% of the equalized asses value of the taxable property therein instead of .075%, the maximum rate otherwise applicable to the next taxes to be extended?”
The language of the referendum as required by statute is impossible for the average tax payer to easily discern what it means, or what it is for.
A Referendum Committee will seek to educate voters to understand exactly what the referendum is asking of Harvard tax payers.
What isn’t disclosed here is that the added tax by this referendum will be a “Net Zero Sum Game”.
This is because the previous Harvard City Pool referendum will be completed, reducing City of Harvard tax bills.
The Pool referendum generated $300,000 annually to pay off the cost to build the pool.
If voters do not vote for the referendum, they will see a decrease in their tax liability because the pool referendum is expiring.
If voters vote Yes for the referendum, the referendum will generate the same $300,000 annually.
$150,000 will go to the Harvard Diggins Library for building maintenance (new roof, etc.) and additional upgrades to the library.
The other $150,000 will go to the Parks and Recreation department for improvement of the City Parks – an issue which Harvard Residents CLEARLY STATED THEY WANTED in focus groups and surveys as determined in the formulation of the Harvard Parks System Master Plan which was approved last year by the Harvard City Council.
http://cityofharvard.org/documents/revised-final-report-park-master-plan-06-21-2016.pdf
In a nutshell:
If Harvard voters vote YES, their tax bill remains unchanged by the referendum because it will replace an expired pool referendum and they will get the upgrades they asked to be completed to the City parks and the library.
If Harvard voters vote NO, their tax bill will decrease because of the expired pool referendum, but they will not get the upgrades needed for the library and city parks.
I’m from Chicago, born and raised and lived for 50 years.
I have never seen property taxes as unfair and crazy high until I made the mistake moving to Harvard.
I’m almost 68 yrs old and getting robbed every year with ever rising taxes.
I’m very glad I found this blog as now I know where the people of Harvard stand on issues.
I live in an area that has many empty houses.
If you moved these homes to Chicago, they would be worth $300,000+.
In Harvard they are worth $90,000 at best.
I don’t want to continue to pay high property taxes for parks and pools and libraries.
If people of Harvard really care about these things, vote no on this proposal and use the money you save on property taxes and give it to these projects.
At least I won’t have to continue to be robbed in taxes to pay for things I don’t use.
I care more about my home losing value because there is nothing here as in Hardy’s,Dunkin Donuts, Aldi. making this City unappealing for people to consider living here.
Homes in the area I live in have been on the market for years and empty!
I would sell and move back to Chicago but my home has lost value and is “underwater”.
Maybe Harvard people are ok with only having Walmart with their high prices having a strangle hold on this City but I’m not.
I probably pay more in property tax than Walmart.
People of Harvard need to wake up! Are you really happy with the way things are?
Are pools and parks more important than fair grocery prices or competition for Walmart?