I was elected McHenry County Treasurer in 1966 when I was 24 years old.
At the time, the incumbent Audrey Walgenbach was not allowed to run for re-election by the 1870 State Constitution.
That meant there was no one with the advantage that goes with being already in office.
Three of us ran:
- Gene Brewer, who was Police Chief of Harvard and had served in the same capacity for Fox river Grove
- Ray Murphy, Supervisor of Hartland Township and sone-in-law of a Board member of the First National Bank of Woodstock. I was also told he was a horse trader.
- Cal Skinner, Jr., less thn a year out of grad school at the University of Michigan and Budget Examiner at the United States Bureau of the Budget (No the Office of Management and Budget)
It was a close race with a spread of only 277 votes, which I won by 72 votes.
33% +, 33%, 33%-.
The County Treasurers Association annual meeting was in Chicago shortly after I was sworn in.
I asked a couple of the older Treasurers why County Treasurers and Sheriffs were not allowed to succeed themselves.
The answer surprised me:
The 1870 Constitution fathers (no women allowed, of course) figured if a Sheriff or Treasurer couldn’t get rich in four years they were too stupid to continue holing the job.”
The logic is pretty straight forward for a law enforcement officer, but not so easy to understand for the person who collects taxes.
As my understanding of county government increased, I learned that the County Treasurers used to assess property.
An article in the Chicago Tribune Thursday emphasizing the opportunities for money making by an assessor;
I was told by the President of the Harvard State Bank, Joe Crabb, that State Treasurer Frank Lorenz, who retired in Lakewood, let it be know to Illinois banks that they could have $100,000 in state deposits for a hundred dollars a year. Whether that went to a campaign fund or him personally was left in the dark.
So, there is an opportunity for a government treasurer to make money in return for investments, it is no where near the possibilities for one who assesses real estate.
The Illinois General Assembly must have concluded that the bribery going on was bad enough that the power to assess should be taken away from County Treasurers.
Sometime in the early 1950’s, a law was passed allowing County Boards to create the Office of Supervisor of Assessments to oversee the work of Township Assessors.
That had its own problems, which those buying newly-constructed homes,,mainly in the southeast part of McHenry County, discovered.
Supervisor of Assessments Stanly Cornue promulgated rules that assessments should be at 60% of market value.
Algonquin Township’s Assessor followed those rules.
Midway through my four years in office, a group of Crystal Lake homeowners formed the Involved Citizens Association.
The Illinois Supreme Court had just ruled that railroad property could not be assessed higher than the average assessment level in the county through which its track ran.
Concurrently, the legislature, under Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie, had created the State property Tax Appeal Board for all counties, but Cook. (We added Cook while Jim Edgar was Governor under a bill sponsored by State Rep, Maureen Murphy.)
The Involved Citizens Association, using Declarations of Value on deeds filed with the Circuit Clerk and sent to my office for updating of tax bill addresses, conducted a study comparing assessments to sales prices (called a sales ratio study).
We conducted the same type of study by mailing out questionnaires to buyers on the deeds asking what they paid for their homes.
Both studies revealed that the median average assessment was 43.2% of market value.
Homeowners who appealed asking their assessments to be cut from the 60% level set by Supervisor of Assessment Stanley Cornue were turned down by the County Board of Review.
With my help, thirteen appealed to the new State Property Tax Appeal Board.
And, they all won.
I handed out $500 real estate tax refunds checks to people,
