A safari to show costs of Grafton town hall

The roughly 50 residents who attended Thursday night's Grafton Township board meeting should have brought their pith hats and khaki shorts.

New Trustee Gerry McMahon took his audience on a safari through his tax bill - in a colorful illustration of the cost of a new township hall.

The proposed building has sparked a firestorm of controversy and an ongoing legal battle between those who say the township needs to expand and those who say the building would be too costly and lead to higher taxes.

McMahon, who supports a new township hall, likened the portions of his tax bill to the animals that inhabit the African savannah.

On the top half of his bill was an actual picture of an elephant - representing the share of taxes collected by the local school district.

With a pair of scissors, McMahon cut off a small sliver of the bill from the bottom half - the "meerkat section," he called it - to indicate the portion of residents' tax bills that would fund the construction of a new township hall.

"This is nothing, absolutely nothing, and a waste of time," McMahon said as he finished his savannah analogy. "I will not tolerate this kind of silliness."

McMahon's speech was a highlight of a freewheeling meeting that featured little action because of pending litigation. Trustees had planned to vote Thursday on whether to build a new township hall, but opponents of the building obtained a temporary restraining order blocking the move.

The order reaffirmed an injunction entered against the township earlier this month. McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell opined that in planning to vote on the township hall Thursday, trustees were trying to circumvent his ruling.

"This is an attempt to tap-dance around the previous order of this court, and if they go ahead and do this tonight - any of the individuals who vote are quite frankly faced with the possibility of indirect criminal contempt penalties," Caldwell said Thursday, according to a transcript.

Supporters of the building have appealed Caldwell's May 4 ruling. A hearing on the case is set for May 28.

Grafton: Trustee says cost to taxpayers is negligible