Divided McHenry County Board OKs small property tax increase in new levy
The McHenry County Board narrowly passed its annual budget Tuesday night, ahead of the county's fiscal year starting Dec. 1.
The roughly $247 million budget is similar to the spending plan that was up for 30-day review, with a 1.95% increase in the levy - well below the 5% allowed under the tax cap - and includes the capture of about $825,000 of new property growth in the county.
Board member Terri Greeno of Crystal Lake has been vocal about her desire to keep the levy flat, and on Tuesday brought forth an amendment in a failed effort to do that.
Matt Kunkle of Algonquin also supported the flat levy and seconded the motion Greeno made.
"They're dealing with inflation," Kunkle said of McHenry County residents.
Board member Eric Hendricks of Lake in the Hills agreed.
Board member Mike Shorten of Crystal Lake said he spent "a lot of time going through" the budget and would support a flat levy based on the feedback from constituents.
"While the flat levy failed, I will continue to remain vigilant to ensure that McHenry County continues to provide the quality, responsive services that our residents expect in a responsible, cost-effective manner," Shorten wrote in a news release.
"It was very viable," Hendricks said after the meeting of Greeno's proposal.
The flat levy proposal was defeated 10-8, with members Lou Ness of Woodstock, Carolyn Campbell of Crystal Lake, Theresa Meshes of Fox River Grove, Kelli Wegener of Crystal Lake, Gloria Van Hof of Crystal Lake, Pamela Althoff of McHenry, Joe Gottemoller of Crystal Lake, Larry Smith of Harvard, Michael Skala of Huntley and Brian Sager of Woodstock voting against it. Likewise, they all voted for the budget that passed.
Greeno, Hendricks, Shorten, Kunkle, John Reinert of Crystal Lake, Jim Kearns of Huntley, Carl Kamienski of Johnsburg and Tracie Von Bergen of Hebron all voted for the flat levy and against the budget.
The entire county board meeting, including the budget vote, took less than an hour and a half.
"This was the least contentious of the November meetings," Meshes said. She credited the budget process that Skala, chair of the finance committee, oversaw to get the spending plan completed.
Gottemoller acknowledged the budget has a slight increase in taxes, but added he felt the county has done a good job over the years of keeping taxes down.
"We're below the rate of inflation," Gottemoller said of the budget.
The annual tax increase for the county portion of the levy will be about $20 on average for a $300,000 home, county officials said.
The approved budget includes a $525,000 increase for the county Mental Health Board, for which officials originally sought an additional $2.5 million citing increased demand for services provided by agencies and nonprofits who receive support through the board. The total levy of the Mental Health Board now is $10.975 million.
The flat-levy proposal that was voted down included the same amount of funding for mental health services.