Cary moving forward after voters reject home rule referendum

Cary village officials will carry on with planned infrastructure improvements after residents voted last week against the village becoming a home rule community, and are not closing the door on trying again at the polls.

Mayor Mark Kownick said the results aren’t what he had hoped for, but plans to move forward with capital improvement projects without the 1% sales tax the village was hoping to enact with home-rule status.

“It’s business as usual here. We will figure this out. That’s what we do,” Kownick said.

About 76% of voters last week opposed the home rule referendum, according to unofficial results.

Cary officials wanted home-rule status to “level the playing field” with other communities in McHenry County, Kownick said.

“We thought that we would have an opportunity to show that we can be as progressive as these other communities are,” he added.

The village could attempt another referendum for a non-home rule sales tax. Kownick sees that as an option for the future, but “not anytime soon.”

The village also could try for another home rule referendum in the future. Barrington passed such a referendum last year after multiple unsuccessful attempts.

Many surrounding McHenry County municipalities have home rule status, including Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Crystal Lake, Huntley and McHenry.

Kownick said he thinks the referendum failed because the “billion-dollar industry” of the National Association of Realtors and residents’ distaste for increased government authority. Flyers, signs and even TV commercials were funded by the organization aiming to dissuade voters from supporting home rule. Many opposition groups are based in real estate, since home rule can mean higher property taxes.

“That’s where the problem came in because they were misleading our municipality,” he said.

With a future home rule sales tax removed as a possibility, the village could lose about $400,000 if the state ends up removing the 1% grocery tax that usually funds local municipalities, as Gov. JB Pritzker has proposed.

Cary plans to continue with infrastructure improvements based on their five-year Capital Improvement Program, Village Administrator Erik Morimoto said. Projects on the to-do list include adding sidewalks in the Hilltop subdivision, creating the Maplewood Access Road and a new bike path at Rawson Bridge.

“We will continue to move forward as we normally do. We will pivot,” Kownick said. “This village has always been able to keep its head above water.”