Eric Hendricks: 2024 candidate for McHenry County Board District 3

Bio

Party: Republican

Office Sought: McHenry County Board District 3

City: Lake In The Hills

Age: 34

Occupation: Attorney

Previous offices held: McHenry County Board — District 3

Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?

I'm running to lower taxes. I have voted “no” to every tax hike since I was elected as a first-time, self-funded candidate in 2022, and I will continue to vote against tax hikes. I'm also the only candidate running that's explicitly made that promise. I supported eliminating $10.5 million of the County's property tax levy without any cuts to services and also increased funding for County's Mental Health Board.

We must support our law enforcement. Democrats at the county-level (and state-level) voted to take away millions of dollars per year from the Sheriff; around the same time, they passed the SAFE-T Act (i.e. famously known to have eliminated cash bail for charged offenders). This resulted in millions in increased costs and decreased revenues.

I proudly support law enforcement and will work to continue to work towards solutions impacting McHenry County residents and am a beneficial member in backing our law enforcement.

If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the board and what would your priority be?

Despite being on the McHenry County Board for less than 2-years, some major accomplishments include: Provided a guaranteed vote against tax increases controlled by the McHenry County Board (including the nearly 100% gas tax increase).

Supported the permanent elimination of approximately $10.5 million from the McHenry County property tax levy without requiring any cuts to services and increasing funding availability for the McHenry County Mental Health Board.

Supported the opening of the McHenry County Regional Training Center, providing a welcome resource for both the McHenry County Sheriff's Office and our other local law enforcement partners.

Supported elimination of the Longmeadow Parkway bridge toll.

Been vocally in favor of individual rights and, as a member of the Law & Government committee, supported an increased working relationship between McHenry County and the Illinois legislature to better influence fixing laws which have created issues in McHenry County.

Describe your position regarding the balance between county spending and revenues as it exists today, then describe the chief threats you see looming in the future and how the county should deal with them.

McHenry County has the highest credit rating available to counties and is entirely debt free, which is something only a few counties in Illinois can claim.

The chief threats to McHenry County are: (1) high inflation driving up the County's costs; (2) mandated spending led by those who run Springfield; and (3) a greater economic crisis Illinois seems to be flirting with due to the irresponsible spending caused by our state leaders and their unwillingness to address (example: unfunded pension liability).

Unfortunately, the County can only control so much. We should continue to fund non-tax revenue sources, not taxes, to help drive revenues. An example of this would be McHenry County's recent partnership with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, which is bringing in millions of dollars of revenue into McHenry County to help continue to strengthen and diversify our revenues without need for tax hikes.

County spending should also be critically looked at and, where possible, reduced.

Does there need to be more bipartisanship and cooperation on the county board? If yes, what would you do to help make that happen?

I always welcome bipartisanship and cooperation on the McHenry County Board. That doesn't mean to compromise your values, but to simply work across the aisle to find solutions. I was proud to lead the fight against the increased gas tax; although our efforts failed, the effort to stop it was bipartisan. If reelected, I will again lead the fight to eliminate that misguided tax increase and am happy to work with both Democrats and Republicans to make that happen.

And I've made it well-known to my fellow McHenry County Board Members, Republican or Democrat, that I'm always willing to discuss a position. Sometimes I've initiated those discussions, and sometimes someone has reached out to me, but I am always happy to work with Republicans or Democrats to continue to make the County a safe and wonderful place to live.

What role should the county play in combating the opioid crisis?

McHenry County needs to be louder, more vocal opponent to some misguided policies implemented by those in Springfield. If Springfield is willing to admit some of its mistakes and seek our partnership, I know McHenry County would be happy to answer the call to make a thoughtful, improved change to our state-and-local efforts to combat the opioid crisis.

We also need to make sure our law enforcement parters have all the resources they need to go after those responsible for the opioid/drug crisis, and for law enforcement to know they have our full support in doing so. Stepping up efforts at prevention and rehabilitation is always something that could be improved, and aggressively pursuing drug dealers with a heavy hand is something I know the County supports and will continue to do.

What role should the county play in increasing affordable housing in the region?

McHenry County can only do so much to assist with the costs of housing. One area I am very interested in is reducing the “red tape” which helps lead to increased costs.

Ultimately, supply and demand play a much greater role than anything McHenry County can individually do. Our multi-decade high inflation has unfortunately caused a rapid increase to the federal reserve rates, which obviously significantly increases the interest rate for those seeking to take out a mortgage.

But just because the misguided federal and state-level policies over the past several years have led to increased housing costs doesn't mean McHenry County shouldn't take economically viable steps towards addressing that issue. Updating our building codes and working with our local municipalities to do the same are some examples of what McHenry County can responsibly pursue to help decrease the ridiculous cost of housing.