Tax hike, clerk, coroner, pot sales on referendum ballots in Kane, McHenry counties
Dundee Township voters will decide whether to increase their property taxes.
Meanwhile, voters in Algonquin will choose whether to stop electing a village clerk, and those in McHenry County will make a similar decision about the coroner.
And Batavians will weigh in on whether they support or oppose having recreational marijuana dispensaries.
These are some of the referendum questions on ballots in Kane and McHenry counties for Tuesday's election.
Binding questions
Algonquin residents will decide whether the clerk should be appointed.
The current clerk, who died Oct. 1, was first elected in 1989, and was unopposed in every election since 1993. The position is considered part-time. The village also has an employee who serves as deputy clerk.
The village clerk is responsible for maintaining village records, and recording and maintaining minutes of village board meetings. The clerk also administers oaths of office, certifies agreements, and oversees the nomination process for elections of the village's president and trustees.
In Dundee Township, voters are deciding whether authorities can raise the property tax rate to generate more revenue for its general operations. According to authorities, it would generate about $700,000 extra for the township in the first year it is imposed.
The rate would go from 7.28 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation, to 10.98 cents. That means the owner of a property with a market value of $200,000 would pay an additional $12.33 in taxes in 2021.
Township Supervisor Patricia Glees said she plans to use $350,000 for the general fund, $200,000 for the open-space fund, $50,000 for the cemetery fund and the rest for general assistance.
The McHenry County coroner question asks voters if they agree to allow the county board to hire someone to oversee investigating and certifying causes and manners of deaths, rather than electing a coroner.
The county's previous coroner, Anne Majewski, resigned in midterm in March. The county board chairman favors having an appointed coroner.
Just an opinion
Batavia aldermen decided in January to solicit residents' opinions, via referendum, about whether recreational marijuana dispensaries should be allowed.
The vote will not bind the city council one way or the other.
Mayor Jeff Schielke, who does not want dispensaries in town, favored putting the question on the ballot to hear from voters.
"I'm not about to counteract what the community feels about it (dispensaries)," he said in a September interview.