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Peter Suffield is running for the Republican nomination to the McHenry County Board in District 7, which covers Wonder Lake and parts of McHenry, Woodstock and Bull Valley. The winner of the March 19 primary will take on Democratic incumbent board member Lou Ness, of Woodstock, in November. Suffield answered questions from the Northwest Herald. Suffield’s GOP primary opponent, Paul Thomas, did not return a questionnaire.
Name: Peter Suffield
What office are you seeking? McHenry County Board, District 7
Which party? Republican
What public offices, if any, have you previously held? I was a Precinct Committeemen in Algonquin 34, Algonquin Township
City: Current residency is in Woodstock
Occupation: Healthcare field
Campaign website: N/A
Do you support the referendum on the March ballot that would increase the sales tax countywide to pay for mental health services? If not – or if the referendum does not pass – how would you propose to fund those services and at what level?
Yes, I support increased funding to the mental health board. However, if fiscal year 23 and estimated FY 24 are on pare with FY 22 it is estimated that the County general revenue fund will have actually increased by $12-13 million dollars. However, McHenry County has operated on a “no growth” budget or a maintenance budget for the past several years now. Which means that each department starts out with the same appropriated budget from the prior year. Yet, the Mental Health Board currently receives about $10,975,000 from the Counties General Revenue fund. If the referendum passes then the anticipated budget increases to $12-13 million dollars. However, historically sales taxes have grown overtime so the Mental Health Board’s budget would actually increase beyond the estimated anticipated revenue and could actually go as high as $14 million. As a candidate to the County Board elected officials must be mindful the public purse as well as management of and business of the Counties departments this of courses means keeping taxation down.
The county board recently raised the motor-fuel tax and voted for a modest increase in its property tax levy. Do you think the county should cut taxes, and what specific cuts to spending would you support to balance the budget?
Yes, I do feel the County should cut taxes. [If] I was elected to the McHenry County Board conduct an audit of all county departments as well as programs. However, to be fair the Counties portion of a McHenry County resident pocket book is about 8.5% of every dollar assessed which is rather small compared to other taxing bodies such as school districts which take 69% of every dollar from a McHenry County homeowner.
What would you identify as the top three issues currently facing the county board?
- Population growth-McHenry County currently has an estimated population of about 320,000. The median real estate price for a home is about $300,000 with 82% of the homes occupied are owned. However, with an increase in population comes with a crunch in affordable housing. The County should be pushing developers to build more rental units. However, the current population growth is a double edge sword so to speak in that Illinois is suffering from a migrate crisis due to geopolitical politics and a very unsecure national border that has resulted in a large influx of unskilled population in transit. The down side of this is that unemployment could increase.
- Economic Development
- Transportation-developing a better road network and working with the state to enlarge the following highways to four lane route 47, 31, 120 and 14 west of Woodstock
Should the Metra, CTA and Pace be consolidated into one regional public transportation agency? Why or why not?
Yes, I think so. At least Metra and Pace should probably be consolidated. However, the RTA under state law requires that the CTA, Metra, and Pace to recover collectively at least 50 percent of operating costs from farebox and other system revenues. Any consolidation is going to require changes in state law.
If buses of migrants from the southern U.S. border are dropped off in McHenry County, what should the county’s response be?
First, I am against any public funds to be used from the County purse to assist the Pritzker administration from setting up any kind of migrant “camps.” The health and safety of our residents as well as our Sheriff personnel and other EMS personnel countywide. Secondly, I support the repeal of the Trust Act, that was signed into law by the Rauner administration in August of 2017. That law made Illinois a sanctuary state. I firmly believe that McHenry County should follow leads of Madison and Marion County Boards and pass a resolution opposing sanctuary state status, and a prohibition of County administration from using funds to assist with this issue. If the City of Chicago cannot handle the influx of these new migrants from our southern border, what makes you think McHenry County can handle it?
What are the county’s biggest infrastructure needs and what is your plan for funding them?
While I am keen on cutting taxes and being mindful of the public purse the sad reality is that coming up with a plan and then implementing that plan can be costly. That being said, I think the biggest infrastructure need facing McHenry County is its road network. While many of the Counties outlaying county roads appear to be in reasonable to good shape, there are many that are about as bad or worse than the streets of Woodstock City. This is not good for economic development. Secondly, the County board should be pushing Springfield to keep its original commitment to widening Illinois highway 47 (it seems that the state of Illinois has a habit regardless of the issue in giving either poor support or no support and no funding). In fact, highways 14, 20, 31, 120 and as I mention 47 should all be widened to four lanes. This would greatly attract economic develop and growth. It would also show area businesses that McHenry County is serious about its development and attracting business. This also works well with the Counties plan for key strategic issues areas quality infrastructure.
Is the county prepared for another pandemic should it arise? What lessons should the county take away from its response to COVID-19?
In my humble opinion yes and no. First, I think our county employees are as ready as they will ever be to handle another. Keep in mind that no two pandemics are alike.
Secondly, the biggest lesson is not to politicalize things and that is exactly what happened with Covid-19 from the CDC on down to the local level. Once that happens its nearly impossible to fix, you cannot put the “genie back in the bottle.” Third, is to not to shut down businesses, schools, and threaten people with arrest for even trying to attend church. That is just counterproductive, and does not really achieve anything other than make our constituents angry and defiant. Third, outside of someone’s personal health issues if you want to mask up then do that. Protect yourself. But, do not expect others to do what you do.
How do you propose to regulate the use of solar farms in the county?
On my mother’s side of the family, I come from a long line of farmers. With that being said, McHenry County is still a semi-rural county and the agricultural business is still big here. So, I am in favor of stronger assistance to our farmers. Solar farms take up too much space, they can be an eyesore, and they can impact property values. In addition, solar farms can interfere with farming and other land uses, be a danger to wildlife, and create a lot of heat – both in the daytime and at night. All counties with the exception of one (Winnebago County) regulate solar farms by special use in specified zoning districts within the zoning ordinance. Winnebago regulates solar farms by allowing as a permitted use within the A2 zoning district. I think probably the best way to handle solar farms within the unincorporated areas of McHenry County is to not have industrial -scale solar plants in A1 agricultural areas. Secondly, if a solar farm should have to be decommissioned and the developer lacks surety then that cost of decommissioning could be passed onto county residents, and that could have an unfavorable impact to a tight budget. No plan and cost should ever be approved without a full understanding of the cost to return the land to its original condition, and the county should not be responsible for this cost. Moreover, once an industrial-scale solar farm is put it is usually there for 30-40 years and that rural land is lost forever.
Should the county allow marijuana dispensaries or cultivation centers to operate in unincorporated areas?
No.
What more, if anything, does the county need to do to adequately address climate change?
Honestly, from my point of view, there is not a lot that the County Board can do to address “climate change.” Reasonably speaking only thing that is viable is to cut costs where it is achievable to do so, such as turning off electricity on County owned property.
Anything else you want to address that has not been covered here?
I am a fiscally conservative, pro-Second Amendment Republican who:
- Supports a strong economy
- Pro-economic development and sustainable infrastructure
- Support repeal of the Trust Act
- Support better mental health services and not just for County employees
- Support repeal of House Bill 4603
- Against non-U.S. citizens being hired as police officers or Sheriff’s deputies enforcing state and federal laws and Constitutional law.