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McHenry County Board District 3 is located in the south central portion of McHenry County and includes parts of Lake in the Hills, Algonquin, Huntley, Crystal Lake and Lakewood. Eric Hendricks is the incumbent.
Full Name: Eric Hendricks
Office sought: McHenry County Board – District 3
Political party? Republican Party
Age: 34
Occupation and Employer: Attorney
What elected offices, if any, have you previously held?
I’ve been the McHenry County Board Member for District 3 since December 2022.
Campaign Website: Eric4office.com
Town where you live: Lake In The Hills
Education: Northern Illinois University, Bachelor of Science in Finance; Loyola University Chicago, J.D.
Community Involvement: Lions Club; Refuge for Women
Marital Status/Immediate Family: Married to my best friend Natalie and we recently celebrated our son Johnny’s first birthday, so that’s been exciting (and tiring)!
In under 100 words, please share anything else about your professional or personal background that you want voters to know.
I graduated from NIU with a B.S. in Finance in 2013. I then continued my schooling for a year to take additional classes to meet the educational requirements for the CPA exam, and worked as an accountant for a couple of years until I was able to pay off my undergraduate student loans. After I had paid off my student loans, I went to Loyola University of Chicago to attend law school. I graduated in 2019 and have been practicing law ever since, including as a local prosecutor for various municipalities in McHenry County.
Why are you running for office?
I am running because our residents pay outrageous taxes. We need more elected officials to plainly state their plans and for the life of me I do not understand why more don’t. My pledge in 2022 was that I would vote against tax hikes and vote for tax cuts on the board, and I’m very proud to have kept that promise.
To be blunt, I’m the only candidate pledging to vote for tax cuts and refusing to vote for tax hikes; I would rather resign than break that promise.
I also promise to support policies which keep our communities safe and plan to do that primarily by delivering the State Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Department, and other law enforcement groups the resources they need to ensure that.
McHenry County is currently debt free, has the highest credit rating available, and there is no actual need to take out debt to continue to make sure McHenry County remains a wonderful place to live and raise families. I’m especially opposed to some candidate’s ideas to take on debt to fund pet projects at nearly the highest interest rates of my lifetime.
What would you identify as the top three issues currently facing the county board and how would you address them?
The outrageous level of taxes our residents are subjected to and the millions of unfunded mandates being imposed on our county by our elected officials in Springfield, the tepid state of our economy, and the migrant crisis.
Lowering our taxes is simple: I’ll vote to cut them and will not vote to raise them. Consider what it means if any candidate is less frank than that. Sheriff Tadelman and the millions in funds he has generated for this county through his partnership with Lake County is a great example of generating additional revenue for the county without increasing taxes in order to assist with the unfunded mandates that have been imposed on us recently.
McHenry County can’t change the economy, but we can do our part to not burden our residents further. We all budget according to our means and it’s time government did the same.
Again, McHenry County can’t control the border crisis. What we can do is make sure our county is at the forefront of ensuring the effects of it are minimized, and that includes working with and supporting law enforcement so they can aggressively pursue those who contribute to the opioid crisis.
If you’re an incumbent, how are you planning to vote on the upcoming budget and tax levy? Aside from the cut in the levy related to the mental health board, do you support additional cuts, or would you support holding the line on any increase? Would you support taxing the maximum allowed under the tax cap and of new EAV growth? If you’re a challenger, how would you approach this issue?
I plan to introduce the 3% cut (the lowest tax levy evaluated by McHenry County) and will fight to pass that. Raising the sales tax to make up the difference in the levy cut related to the mental health board is just a political shell game, and is NOT a true tax cut, unless we deliver the full ~$11 million in cuts to our residents (at least).
It is easily doable and already been evaluated by numerous staff who work for McHenry County; the plan is there, but the will to do so by our political figures is not for some reason. Having me in office means you at least don’t have to worry about one of us. Over my objections, McHenry County nearly doubled our motor fuel tax last year and increased the property tax levy last year.
Then, voters chose to support a 0.25% sales tax to replace the property levy for the Mental Health Board. Certain members of the McHenry County Board (including all the Democrats) are choosing to ignore that vote and failing to (at the moment at least) even consider honoring our voters’ wishes…let alone consider the further 3% cut that I support.
Why shouldn’t voters choose your opponent?
I’ve kept my promises since I’ve been in office, voting against tax hikes and supporting tax cuts. A vote for me ensures you have one less person out trying to take your hard-earned money out of your pocket. I have self-funded my campaign since the beginning and plan on doing so in any future races for McHenry County Board.
I’ve been in McHenry County nearly my whole life (since 2nd grade) and chose to remain here with my wife to raise our family. I truly love the community, and want to see it reach its full potential and remain a wonderful place! I’m upfront about where I stand on issues and don’t play games just to try to “win” support from voters, and I think that’s the ideal way for our elected officials to act. The day McHenry County has a reliable majority who opposed tax hikes (ideally, tax cuts) is probably the day I stop running for office.
My opponent has taken political donations, recently moved to the area, and hasn’t publicly pledged for tax cuts. We don’t need Chicago and Cook County Democrats running our county, or we will soon experience the same issues those areas do.
Should the Metra, CTA and Pace boards be consolidated into one regional public transportation agency? Why or why not?
If Chicago and Cook County were managed responsibly, I’d likely support consolidation. As a general rule, consolidation leads to greater efficiencies and is something I support.
However, due to their ineptitude, I do not support it and I would support it even less with what’s been proposed. Essentially, the proposal seeks to minimize the voice of the suburban counties so that Springfield, Chicago, and Cook County dominate how the agency is run. That’s being proposed in order to ensure there is no way to stop suburban county tax dollars to fund Chicago’s transit. We shouldn’t be on the hook for Chicago’s fiscal mismanagement, but that is essentially what is being proposed to bail them out.
If they want to consolidate, they should INCREASE suburban area counties representation to be a majority of the agency at least. Like I stated earlier, this is an example of Chicago and Cook County Democrats coming out here to try and meddle in suburban county affairs.
Suburban county Democrats and Republicans are both skeptical of this proposal, and it’s because they know it is just a bailout attempt for the mismanagement of Chicago & Cook County Democrats.
What are the county’s biggest infrastructure needs and what is your plan for funding them?
Bridges and roads are the biggest infrastructure needs we have. We need to work with our municipalities and other local governments cohesively to make sure McHenry County is focusing on maintenance and other needs with an eye towards the future. Thankfully, McHenry County is in a sound fiscal position to do so and to partner with them. I also think it would be beneficial to prioritize a bit more and focus on roads, bridges, etc. and reduce (or push back the time frame) on spending on our “wants” (such as bike paths).
Overall, I’m currently very pleased with McHenry County’s Department of Transportation, look forward to continue working with them, and make sure we are continuously improving and working to continue our great services.
How do you propose to regulate the use of solar farms in the county? Do you support the expansion of solar farms in unincorporated areas?
This is a great example of how our state leaders in Springfield and Chicago have dropped the ball and pushed down unreasonable requirements on McHenry County (and other counties throughout the state). There was a recently passed law which prohibits the McHenry County Board denying solar farm applications or having additional setback, bonding, etc. requirements, and we are statutorily mandated to approve.
I have no issue with solar farms, renewable energy, etc. What I have an issue with is our state leaders handcuffing local governments from having any say in the process whatsoever. I’ve made that known to the applicants and is why I currently vote “no” or “abstain” from voting on those applications despite the requirement to approve. It’s a pushback to an ever-encroaching state government (and not a very functional one if I might add), not any opposition to the applicants and they’ve been understanding and respectful of that position.
At the moment, I do not support the expansion of solar farms in unincorporated areas. Should Illinois ever allow local governments to have a voice on the issue, I would be open to discussions and assume I would support the applicants in most circumstances.
The county board recently convened a working group on workforce housing whose report found a need for more workforce housing in the county. Do you support the expansion of sub-market workforce housing and should the county be involved in investing in such projects?
As a general rule, I don’t support government involvement in the economy. When government interference, regulation, etc. is needed, I think it should be done to the minimum extent possible. So whether “workforce housing”, “affordable housing”, or whatever other term people want to call it, I think it should be brought by the market. I don’t support the county investing taxpayer dollars into such projects.
I do support working with interested parties on how the county and municipalities can reduce their red tape and make housing more affordable in general. I’ve spoken to people in the industry and they say that part of the reason housing is so expensive is because of the numerous regulations governments have. Working to simplify building codes and eliminate the least important requirements would assist with reducing, or at least slowing the growth, of home prices in the county and would in particular assist younger families to be able to afford their homes.
And, of course, one major area we can directly be involved with in the county to make housing more affordable would be to reduce our property taxes. Advocating for property tax hikes and complaining about affordable housing is irreconcilable in my opinion.
Should the county board limit its votes to “germane” topics as was proposed recently? And should the board be in the business of passing resolutions or flying flags to recognize certain groups or movements?
Should the primary focus be less on polarizing political issues and more on helping manage the county? Of course. But we are also some of the most easily available local representatives our constituents reach out to, and we shouldn’t simply abandon our role in helping make our elected state officials aware of how our county residents feel about a matter.
I think official action by the McHenry County Board should be limited to proposed or recently passed legislative bills that have a serious impact on our residents’ lives and businesses, and to the extent possible something that has a realistic chance of passing or that has already passed.
I proudly supported changing the rules to not fly special interest flags on county property without a supermajority vote. To be clear, that’s ALL special interest flags regardless of the topic. The only flags that should be flown on government property are our local, state, and federal government flags, as well as things like military and veteran flags. Anything else would be improper in my opinion and is simply done to create a partisan issue out of thin air.
Should the county allow marijuana dispensaries or cultivation centers to operate in unincorporated areas?
I lean libertarian on many issues, and this is one of them. I have no issue with marijuana and think states and our federal government should legalize it. Illinois’ choice to add ridiculously high taxes when it legalized it, have the dispensary license cost prohibitive, seemingly disproportionately granting the licenses to politically connected groups, etc. were all mistakes and a real problem Illinois in general has been suffering from. People still, to this day, buy marijuana from the black market because of how much more affordable it is due to taxes, restricted supply, limited dealerships. If the goal of the state is to drive out drug dealers from the market and generate increased revenue, Illinois would be best served by fixing these issues.
I have no problem with dispensaries or cultivation centers in unincorporated areas. I would welcome the opportunity to generate additional revenue for McHenry County to alleviate our unfunded mandates by Springfield and our other continuously rising costs due to the abhorrent inflation we have suffered over the past several years. I’m confident McHenry County could support this endeavor in a manner that helped the county and did not result in any detrimental effects to our residents.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? No.
In your capacity as a private citizen, have you or any business entity in which you have a ownership stake receive a federal PPP loan? If so, what was the amount and is it repaid, forgiven or still outstanding?
No, and if someone has I do not think it should be an issue frankly. The COVID restrictions our governor chose to take resulted in countless jobs and businesses being lost, and outright prevented many of them from even being able to operate for a time.
I think if government is going to temporarily destroy your livelihood, the least it could do is offer some of your taxes back to you.
Will you honor the results of the November election, including the presidential race?
Yes, and I think questions like this are unnecessary and does more to pit us against each other. It’s a problem politicians in both parties have had trouble with lately (Hillary Clinton in 2016, Stacey Abrams in 2018, and Trump in 2020 are some examples).
I support any candidate to use any legal means they can to ensure the vote is counted accurately, but ultimately why would we be running if we didn’t ultimately have faith in the system? I think all candidates will acknowledge this race as fair and, despite our differences of opinions on the issues, I’ll happily congratulate my opponent on a hard-fought race should he win.