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McHenry County Board District 9 is located in the southwest portion of McHenry County and includes parts of Marengo, Huntley, Lake in the Hills, Algonquin and Union. Jim Kearns is the incumbent.
Full Name: James A. Kearns
Office sought: McHenry County Board Member District 9.
Political party: Republican
Age: 62
Occupation and employer: Self Employed - Nutri Life Pet Products
What elected offices, if any, have you previously held? Grafton Township Supervisor 2013-2016
Town you live in: Huntley
Education: B.S. Agri Business, Illinois State University
Community involvement: I eagerly help and support residents, organizations, and local charities in need, including Grafton Food Pantry, Pet Rescues, and McHenry County 4-H.
Marital status/immediate family: Married 38 Years
In under 100 words, please share anything else about your professional or personal background that you want voters to know. I am a lifelong resident of McHenry County where for the past 38 years my wife and I raised our family and run a small business. My Children and Grandchildren have chosen to make McHenry County their home because it is a safe and wonderful place to live and grow.
Why are you running for office? Since being elected in Nov. 2016, records prove I have always voted to lower or keep the property tax levy flat. This has saved property owners nearly 75 million dollars from 2017 to present. I want to assist in making McHenry County more affordable, safe and family friendly. With respect to my constituents, I will complete the projects already begun. Specific projects include updating the County stormwater ordinance, building the Valley Hi Memory Care Unit (opening early 2025), maintaining our bridges and infrastructure, and completing Improvements to and widening of Randall Road north (to begin 2025). I will continue to encourage our county government to use a fiscally conservative, common-sense approach, so our residents and businesses can prosper. My strength is in guiding both republicans and democrats through a collaborative effort when designing solutions for needed services and improvements for the betterment of our county. I will always back Law Enforcement, First Responders, Military Veterans and US Armed Forces as they are the backbone of our nation and the strength in our communities.
What would you identify as the top three issues currently facing the county board and how would you address them?
1) Mental Health and increasing Opioid Crisis.
McHenry County Board has supported the Mental Health Board, the Sheriff’s Department, and the States Attorney’s office to increase police protection, mental health services, counseling, and drug addiction programs. We have increased funding to the States attorney office to retain and hire staff. The Mental Health Board is now fully funded. We must act quickly to support and fund the Sheriff’s office to provide for 3 additional needed officers.
2) Maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure within the county.
I support funding the infrastructure needs in fiscally responsible ways. The County Board must continue to explore all grants, state/federal funding, and budgetary revisions to meet infrastructure demands without raising the property tax levy.
3) Meeting the Unfunded State Mandates required by the State legislature causes ongoing, unforeseen expenses to the county operating budget.
Unless Illinois state funding provides for such unforeseen state mandates, the county will continue to face challenges to budgetary appropriations. Rising costs due to inflation and increased staff wages will also strain future budgets in every county department.
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?
Since 2016, records show, each year I have voted to lower or keep the Property Tax Levy flat. This has saved property owners nearly 75 million dollars since I was elected to office. This year I will vote for option 3 Flat Tax Levy including New Growth for a Total Property Tax Levy of $63,487,243.00. As Promised, due to the passing by voters of the MHB .25% sales tax referendum in March 2024, Mental Health Board Property Tax Levy has been excluded from this years’ upcoming budget and tax Levy in the amount of $10,950,000.00.
I support fully funding the Sheriff’s Department for the 3 additional deputies requested.
Why shouldn’t voters choose your opponent?
Voters should vote for Jim Kearns for the following reasons: My Experience
Since entering office in Dec. 2016, I have voted to reduce or hold flat the County Property Tax Levy. Since 2017, the County Board has Reduced the Property Tax Levy from $79.4 Million to the proposed 2025 Maximum Property Tax Levy of $64 Million, thus saving taxpayers $75 million in reduced Property Tax Levies collected!
I advocated for and accomplished projects such as building the Valley Hi Memory Care Unit and the Randall Road north expansion. I chair the Transportation Committee and Storm Water commission where I demonstrate strong leadership, successful collaboration, and a commonsense approach to find fiscally conservative solutions.
I support McHenry County Division of Transportation in helping the townships navigate the state and federal bureaucracy as they plan/execute needed repairs/replacement of township bridges. I challenge county staff to provide quality service at the lowest cost to the residents of our county. I eagerly help residents, organizations, and local charities in need.
Should Metra, CTA and Pace boards be consolidated into one regional public transportation agency? Why or why not?
We should not merge Metra, CTA, and Pace. The merger will reduce McHenry County and 5 other collar counties voting representation from 3 to 1 member per collar county while giving 6 votes to Cook County, Chicago City, and 6 members to be appointed by the governor. This will give a super majority and all control to Chicago and Cook County. The collar counties, including McHenry, will lose representation. Most importantly is the fact that the CTA is indebted for billions of dollars. McHenry county must NOT be saddled with any of the CTA debt. I believe all collar counties are opposed to the merger. The merger must not happen!
What is the county’s biggest infrastructure needs and what is your plan for funding them?
The continued updating of our county roads and bridges. McHenry County Division of Transportation continually plans far into the future years for all upcoming projects and appropriates the needed funds to pay for the project before it begins. Staff also applies for programs and grants to assist in payment for these projects. A good example of obtaining outside funding is the North Randall Rd expansion project. McHenry county has secured 41 million dollars in grants leaving the county to pay only 12.5 million dollars from county transportation funds. We are fortunate to employ efficient staff that work hard to apply for and secure these grants.
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?
Gov. J.B. Pritzker in January signed Public Act 102-1123 into law, which effectively takes away the power of local governments to restrict or validate wind and solar energy operation proposals. The law was an outgrowth of the Climate and Equitable Jobs, signed by Pritzker in 2021, and targets the state to have 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050.” (Source Chronicle media article dated Aug 1, 2023, chronicleillinois.com/news/county-board-hamstrung-by-statelaw-on-solar-farms/).
McHenry County reluctantly passes ALL solar farms with no exceptions or time limits on agriculture and industrial properties. In the past, the county board could reject solar farms for several reasons including environmentally sensitive areas. Sadly, not anymore! Prior to PA102-1123, developers were required to provide higher bonds (150%) to decommission the solar farms and to protect against inflation. Also, the state now mandates we accept a lower bond rating, which is dangerous! Government subsidies may disappear, or solar technology becomes obsolete. Solar farm companies can easily file bankruptcy. With substandard bonding, the landowner or county may have to pay to decommission the project, burdening taxpayers. I am not opposed to solar farms but opposed to Public Act 102-1123 which dissolves McHenry County’s authority to control our land use thru proper zoning.
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?
Workforce housing should be built within municipalities. Recently, the County Board approved ARPA fund grants allocated to assist developers to partially fund a couple of Workforce projects. Those ARPA funds are now depleted. The County Board should act as the facilitator between municipalities, developers, and investment groups to secure the federal and state grants and funding for workforce/affordable housing projects, thus unburdening the county taxpayers of all fiscal responsibility while promoting the expansion of workforce/affordable housing.
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?
In my opinion the board does limit most of their votes to germane topics.
The board should limit proclamations to subjects that are unifying by nature such as those who display outstanding citizenship or State Champion teams, etc. I will not support any proclamations that are divisive in nature or brought forward for political activism whether I agree or disagree with the cause.
As for passing resolutions or proclamations for flying flags to recognize certain groups or movements, I feel we should fly no flags above the Vietnam memorial in front of the administration building other than the American flag, the state flag, and military flags. In my opinion, it is disrespectful to our veterans for the county to fly any other flag over the Vietnam memorial in that location. Quite a few veterans have attended county board meetings to oppose flying other flags above the memorial. I respect their wishes by supporting the board rule to not fly any other flags without a super majority board vote to do so.
Should the county allow marijuana dispensaries or cultivation centers to operate in unincorporated areas?
- No to dispensaries, if we have a choice. Dispensaries should be in municipalities.
- Cannabis retail is legal in McHenry County by virtue of State Law 410 ILS 130 and 410 ILS 705.
- Cannabis cultivation is legal in McHenry County. Since 2014, medical cannabis has been legal in Illinois through the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act (410 ILS 130). For commercial cultivation of cannabis, a business must apply for a craft grower or cultivation center license with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Any person or business entity is limited to owning a maximum of three craft grower licenses or three cultivation center licenses. Craft grower licensees are not allowed to apply for a cultivation center license.
- The County Board has no legal ability to override any state laws. I will continue to work with the County Board and My district 9 constituents to keep our county a safe and prosperous place to live.
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 an ownership stake receive a federal PPP loan? If so, what was the amount and is it repaid, forgiven or still outstanding?
I received Employee Retention Payroll Credit in the amount of Eleven Thousand Seven Hundred Dollars, which was forgiven. I turned down all other loan offers for PPP business loans.
Will you honor the results of the November election, including the presidential race?
I will honor the final election results no matter if I win or lose my County Board race. I trust the McHenry County Clerk to run a fair and honest election. I hope everyone honors the presidential race from all political sides, including the press. Every legal registered voter deserves to have their vote counted. Exercise your right and get out and vote!