McHenry Township considers reversing massive tax levy cuts, with 89% and 53% hikes

McHenry Township officials are set to consider huge property tax levy increases this month that would replace cuts of similar sizes made last year.

The increases from last year’s tax levies, set to be discussed at an Oct. 14 meeting, would mean an 89% rise for the McHenry Township’s general fund levy over last year and 53% more for the McHenry Township Road District levy.

But last year, cuts of 41% for the township and 30% for the road district were passed by now-former trustees who pursued multiple avenues, sometimes unsuccessfully, to slash the revenues and services of the township, including by unsuccessfully asking voters to abolish it.

That means the increases set to be considered this year would bring the total property taxes the township receives back up to near where they were before they were massively reduced.

The road district would see $3.2 million in property taxes, while the township itself would see $1.5 million, up from $2 million and $800,000 each entity respectively took in with last year’s levies following the cuts.

Since the cuts went into place, the township has taken big dips out of its reserve funds and they will be nearly depleted by the end of the year, Highway Commissioner Jim Condon said. Previously, the township had six months worth of operating expenses it could fall back on, but that no longer is the case.

If the larger tax levies are approved, Condon said some of the funding would be used to help replenish reserves, which could take several years of contributions to bring back up to the levels maintained before last year’s cuts.

“The trustees’ answers last year were fire everybody and plow the snow after the snowstorm is over. That’s not just acceptable by today’s standards,” Condon said, criticizing the trio of former trustees who implemented the cuts.

That group – with whom Condon frequently clashed, including in a lawsuit he unsuccessfully brought against them in an effort to prevent the cuts – consisted of longtime township critic Bob Anderson, Steve Verr and Mike Rakestraw, none of whom ran for another term this year.

Verr questioned the legality of the increases because of a state tax cap that limits how much local taxing bodies can increase their property levies by, tying those increases to new property value and inflation.

“It seems that the township has gone back to its old ways,” Verr said.

McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio, whose office applies the law Verr referenced and other property tax caps, declined to comment on whether the township would be prohibited by state law from enacting the proposed levies.

McHenry Township Supervisor Gary Barla said the township would be within bounds if it approves the proposed levies. He said that is the case because the township is allowed to take the last several years into account, and not only the year immediately prior, when determining the maximum amount the township could raise its tax levy.

Judy Gottlieb, a Democratic Party precinct committeewoman in McHenry Township, disagreed with Verr, and said the proposed increases are necessary to sustain the services the township provides, such as road maintenance, bus transportation and management of township parkland.

“They were attempting to destroy the township. In order to return to a reasonable level of funding, we have to make up what the prior board took out,” Gottlieb said. “It was a malicious move on their part, quite frankly.”