After attending State Senate candidate Karen McConnaughay’s event in Lakewood, it seemed appropriate to see what was up at her opponent’s pizza affair in Lake in the Hills.

The table where Cliff Surges’ Campaign Treasurer took the $25 price of admission.

While McConnaughay’s was a freebee, Cliff Surges’s affair cost $25. When I got to the entry table, Surges recognized me and let me in free.

The fundraising room was crowded.

The place was packed, with some seeking a place for a quiet conversation in an overflow room.

The only elected official I found from McHenry County was Cary Village Trustee Bruce Kaplan. He is seen standing pretty much in the center of this photo.

While McConnaughay’s affair had numerous locally-elected officials, the only one I saw at Surges was Cary Village Trustee Bruce Kaplan and Cary is not in the district. Of course, his opponent had folks at her affair who live out of her district.

Cliff Surges worked the tables, here talking with Frank Muzzalupo

After an introduction by his campaign manager Scott Webb, the Northern Illinois campaign coordinator for Peter Fitzgerald’s U.S. Senate campaign, Surges test marketed a new talk.

Cliff Surges’ campaign manager Scott Webb.

Surges really was pretty good.

Cliff Surges delivered a high energy speech.

Surges revealed to us non-Kane County folks that there is a slate that has developed down there.

Kane County Circuit Clerk candidate Tom Hartwell (far right in photo) listens to Cliff Surges speak.

Kane County Campaign signs at Cliff Surges fund raiser.

Surges is aligned with

• State Senator Chris Lauzen’s County Board Chairmanship campaign,
• Tom Hartwell’s Circuit Clerk’s campaign,
• Dr. Bob Tiballi’s campaign for Coroner,
• Terry Hunt’s campaign for Auditor and
• County Board candidates Robert Sauceda and Drew Frasz,

and perhaps others I missed.

The main event was a speech by Adam Andrzejewski.

Andrzejewski ran in the GOP primary for Governor in 2010 and has been on a transparency campaign since then.

Adam Andrzejewski energizes Cliff Surges’ supporters.

His organization, For the Good of Illinois, has posted salary information for all sorts of public employees.

Andrzejewski said that Surges was “taking on the entire failed political class in Kane County.

“The Illinois political class still doesn’t understand the political crisis,” he continued.

Former Director of Development Phil Bus came in for comment.

Andrezejewski said that McConnaughay raised his salary over 60% in six years, retired, took a good pension and then was put on as a consultant.

He said that the man’s wife and brother made multi-thousand dollar contributions to McConnaughay.

Andrzejewski railed against

• “salary spiking”
• “pension padding”
• “contributions after retirement along the lines of pay to play.”

“His opponent has an unlimited access to tainted money.

“There’s not one person in this room that has a county contract.”

Adam Andrzejewski and East Dundee Trustee Allen Skillicorn had a chat after the event.

= = = = =
The event was full of people who seemed likely to campaign actively, including one 18-year old Surges had coached. He registered to vote in order to be able to vote for Surges.

Since the campaign for the 52nd State Representative seat began, David McSweeney has been an outspoken opponent of for-profit surveillance systems like speed cameras and red light cameras. More elected leaders need to take civil liberties seriously and emphasizing real safety measures over money making surveillance schemes is a step in the right direction. I am confident that David McSweeney is the right man for the job and he has my 100% support!

Allen Skillicorn
East Dundee Village Trustee
Illinois Representative for the National Motorists Association

Continue reading “Johnson: Under Obama’s proposal, U.S. budget will never be balanced again” »

It’s a shame that state Rep. Jack Franks failed in his initial efforts to persuade fellow lawmakers to make local governments hold the line on – or better yet, decrease – tax levies when property values decline.

House Bill 3793, which would have affected all counties where the now misnamed Property Tax Extension Limitation Law is in effect, went down in flames in November, 34-73.

Franks, a Marengo Democrat, now is back with House Bill 4608. He and Republican Rep. Kent Gaffney are co-sponsors of the county-specific bill aimed at achieving the same end.

Franks told the Northwest Herald that he was inspired by a fellow legislator who suggested last fall after his first bill failed that he should attempt a pilot program for his home county.

We have our doubts that this bill has any better chances of success than its predecessor. It’s not because it’s without merit, and we applaud Franks for continuing to shine a light on an unintended consequence of PTELL.

Under the law, annual tax extension increases are limited to the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less. The cap protected property owners while values were rising. But in recent years, as property values have plummeted, the law’s guarantee that taxing bodies may collect at least the inflationary increase has had the net effect of pushing tax rates up.

So, despite having lost in many cases tens of thousands of dollars in property value, most area homeowners are paying more in property taxes.

Government officials often argue that if they do not take advantage of collecting the full amount available to them, their maximum allowable tax rates will erode, potentially putting them in financial peril down the road.

Many of our residents are in financial peril now. Rising property taxes against falling home values is beyond salt in residents’ wounds.

The folks telling reporters what to look for when tax districts pass their tax levies for next year know what the target is.

As readers of McHenry County Blog should know by now, any school or other tax district that increases its levy (the amount of money it would like us to pay in this coming year’s tax bill) above what was collected last year is pretty much automatically going to force you and me to pay more money in our next real estate tax bill than we paid this year.

The reason is that while real estate inflation was increasing more that the Cost of Living over the life of the Property Tax Cap (the insiders call it PTELL), the tax cap forced tax rates set by state statute below their maximums.

The tax cap allows tax districts to collect what they got the previous year, plus whatever the CPI has increased.

It’s last year’s “extension” (pretty much what was collected last year), plus the CPI. That’s the maximum that can be extracted from our checkbooks.

The increase in the CPI means the limit for next year is what was collected last year, plus 1.5%.

So asking for at least 1.5% more than last year allows tax districts to get the maximum amount possible until they bump up against the statutory tax rate maximums.

There is, however, unfortunately a parenthesis.

Tax districts are allowed to capture all of the assessment from new construction.

Most would consider that OK.

So, most tax districts decide to “balloon” levy (up 1.5% this year, plus some more) to make darn certain they get every dime from us current property owners, plus the new construction to which they are allowed to get under the Tax Cap.

What their districts do for mankind, the logic goes, is more important that your deciding how to spend that “little bit” of money.

The “however” almost always results in increasing the tax bills for current property owners.

In the NWH’s story on the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District, reporter Katie Anderson goes right to the heart of the matter:

“Representatives of the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District voted recently on a 2011 tax levy that is 0.07 percent higher than last year’s extension.

“Under the tax cap law, the district could have levied up to 1.5 percent – the rate of inflation over last year.”

Bravo!

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Summary of “Pensions vs. schools: Higher education” which examines pension costs compared to higher education spending

Download “Pensions vs. schools: Higher education” here or read it here.

• Higher education retirement costs will increase by nearly $350 million in fiscal year 2013.
• This jump in payments will almost certainly cause higher education retirement expenditures to eclipse other state support for higher education.
• Between fiscal years 2005 and 2010, approximately 80 percent of all new state funding for higher education has gone toward retirement expenditures.

(click on image for higher-res version)

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CHICAGO – The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Chairman Terry Duffy told a House committee that waiting until after Thanksgiving to make a decision about a tax break for the CME is not an option.

“I will do what I need to do in the best interests of the shareholders of CME Group,” said Duffy, who intends to remain at the state capital in Springfield the rest of this week.

The CME singlehandedly paid 6% of Illinois’ entire corporate tax collections, before the tax rate rose to 7 percent. The Democrats’ dramatic hike in January will cost the CME an additional $50 million a year.

Problem is not only is the CME looking for special consideration, so is Sears and other major corporate taxpayers and area employers.  Senate President John Cullerton says he needs Republicans to support the CME exemptions, but Senate Republicans are hesitant.

“No one in this State wants to lose Sears or the Chicago Merc. But the bill offered right now looks more like a bailout than a jobs bill,” State Senator Ron Sandack tweeted Wednesday morning.  Pressed that he sounded like he was leaning to “no,” Sandack responded to IR, “Strongly leaning that way. Dems made this mess & picking winners & losers is now their way of “fixing” things. Level field!”

Sandack’s comments correlate with the Tribune’s explanation:

To win support from both parties, the legislation has broadened in scope to include tax breaks to encourage Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) to remain in Illinois, and a multiyear extension of a research-and-development tax credit for all state businesses.

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