County board approves state, federal legislative priorities

Gregory Harutunian
Members of the McHenry County Board passed their list of legislative priorities for 2016, during their Jan. 19 session.

Members of the McHenry County Board passed their list of legislative priorities for 2016, during their Jan. 19 session.

The McHenry County Board approved its list of legislative priorities for 2016, which seeks that the state and federal legislatures investigate and discuss the various initiatives for future action.

The Jan. 19 meeting carried, 18-4, for the amended slate, and includes a statement of support for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force.

“On Jan. 19, the full county board approved its 2016 Legislative Program, and discussed potential legislation to promote government collaboration and consolidation,” said Jim Hurley, assistant to the McHenry County administrator. “Township assessment uniformity was also discussed, and how the board recommends it is to be achieved.”

Under the program’s state initiatives section, the township consolidation issue was supportive of the state task force, which concluded its mandate in early January, and was chaired by Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti. One of its findings addressing the 126-square-mile cap on township size being removed, also gained concurrence from the county board with the admonition that voters would then have the option to form larger, single townships.

At the county board level, a township consolidation referendum question for the March 2016 primary was denied at its Oct. 6 session, by a 13-9 vote. The controversial issue was ultimately derailed by insufficient data, and questions about financial imbalances between township assessments and the geographic implementation

The effort had been largely forwarded by a volunteer group, the McHenry County Citizens For Township Consolidation, with the intent to reduce the county townships from 17 to 8. Board chairman Joe Gottemoller had previously authorized a task force panel to review and make recommendations on four township consolidation models.

The result, following several meetings, was an inability to support the models due to severe financial disparities between township levies and assessments. Nine townships would have their taxes increased to cover the other eight townships, along with a perception that the county board could handle the matter differently for the tax level and rate, according to statute.

The 2016 legislative priorities document also specified: “First, taxpayers must be held harmless from a tax increase in the year after township consolidation … . Finally, an amendment to the Township Code should allow the County Board and/or the voters of a township to vote to consolidate all offices of the Township Assessor into the County, under the Chief County Assessment Officer.”

It continued Township Assessment Uniformity: “McHenry County supports efforts to improve uniformity and consistency in the property assessment process. These efforts may include new legislation to standardize common assessment valuation methods.”

Among four transportation projects in the county board’s legislative program is a stretch of Route 47, from Reed Road in Huntley to Route 14 in Woodstock, identified for safety concerns, improved operations, and a bicycle path.

The overall priorities program was partially laid out more than a week before the board’s formal vote, although information on four major transportation projects had yet to be finalized. Those projects included the Route 23/I-90 interchange near Marengo, Route 31-Crystal Lake to McHenry (between routes 176 and 120), Route 47 (between Huntley’s Reed road and Route 14 in Woodstock), and Route 47 through Woodstock proper.

The board’s appeal at the federal level outlined that McHenry County supports the preservation of the federal deductibility of local property and income taxes and the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds. It also requested maintaining the federal-state-local structure for financing and delivering Medicaid services, as opposed to trending shifts in burden to counties through cuts, caps, or block grants.

The board asked federal authorities to “support efforts to prevent the redefinition of ‘waters of the U.S.’ that would result in the federal regulation of all public safety ditches. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have proposed to broaden the existing definition; this would increase the number of county owned and maintained public safety infrastructure that would fall under federal permitting authority.

“This also opens up farms, ponds, and other private property to EPA regulations.”

It was urged that the federal government withdraw the proposal until a complete analysis was available.

“The full board overwhelmingly supported the 2016 Legislative Program, 18-4, for the coming year,” said Hurley. “These proposed legislative reforms would update laws to enhance opportunities to consider local government collaboration and consolidation, while providing taxpayer relief.”