With Woodstock’s taxpayers “being crushed” by a 4.6 percent property tax rate, it’s up to local citizens to rally to their defense. | Contributed image
With Woodstock’s taxpayers “being crushed” by a 4.6 percent property tax rate, it’s up to local citizens to rally to their defense. | Contributed image
Warning Woodstock dwellers of waylaid tax channels, school board candidate Susan Handelsman recently appealed to constituents via the McHenry County blog to contact their legislators and vocalize opposition to extending a downtown tax district’s timeline.
With agreement from newly elected state Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock), Handelsman, who is running for the District 200 school board, urged readers to get in touch with their representatives and senators -- along with Gov. Bruce Rauner -- to ask for their active participation in blocking a potential expansion of downtown Woodstock’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) District.
TIF funds are garnered from property taxes, then placed in a fund that is accessed and controlled by local politicians. They are effective for 23 years. When they expire, lawmakers typically ask for 12-year extensions.
“Remember that everyone outside the TIF who lives in an overlapping tax district pays more because of the TIF,” Handelsman said, referencing taxpayers from McHenry County College, McHenry County, the McHenry County Conservation District, the Mental Health Board and Dorr Township.
Currently, TIF’s downtown perimeter envelops approximately three dozen city blocks, including major thoroughfares, retailers and a park. Reick said with Woodstock’s taxpayers “being crushed” by a 4.6 percent property tax rate, it’s up to local citizens to rally to their defense and vocally oppose the government’s proposal to extend TIF for another 12 years.
Because Woodstock recently obtained home rule status, Reick said, its government can borrow and spend at will.
“This makes TIF money entirely unnecessary,” he said.
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