McHenry Times

When she paid $233,000 for a blue-grey four-bedroom with red shutters at 640 Krenz Ave. on the south side of Cary, Victoria Green didn’t know someone else had been secretly borrowing against her house.

Not officially. But literally.

It was Nov. 2004. Cary School District 26, which includes the 600 block of Krenz Ave., was in a predicament.

It had just agreed to give its teachers, already the highest-paid in McHenry County, a massive pay increase. But it didn’t have the money. It was running out of cash.

Something had to give.

Such were the breaks for Ms. Green’s try at homeownership.

She’d live on Krenz Ave. for nine years, paying $67,169 in property taxes-- much of it to District 26-- before losing the home to foreclosure in 2014.

Green watched her property tax bill rise 42 percent (from $5,470 to $7,796) over the period. That’s while her property value fell 56 percent from her 2004 purchase price-- $300,000, inflation-adjusted.

It sold last October for $130,000.

Woodstock property taxes: twice the Illinois state average

Local Government Information Services (LGIS) analyzed home sales and property taxes in ten McHenry County communities, from 2007 to 2015. Median home prices over the period, adjusted for inflation, fell more than 30 percent in every single one of them.

Home values in McHenry (down 39.3 percent), Woodstock (38.5 percent), Harvard (37.5 percent) and Marengo (37.2 percent) fared the worst. Huntley (30.7 percent) was the best of the worst.

According to a Chicago Tribune study, effective property tax rates in six of the ten McHenry communities analyzed are higher than four percent. All are higher than three percent.

Woodstock’s 4.6 percent ranks as the county’s worst. A $200,000 home that means a $9,200 tax bill.

The Illinois state average, second-worst in the nation according to WalletHub.com, was half that, or 2.3 percent.

Wisconsin (1.96%), Iowa (1.48%), Missouri (1.00%), Indiana (0.87%) and Kentucky (0.85%) are all lower.

In border counties like McHenry, such lower rates are hard to ignore.

The effective property tax rate at Ms. Green’s 640 Krenz Ave. is a whopping six percent, or more than three times what it would be 23 miles to the north, in Genoa City, Wisc.

Teacher pay takes precedence

It doesn’t take a sleuth to track down the cause of McHenry County’s soaring property taxes: bigger spending school districts.

From 1997 to 2015, McHenry County’s 17 school districts raised local property spending on schools 85 percent, to $512 million, adjusting for inflation. Enrollment at those districts grew 30 percent over the same period.

Cary School District 26’s enrollment fell 21 percent. But it raised its local spending by 52 percent.

The district hiked teacher pay more than 40 percent, built a school, closed a school, and went to referendum four times. Rather than pay teachers less, district officials chose to charge parents more fees and cut extracurricular activities. And raise property taxes.

In Johnsburg Community Unit School District 12, enrollment fell 16 percent over the period; local spending grew 64 percent.

McHenry Community Consolidated School District 15 saw enrollment grow three percent-- but it raised local spending 113 percent.

In Marengo, Riley Community Consolidated School District 18 saw enrollment grow 12 percent. It raised local spending 111 percent. Marengo Community High School District 154 added 48 students- an increase of eight percent; it spent an extra $6 million, an increase of 108 percent.

Woodstock Community Unit School District 200, home to the highest property taxes in McHenry County, raised spending 81 percent from 1997 to 2015, while its enrollment grew 36 percent. It also racked up $119 million in debt, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis, 120 percent of its state-mandated limit.

If Woodstock property taxpayers wonder how it got so bad, they should consider: their school district also maxed out its credit cards.

2023 Projections

LGIS projected what McHenry County property values-- and property taxes-- will be in 2023, if the next eight years are like the last eight.

If home values fall at the same rate, no McHenry County community will have a median home price higher than $175,000.

Huntley ($171,858) and Algonquin ($166,168) will have the highest-valued homes in McHenry County.

Harvard ($85,714) and Woodstock ($101,151) will have the lowest-valued.

Homeowners in Woodstock (105 percent) and McHenry (100 percent) will have paid property taxes equivalent to their home’s projected 2023 market values over the previous 16 years, more than $100,000 each.

In Cary, the median homeowner will have paid $139,072 in property taxes from 2007-2023-- 89 percent of its 2023 projected home value.

McHenry County Median Home Prices, 2007 - 2015

Rank	Community	Jan 2007	Jan 2015	CHG
1	McHenry	$242,337	$147,000	-39.3%
2	Woodstock	$234,336	$144,000	-38.5%
3	Harvard	$192,041	$120,000	-37.5%
4	Marengo	$267,485	$168,000	-37.2%
5	Johnsburg	$325,784	$212,000	-34.9%
6	Crystal Lake	$278,916	$184,000	-34,0%
7	Cary	$308,637	$205,000	-33.6%
8	Algonquin	$326,927	$218,000	-33.3%
9	Lake in the Hills	$289,204	$193,000	-33.3%
10	Huntley	$313,209	$217,000	-30.7%

2007 numbers inflation-adjusted; Source: Zillow

McHenry County 2023 Projected Property Taxes Paid

Rank	Community	2023 Projected Median Sale	Prop Taxes Paid 2007-2023	Taxes Paid %
1	Woodstock	$101,151	$105,984	104.8%
2	McHenry	$101,929	$102,312	100.4%
3	Harvard	$85,714	$81,792	95.4%
4	Cary	$155,648	$139,072	89.4%
5	Marengo	$120,615	$106,445	88.3%
6	Crystal Lake	$138,754	$121,882	87.8%
7	Lake in the Hills	$147,229	$125,682	85.4%
8	Algonquin	$166,168	$135,334	81.4%
9	Johnsburg	$157,698	$118,042	74.9%
10	Huntley	$171,858	$110,062	64.0%

Sources: Zillow; Chicago Tribune

McHenry County Local School Spending, 1997 - 2015

Rank	School District	1997 Spend	2015 Spend	CHG
1	Huntley CSD 158 (Algonquin)	$11,247,250	$71,230,081	533.3%
2	McHenry CCSD 15	$24,571,732	$52,300,134	112.8%
3	Riley CCSD 18 (Marengo)	$1,889,164	$3,978,754	110.6%
4	Harrison SD 36 (Wonder Lake)	$2,229,322	$4,640,315	108.1%
5	Marengo CHSD 154	$5,304,397	$11,040,671	108.1%
6	Prairie Grove CSD 46 (Crystal Lake)	$5,221,981	$10,825,418	107.3%
7	Richmond-Burton CHSD 157	$6,555,278	$12,847,551	96.0%
8	Woodstock CUSD 200	$36,450,300	$65,964,191	81.0%
9	McHenry CHSD 156	$16,596,715	$27,754,863	67.2%
10	Marengo-Union ECD 165	$4,754,853	$7,908,518	66.3%
11	Fox River Grove CSD 3	$3,596,514	$5,955,214	65.6%
12	Johnsburg CUSD 12	$13,592,292	$22,346,670	64.4%
13	Crystal Lake CCSD 47	$47,656,852	$74,650,128	56.6%
14	Cary CCSD 26	$17,149,211	$26,052,135	51.9%
15	Crystal Lake CHSD 155	$54,646,302	$81,557,271	49.2%
16	Alden Hebron SD 19	$3,157,913	$4,430,404	40.3%
17	Nippersink SD 2 (Richmond)	$10,724,877*	$12,687,446	18.3%
18	Harvard CUSD 50	$12,001,191	$15,528,817	29.4%
	Total	$276,339,174	$511,698,581	85.2%

Source: Illinois State Board of Education; All historical numbers inflation-adjusted. *Spend from 2001.