Friday, September 15, 2006
Cat Tax – First, My Motivation for Looking at the Issue
9/15/6 - 
The immediate impetus McHenry County Blog was the Crystal Lake’s City Council deciding to put its hands in my pocket.
It proposed yanking out money to give developers in the Main Street and Route 14 (Vulcan Lakes) Tax Increment Financing Districts, even though I live in Lakewood.
Of course, the city mothers and fathers hotly deny that fact, but it's true.
Just ask Elementary School District 47 Superintendent Ron Miller.
After a TIF district is established, the taxes from properties in it stop increasing--as far as the school districts and other tax districts are concerned.
All of the increased taxes, including ordinary inflationary ones caused by a “multiplier” applied to all, go to improvements in the TIF district.
Of course, the city councilmen decide who gets how much.
Sounds great for the property owners, and it can be, unless the city council decides to drive you out of business or condemn your property.
But the school districts and other taxing bodies now have tax rates that are lower than their legal maximums, so they just raise them in order to get the amount of money they would have gotten otherwise from real estate within the TIF district.
Until I saw what was being proposed for Main Street and the Route 14 car dealerships, I hadn’t attended a city council meeting since the late 1980’s.
That’s the last time I perceived the city fathers were about to pull money out of my checking account.
The council was obliviously planning to approve a huge subdivision that was obviously not going to pay its own way. None do.
When the corn fields turned into homes full of kids, all taxpayers in District 47, whether they lived in Crystal Lake or not, would have to pony up for the new school.
So-called "developer donations" might pay 10% of the cost.
I quantified the tax increase the rest of us istrict 47 taxpayers would have to pay once the subdivision was approved. It was not a small amount.
Now, McHenry County Board members want to impose a tax of $8 for a neutered cat and $35 for a non-neutered cat. (Three year tags are $19/neutered and $70/non-neutered.)
And, my son has just gotten a kitten.
So, now that you know why I am interested in the cat tax issue.
This six-month old kitten has had his shots, got neutered last week and had an identity chip implated. And, it is a house cat.
It is not going to get or spread rabies.
But our county fathers and mothers want to set up a new set of records and make me pay for it.
Tomorrow you can read some speculation as to why such a proposal came up.
And, they'll be more after that.
= = = = =
The photos are of my son's kitten. He has a real name my son gave him the day we got him in May, but my nine-year old usually calls him "Mitten."
And, when he is bad, "Badmitten."
He spent yesterday stalking the hermit crabs and watching Sam in his fish tank.
The bottom photo is the kitten the day after returning from his major surgery. The top one is after a week's recovery.
Can't you see him thinking, "You did what to me?"
I went to the Algonquin Animal Clinic prepared to read all the newspapers with a book in the car, just in case it took longer. I discovered it was a "drop-off" operation.
For more McHenry County Blog, click here.
The immediate impetus McHenry County Blog was the Crystal Lake’s City Council deciding to put its hands in my pocket. It proposed yanking out money to give developers in the Main Street and Route 14 (Vulcan Lakes) Tax Increment Financing Districts, even though I live in Lakewood.
Of course, the city mothers and fathers hotly deny that fact, but it's true.
Just ask Elementary School District 47 Superintendent Ron Miller.
After a TIF district is established, the taxes from properties in it stop increasing--as far as the school districts and other tax districts are concerned.
All of the increased taxes, including ordinary inflationary ones caused by a “multiplier” applied to all, go to improvements in the TIF district.
Of course, the city councilmen decide who gets how much.
Sounds great for the property owners, and it can be, unless the city council decides to drive you out of business or condemn your property.
But the school districts and other taxing bodies now have tax rates that are lower than their legal maximums, so they just raise them in order to get the amount of money they would have gotten otherwise from real estate within the TIF district.
Until I saw what was being proposed for Main Street and the Route 14 car dealerships, I hadn’t attended a city council meeting since the late 1980’s.
That’s the last time I perceived the city fathers were about to pull money out of my checking account.
The council was obliviously planning to approve a huge subdivision that was obviously not going to pay its own way. None do.
When the corn fields turned into homes full of kids, all taxpayers in District 47, whether they lived in Crystal Lake or not, would have to pony up for the new school.
So-called "developer donations" might pay 10% of the cost.
I quantified the tax increase the rest of us istrict 47 taxpayers would have to pay once the subdivision was approved. It was not a small amount.
Now, McHenry County Board members want to impose a tax of $8 for a neutered cat and $35 for a non-neutered cat. (Three year tags are $19/neutered and $70/non-neutered.)
And, my son has just gotten a kitten.
So, now that you know why I am interested in the cat tax issue.
This six-month old kitten has had his shots, got neutered last week and had an identity chip implated. And, it is a house cat.It is not going to get or spread rabies.
But our county fathers and mothers want to set up a new set of records and make me pay for it.
Tomorrow you can read some speculation as to why such a proposal came up.
And, they'll be more after that.
= = = = =
The photos are of my son's kitten. He has a real name my son gave him the day we got him in May, but my nine-year old usually calls him "Mitten."
And, when he is bad, "Badmitten."
He spent yesterday stalking the hermit crabs and watching Sam in his fish tank.
The bottom photo is the kitten the day after returning from his major surgery. The top one is after a week's recovery.
Can't you see him thinking, "You did what to me?"
I went to the Algonquin Animal Clinic prepared to read all the newspapers with a book in the car, just in case it took longer. I discovered it was a "drop-off" operation.
For more McHenry County Blog, click here.
Labels: McHenry County Board, McHenry County Republican Cat Tax
