From McHenry County:
County Submits Balanced FY2026 Budget for Review
WOODSTOCK, Ill. – The McHenry County Board has submitted a balanced 2026 budget for public review.
The $288.8 million budget and the $73.8 million tax levy were put on 30-day review at the Oct. 21 meeting of the County Board.
A vote to approve the budget and levy will take place Nov. 18, ahead of the 2026 fiscal year beginning Dec. 1.
For the previous ten fiscal years, the McHenry County Board has lowered its property tax levy despite growing inflation and unfunded state mandates – which saved taxpayers a total of $128.2 million in taxes it otherwise could have collected since the 2017 fiscal year.
In 2025, McHenry County Government accounted for about 6.5% of total residential property tax bills.
The $288.8 million budget also cuts 18 county positions and reflects many cost-saving efficiencies.
McHenry County displays its budget through Questica OpenBook, an interactive tool that allows users to view all levels of the budget, from a high-level summary by category to revenue or expense account detail by fund and department.
You can review the draft 2026 budget, as well as previous years’ budgets, by visiting here..
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My article on the proposed property tax levy is below:
A citizen’s reaction follows:
The meeting that first discussed the proposed ordinance (with lots of details) is below:
Unsaid is that the Finance Committee will discuss the budget at 8:30 AM on November 6th.
The public is allowed to make comments at the beginning of the meeting.
People can also contact Board members directly.
The email address that will go to all of them is here.
At the bottom of the following article are email addresses and phone numbers of individual members:’
Needless to say, I don’t think the County Board should break its promise to cut the approximately $11 million in real estate taxes that previously went the the Mental Health Board if voters approved imposition of a quarter of one percent sales tax to finance the 708 Board.
The first line of the press release saying that the budget is balanced reminds me of one of only two strenuous policy disagreements I had with my father.
He was impressed that U.S. Senator Paul Simon was in favor of a balanced budget amendment to the U.S, Constution.
“Yeah, but he’d raise taxes to accomplish that,” I observed.
That approach is exactly what the County Board is poised to do.
