Gary Daugherty, Kane County Board 2022 Primary Election Questionnaire

Full Name: Gary Daugherty

What office are you seeking? Kane County Board District 9

What offices, if any, have you previously held? Illinois State Representative

City: Gilberts

Occupation: Manager of Social Media and Special Projects

Do you support decreasing local property taxes? If so, how would the county make up the difference?

I absolutely support lowering taxes. The most important way to start spending less is cutting out the waste that I am sure to exists in some of the departments within the county. For example too many departments have public relations officers which are redundant and could be eliminated and save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What local road and bridge projects should be a priority to get done in the county?

Kane County has adopted a long range transportation plan to plan for growth and ensure necessary infrastructure is in place. Our crude to projections show the vehicle miles of travel would increase by 79% and vehicle hours of delay would increase by more than 4 times. It is apparent that there is insufficient resources to implement all aspects of the plan so public safety must be the priority.

Do you think there is a local crime problem? If so, what needs to be done about it?

Statistic show that several forms of crime are up in the county. Repealing the SAFE-T Act and it’s horrible unfanfunded mandates would go along way to reducing crime throughout the county as well as the state. Outside of repealing the SAFE-T Act and giving 26 million dollars back to the local agencies there is not much the county can do.

How will you work to keep crime low in Kane County?

Ensure that the courts and county sheriff have all the tools necessary to do their jobs.

Do you support Kane County’s pre-arrest diversion program?

Editor’s note: This question has been updated from a previous version to correct that the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office created the program and the Kane County Sheriff’s office participates in it.

So far the program has showed promise. If this program does what it is intended to do that is not only good law- enforcement but it is beneficial in reducing costs to the taxpayers.

Do you support stronger county government ethics laws? What measures do you support?

Yes, I support the strongest possible government ethics laws within the bounds of what is permissible. One of the measures I support is not allowing lawmakers to go directly into lobbying.

What would you push for as a member of county government to boost local businesses?

Review of existing business regulations which place undue burdens on existing business and discourages new businesses from locating in the county.

Why do you think the county has had some positions open for a while and a number of employees have left the county in recent times. Why do you think county employees are leaving?

County salaries are not competitive with those paid by the surrounding units of local government. The county is not doing enough to show current employees that their work is appreciated.

How can the county seek to retain employees?

Employee retention is not always just about money sometimes it is just ensuring that the employee feels valued. One example would be making sure that you are fully staffed so people are not required to do additional work in order to keep up with the unfilled vacancies.

Do you support adding either a 0.25% or 0.50% retail tax to non-essential purchases (excluding groceries and gas)? Why or why not?

Illinois is the highest taxed state in the country, all levels of government must find a better way to manage our citizens money. I new tax is not a substitute for fiscal responsibility.

If there were an increase in retail tax revenue, what would you use the additional funds for?

If I came into office in a situation where there was more revenue available than what was already requested I think the three areas that always could use more support are public safety, better care for those with disabilities and infrastructure.

Do you support a county gas tax hike? Why or why not?

No, we need to learn to be better stewards of taxpayer dollars.

If there were an increase in the county gas tax revenue, how would you propose using the new money?

Do you support more warehouse and industrial development in Kane County? Why/why not?

Yes, it is important to have a good balance of industry and residential but it is important too ensure that we are not growing faster than the infrastructure can handle.

What are your thoughts on the Illinois Freedom of Information Act?

When I went through the FOIA and OMA training I was pleasantly surprised at how well written they were.

Please state your plan to maintain government transparency.

Continue with existing policies that have earned Kane County the Sunshine Award for transparency with a 100% rating. Of course there is always room for improvement.

How can the county best support municipalities that are seeking to promote restaurants, nightlife, tourism (St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia)?

The county should work cooperatively with all municipalities, not just the tri-cities, to help promote leisure industries.

How long should the county support the Kane Vax Center in Batavia?

I think that plan has lived out its usefulness.

The County Board used more of the revenue it received from the American Rescue Plan to fund mental health services than it gave to social safety net services such as homeless shelters and food pantries. How can the county make funding for nonprofits impacted by the pandemic more equitable?

The process in which these funds were decided could’ve been handled much better

Do you support giving a larger chunk of the $103 million in funding the county received to social services?

The $103 million in funding was specifically to reimburse local governments for lost revenue due to covid. Kane County departments have made requests that exceed the available funds. This process is dynamic and ongoing because the amount of funding available is still not known.

Do you agree with the county paying the college tuition of a public employee? Please explain.

I believe that any organization that wishes to retain quality employees should offer some form of tuition reimbursement. The county has recently revised its policy on tuition payments to address ambiguities in existing policies.