Michael Skala

An affordable housing project in McHenry has been helped along by McHenry County to the tune of almost $2 million, but will still need other funding and final approval from City Council before construction begins.

McHenry County is the only county in Illinois where voters can vote to dissolve a township. County Board members want state lawmakers to either repeal the law or expand it to all counties.

“At this point in our trajectory, I think it’s not going to send a proper statement to the residents at this time in the middle of a pandemic to raise taxes,” board member Jeff Thorsen, R-Crystal Lake, said

“The legislature did not see fit to fund that themselves, they just dropped it on us,” said McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio on new requirements his office must follow for the 2022 Election that have added up to $1 million in new expenses for his office.

McHenry County has received as much as $10 million from a contract with ICE, but a new state law requires the contract to end along with the revenue stream

McHenry County taxpayers could collectively be on the hook for an additional $1.4 million under McHenry County’s proposed budget in part, officials said, because of a 2017 property tax cut and the state’s move to end the county’s contract with ICE.

One county board member said the superintendent's testimony to state lawmakers about the failed audits was "misleading"

‘It speaks volumes about our sound, forward-thinking fiscal policy that we not only weathered a once-in-a-century pandemic, but also kept our Aaa bond rating,’ one County Board member says

McHenry County Board to consider the cancelation of ICE contract after committee approval Thursday

Resolution will be considered by second committee next Thursday; activists say action at the local level is sends an important message