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McHenry County, Illinois

A+
Budget Y Meetings Y Elected Officials Y Administrative Officials Y Permits, zoning Y Audits Y Contracts Y Lobbying Y Public records Y Local taxes Y Transparency grading process

McHenry County is one of 102 counties in Illinois. The county has a population of 320,961.^[1] This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and is the sixth largest county, in terms of population, in the state of Illinois.

[edit] Website evaluation

In 2011 McHenry County earned a Sunny Award for having a perfect website transparency score. The county is also preparing to livestream county meetings.^[2]

Main article: Evaluation of Illinois county websites

This site was most recently evaluated on 9 Jan 2012.

[edit] The good

• Current budget is online.^[3]
• Board meeting minutes and agendas are available.^[4]
• A full listing of county board members and contact information is posted.^[5]
• Building and zoning permit information is available.^[6][7]
• Annual fiscal reports are available online.^[8]
• Bids and purchasing information is posted.^[9].Some County Contracts are available on-line through the Transparency Portal.^[10]
• The County has a page on Lobbying information.^[11]
• Freedom of Information Requests available on-line.^[12]
• McHenry has a public property search finder, which allows citizens to look up similar property, property taxes, flood zones, etc.^[13]
• Tax bills can be viewed and paid online.^[14] Tax rates are also posted.^[15]

[edit] County Board

The primary function of the County Board is to establish the various budgets of the county funds and adopt ordinances and rules pertaining to the management and business of the county departments.^[16] Current Board Members:^[5]

District 1

• Robert "Bob" Nowak
• Anna May Miller
• Marc J. Munaretto
• Robert "Bob" Bless

District 2

• JS "Scott" Breeden
• James L. Heisler
• Kenneth D. Koehler
• Donna Kurtz

District 3

• Nick Provenzano
• Kathleen Bergan Schmidt
• Barbara Wheeler
• Mary L. Donner

District 4

• Sue Draffkorn
• John D. Hammerand
• Peter J. Merkel
• Sandra Fay Salgado

District 5

• Tina Hill
• Paula Yensen
• John Jung, Jr.
• Virginia Peschke

District 6

• Randall Donley
• Mary T. McCann
• Diane Evertsen
• Ersel Schuster

[edit] Lobbying

McHenry County lists their current hired lobbyist.^[11]

Federal: The Ferguson Group, LLC

• 2011 - $82,000
• 2010 – $93,000
• 2009 - $93,000

State: Metro Counties of Illinois

• 2010 - $8,164
• 2009 - $8,164

[edit] Budget

The McHenry County board of commissioners reduced their 2009 budget by 10.4 percent, however the county did not have to lay off any employees. ^[17] In 2009 revenues increased 7.1 percent. ^[18]

http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/countyboard/Pages/Lobbying.aspx Please visit the latest webpage on lobbying information in McHenry County.

[edit] Salaries

The McHenry County website does not include information about the number of employees the county has on its payroll. Nor does it include a breakdown of salaries per position for staff or elected officials.

[edit] Pensions

Main article: Illinois Public Pensions

The McHenry County website does not include information about the various pension plans it offers to its employees. The website also does not include information about the county's pension liabilities.

According to an activist organization of Illinois municipalities called Pension Fairness for Illinois Communities, the majority of voters from 44 Illinois communities supported a resolution urging the legislature to implement steps to reform public pension systems during the November 2010 election. ^[19]

Illinois is facing a crisis with its publicly funded pensions. In 2010 state government was responsible for over $130 billion in pension payments, however they only had $46 billion set aside, which leaves an unfunded liability of about $85 billion. ^[20] Finding a way to fund that $85 billion will be the focus of the 2011 general assembly. The Pew Center for the States reported that as of 2008, Illinois is one of the worst states at contributing to its pension systems. State lawmakers will consider selling $4 billion of bonds to pay the state's annual payment on the five pension programs it runs. ^[21] In April, the state legislature created a two-tier system for all municipal and state employees—including teachers and state lawmakers—hired after Jan 1, 2011. Police and fire were included in an earlier draft but removed shortly before the vote. For the others, retirement was raised to 67. ^[22]

[edit] External links

McHenry County, Illinois

• McHenry County official website
• McHenry County Recorder's Website
• McHenry County Tourism Website
• McHenry County on Epodunk
• McHenry Blog, McHenry County’s Web Site Evaluated, Sept. 13, 2010
• [3]

[edit] References

	v • d • e State of Illinois Springfield (capital)
Transparency	Freedom of Information Act | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |
Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | Illinois school districts A - L | Illinois school districts M - Z | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Illinois State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Illinois Supreme Court | Circuit Court of Appeals | District Courts | Judicial Nominating Commission | Judicial news | Judicial activist organizations |
Ballot Measures	2008 ballot measures | School bond issues | Procedures for qualifying an initiative | Amending the constitution | History of direct democracy | Campaign finance requirements |