By John K. Collins, McHenry County Board Member, District 2 Administration Services Committee | Finance and Audit Committee | Valley Hi Committee

If you’ve lived in McHenry County for more than a few election cycles, you know the script. Come October, Republican candidates line up at every door, every forum, and every chicken dinner to deliver the same sacred promise: no new taxes. It’s as reliable as the changing leaves. And for over fifty years, it has worked.

So imagine my surprise when the Republican-dominated McHenry County Board placed not one but two resolutions before the Administration Services Committee, where I serve, proposing to give county government the unlimited ability to raise your property taxes without your approval. That’s what Home Rule does. And that is exactly what Resolutions 6.1 and 6.2 would set in motion.

Let me be direct: this is not a good-faith governance proposal. It is a political distraction, timed to November, built on contradictions, and insulting to the intelligence of McHenry County voters.

The Unlimited Tax Problem

Home Rule sounds benign — even empowering. Local control. Less Springfield interference. Who could object?

Here’s what they won’t put in the brochure: Home Rule eliminates the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law — PTELL — the statutory cap that currently limits how fast your property taxes can grow. Under Home Rule, the county board could raise property taxes without a referendum. Without your vote. Without your permission. The only check on that power would be the political judgment of the same board that just brought you this proposal.

Three Illinois counties operate under county Home Rule: Cook, Will, and Champaign. For thirty years, McHenry County Republicans have used Cook County as a bogeyman — the cautionary tale of big government, high taxes, and runaway spending. “We don’t want to become like Cook County,” they’ve said, and voters have agreed, again and again. Now those same Republicans are proposing McHenry County join that exclusive three-county club. The irony doesn’t get richer than that.

The County Executive Problem

Home Rule doesn’t just change how the county taxes you. It changes who runs the county — fundamentally and permanently.

Under Illinois law, a county cannot achieve Home Rule without simultaneously creating an elected County Executive. This is not a minor administrative adjustment. It is a restructuring of county government that concentrates enormous power in a single elected official: the power to hire and fire department heads, to propose the county budget (leaving the board to react rather than lead), and, most critically, to veto any ordinance or resolution passed by the County Board.

To override that veto, the board needs eleven of eighteen members — a three-fifths supermajority. Under the current structure, a simple majority of ten governs. Under Home Rule, one person can block the will of ten, eleven, even twelve board members.

McHenry County voters already made one structural change in 2016, when they voted to directly elect their County Board Chairman — a meaningful democratic reform. Home Rule would replace that elected Chairman with a County Executive whose powers make the current Chairman look like a department head. Every county Home Rule referendum in Illinois history has been defeated. Voters have consistently said: we don’t want this much power concentrated in one office. That wisdom hasn’t expired.

The Real Story: A Deficit and a Distraction

Here is what is actually happening in McHenry County. The 2026 budget required nearly $6 million in cuts and the elimination of 18 county positions. The projected shortfall for FY2027 is approximately $4.5 million if no corrective action is taken. Special revenue funds, including FICA and IMRF accounts, are being propped up by the general fund. The county’s fiscal foundation, built on five decades of “no new taxes” campaign promises, is cracking.

That is the story the Republican majority does not want to tell heading into November. So instead, they’re telling a different one — about unfunded state mandates, about Springfield overreach, about solar farms they claim Home Rule would let them block (it wouldn’t — the state preemption language is explicit and airtight). They need a headline. They need an issue. They need a villain. And if generating that headline requires proposing unlimited taxing authority for county government, well, apparently that’s a trade they’re willing to make.

There is also an electoral calculation at work here that deserves to be named plainly. Republicans are facing a difficult November environment nationally and locally. A high-stakes Home Rule referendum on the ballot drives turnout — their turnout. It gives their base something to vote against, something to be energized by, a reason to show up. Never mind that what they’d be voting against is a proposal their own party put on the ballot. Politics, as they say, makes strange bedfellows.

The Non-Binding Tell

Notice that the committee is weighing two resolutions: one for a binding referendum, and one for an advisory referendum. The fact that the advisory option exists tells you everything you need to know about how confident the proponents actually are in this idea.

An advisory referendum on Home Rule isn’t a governing tool. It’s a poll. A very expensive, government-funded poll designed to generate a talking point, not a result. If you bring an idea to the voters, you should be willing to live with what they decide. If you’re not willing to be bound by the outcome, you’re not asking for the public’s judgment. You’re asking for their applause.

The Question McHenry County Should Be Asking

The board’s own resolution paperwork, filed with these proposals, lists every possible category of impact: on human resources, on the budget, on capital expenditures, on county departments. Every single line reads the same: N/A. Not applicable. No analysis. No impact.

Apparently, the unlimited ability to raise property taxes without voter approval has no impact on the budget. Apparently, creating a new branch of county government with veto power over the elected board has no impact on county departments. Apparently, the taxpaying constituents of McHenry County are not a relevant consideration.

That tells you how seriously this is being taken as a governing proposal — which is to say, not at all.

McHenry County voters are not a prop. They are not a turnout mechanism. And they are certainly not going to be fooled by a party that spent fifty years promising fiscal restraint suddenly discovering a passion for unlimited taxing authority right before an election, right when the bills they deferred are coming due.

If the Republican majority on this board has a genuine proposal to address the county’s structural fiscal problems, I am ready to engage with it seriously. But Home Rule is not that proposal. It is a political maneuver dressed in the language of local empowerment — and the voters of McHenry County deserve better than that.

John K. Collins represents District 2 on the McHenry County Board. He serves on the Administration Services Committee, the Finance and Audit Committee, and the Valley Hi Committee. He is a member of the Democratic Party of McHenry County.

Paid for by Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

The Housing Crisis in McHenry County: What the Data Says — and What We Can Do About It

Published by Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC

McHenry County has a housing problem. Not the kind that makes headlines the way Chicago’s housing challenges do, and not the kind that gets talked about at kitchen tables — at least not yet. But the data is clear, the trend is unmistakable, and the consequences for working families are already being felt.

This past May, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning — CMAP, the comprehensive planning organization for northeastern Illinois — released its McHenry County Housing Readiness report, the product of a multi-year partnership with the county, local municipalities, real estate professionals, and developers. The findings are worth understanding by every McHenry County resident who cares about the future of this community.

Here’s what they found.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Home prices have surged. The median home sales price in McHenry County grew 44% from 2020 to 2024, climbing from around $240,000 to over $335,000. That’s not a blip — that’s a structural shift in what it costs to buy a home here.

There aren’t enough homes. Active residential listings in McHenry County dropped 63% between 2020 and 2025 — from 1,560 available homes to just 458. Supply has collapsed while demand has stayed strong. When there aren’t enough homes to go around, prices rise and families get squeezed out.

The housing stock is old. Only 7% of homes in McHenry County have been built since 2010. More than 70% of homes were built before 2000, and half were built before 1989. An aging housing stock means higher maintenance costs, less energy efficiency, and homes that don’t match the needs of modern households.

Working families can’t afford it. The CMAP analysis found that households earning less than $75,000 a year are almost universally cost-burdened by housing — meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. For renters earning under $35,000, that figure tops 88%. And the most common jobs in the county — laborers, retail salespersons, cashiers, fast food workers — pay wages that don’t support even a one-bedroom apartment.

Half the county’s workers commute in from somewhere else. About 70% of McHenry County residents work outside the county. And roughly half of the people who work in McHenry County commute in from other places because they can’t afford to live here. Over 75% of workers drive alone, logging about 30% more vehicle miles than the average household in the region. The housing shortage isn’t just a housing problem — it’s a transportation and quality-of-life problem.

This Isn’t Just About “Affordable Housing”

One of the important reframes in the CMAP report is the concept of “attainable housing” — homes that working households at 80 to 120 percent of area median income can actually afford. This isn’t about subsidized housing. It’s about whether a teacher, a nurse, a tradesperson, a retail manager, or a first-year police officer can afford to live in the community where they work.

The answer in McHenry County, increasingly, is no.

Consider the county’s five most common jobs. Laborers and material movers earn a mean annual wage of around $43,200 — enough to afford a studio apartment, but not a one-bedroom. Retail salespersons average $38,840 — same situation. Cashiers average $33,970. Fast food workers average $33,390. Neither group can afford even a studio. And here’s the kicker: less than 1% of all homes in McHenry County are studios.

The gap between what jobs pay and what housing costs is not a gap that working families can budget their way out of. It requires policy action.

What CMAP Says the County Needs to Do

The Housing Readiness report isn’t just a diagnosis — it’s a prescription. CMAP identified six core strategies for McHenry County and its municipalities to pursue.

Communicate and engage with residents. Housing conversations are often derailed by fear and misinformation. Communities that make housing decisions based on good information — and that actively involve residents in those conversations — make better decisions.

Review zoning regulations and design standards. Much of McHenry County’s zoning was written decades ago for a very different housing market. Outdated rules that prohibit duplexes, triplexes, accessory dwelling units, and smaller starter homes artificially constrain supply. Developers who engaged with CMAP’s process were explicit: updating zoning and design standards is essential to producing more attainable units.

Streamline development rules and processes. Navigating development approvals across multiple municipalities is costly and time-consuming. Every dollar and month added to the development process is a cost that ultimately gets passed on to the buyer or renter. Simplifying and standardizing processes makes it easier and cheaper to build.

Pursue housing funding and financing tools. State and federal programs exist to help communities expand housing supply — but accessing them requires capacity, coordination, and leadership. McHenry County has an opportunity to build stronger connections with the Illinois Housing Development Authority and to help municipalities leverage funding they’re currently leaving on the table.

Coordinate land use, transportation, and economic development. About 4% of McHenry County’s land is vacant — and much of it is near jobs and transit. Building on infill sites rather than sprawling into farmland is both fiscally smarter and environmentally sounder. The county needs leadership that connects these dots.

Foster public-private and multi-jurisdictional partnerships. Housing is a regional challenge that no single municipality can solve alone. McHenry County needs coordinated action across municipal lines — and an active county government willing to lead that coordination rather than leaving it to chance.

What the County Board Has to Do With This

Here’s the part that connects directly to the 2026 elections.

CMAP’s report identifies specific actions the county itself — not individual municipalities — can and should lead. These include developing a countywide inventory of opportunity sites for housing development, creating guides for accessory dwelling unit development, building municipal capacity to leverage housing funding, and establishing a public-private regional housing trust fund.

These are County Board decisions. They require county leadership. And right now, the County Board has not taken them seriously.

The same board that has relied on tax freezes to avoid hard conversations about county finances has also avoided hard conversations about housing. The result is a county that has a CMAP action plan sitting on the shelf, a housing crisis getting worse by the year, and working families being quietly pushed out of a community they helped build.

What Attainable Housing Actually Looks Like

It’s worth being concrete about what we’re talking about, because “housing policy” can sound abstract until you see it in human terms.

Think about a teacher and a school administrator — two professional, dual-income household members — living with their three children and the administrator’s aging parents. They want to give everyone a dignified living space. Their options, per the CMAP analysis: refinish the basement for $22,000, build a home addition for $46,000, or build a backyard coach house for $175,000. The cheapest option still takes more than a year to save for. And in some McHenry County communities, the coach house isn’t even permitted under local zoning.

That’s the housing reality facing working families here — not in some abstract policy document, but in actual homes, with actual families, making impossible choices.

Attainable housing means giving that family options. It means zoning rules that allow a duplex, a granny flat, a smaller starter home. It means development processes that don’t add unnecessary cost and delay. It means county leadership that takes the problem seriously instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.

The Bottom Line

McHenry County has abundant farmland, open space, a strong community character, and a workforce that earns enough to drive real demand for housing. These are assets. But they will not protect the county from a worsening housing crisis if local elected officials continue to ignore the evidence and avoid the policy changes needed to address it.

The good news is that the roadmap already exists. CMAP produced it in partnership with the county itself. The question is whether the County Board will follow it — or whether it will take new leadership in 2026 to finally get moving.

Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC is working to elect board members who will take housing attainability seriously. Not because it’s a partisan issue, but because it’s a community issue — one that affects our teachers, our nurses, our tradespeople, our seniors, and our young families.

McHenry County is worth fighting for. That means making sure the people who make it run can afford to live here.

Sources: CMAP McHenry County Housing Readiness Market Analysis and Action Plan, May 2025; Heartland Realtors, 2025; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024; McHenry County Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, 2025.

Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC is working to elect responsible, accountable leaders to the McHenry County Board. Learn more at neighborsforabettermchenrycounty.com.

Paid for by Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Why Your County Board Vote Matters More Than You Think

Published by Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC

Every four years, millions of Americans pay close attention to who sits in the Oval Office. Every two years, they tune in for congressional races. But ask most McHenry County residents who represents them on the County Board, and you’ll likely get a blank stare.

That’s not a criticism. It’s a structural problem — and it’s one that costs us.

Because here’s the truth: the decisions made in the McHenry County Board room affect your daily life far more directly than most of what happens in Washington.

What the County Board Actually Controls

The McHenry County Board oversees a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It makes decisions about:

Public health services. The county funds and administers mental health programs, substance use treatment, preventive care, and public health emergency response. When the County Board cuts corners on the budget, those programs feel it first.

Land use and zoning. Want to know why housing costs are rising in McHenry County? Part of the answer lies in decisions made at the county level — about where housing can be built, what kinds of housing are permitted, and how development is managed.

The county budget and your tax dollars. The County Board decides how hundreds of millions of dollars in public money are spent — and, critically, how the county manages its long-term fiscal health. When that management fails, residents pay the price.

The court system and public safety. The county funds the State’s Attorney’s office, the Sheriff’s department, the court system, and the jail. These are fundamental public safety functions controlled entirely at the local level.

Infrastructure and the environment. Stormwater management, road maintenance, and environmental programs are county responsibilities. The decisions made here shape the physical landscape of McHenry County for decades.

The Attention Gap Is a Power Gap

When voters don’t pay attention to local elections, it doesn’t mean nothing happens. It means that the people who do pay attention — the organized, the well-connected, the ideologically motivated — get to make the decisions for everyone else.

In McHenry County, that dynamic has played out for years. Low turnout in county board races. Minimal scrutiny of candidates. A governing majority that has operated largely without accountability — freezing taxes to score political points while quietly drawing down the county’s financial reserves to fund basic operations.

Most residents had no idea this was happening. And why would they? Local government doesn’t get the coverage that national politics does. There’s no cable news cycle devoted to the McHenry County Board. There are no viral moments from county board meetings.

That’s exactly why it matters so much who shows up.

The Math of Local Elections

Here’s something that might surprise you: County Board races in McHenry County are often decided by a few hundred votes. In some districts, the margin between winning and losing is smaller than the number of people on a single neighborhood block.

That means a relatively small number of engaged voters — people who show up, who talk to their neighbors, who pay attention — can genuinely change the outcome.

This is not true of presidential elections, where individual votes are one of tens of millions. It is absolutely true of county board races, where your vote carries real weight.

When we analyzed precinct-level results from the 2024 general election, we found something striking: in multiple McHenry County districts, Democratic candidates for County Board ran significantly behind the presidential ticket. Voters who came out to support candidates at the top of the ballot simply didn’t bring that same energy to county races.

That gap — between what voters do at the top of the ticket and what they do for local offices — is the central challenge Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC was formed to address.

What Happens When the Right People Win

Change at the local level is tangible and fast. Unlike federal legislation, which can take years to work through the system, a new County Board majority can shift budget priorities, change how county services are managed, and bring a fundamentally different approach to governance — in a matter of months.

A County Board with honest, responsible leadership can:

• Stabilize the county’s fiscal situation with a credible long-term plan instead of the reserve drawdowns that have become standard practice
• Protect and strengthen public health services that families across McHenry County depend on
• Take attainable housing seriously as a county-level policy priority
• Govern transparently, with respect for residents’ intelligence and their right to know how their tax dollars are being spent

None of this requires a revolution. It requires the right people in the right seats — and enough voters paying attention to put them there.

What You Can Do Right Now

Get informed. Learn who represents you on the McHenry County Board and how they’ve voted. Attend a board meeting. Read the budget. Ask questions.

Show up. In 2026, there will be County Board races across McHenry County. Make a plan to vote in the primary and the general election — and bring someone with you.

Get involved. Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC is working to elect accountable leaders to the County Board. We need volunteers, donors, and people who are willing to have conversations with their neighbors about why this election matters.

Donate. Every dollar we raise goes directly toward supporting candidates in our targeted races. In local elections, relatively small amounts of money have an outsized impact.

The decisions that shape your daily life in McHenry County aren’t made in Washington. They’re made a lot closer to home. It’s time more of us started acting like it.

Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC is working to elect responsible, accountable leaders to the McHenry County Board. Learn more at neighborsforabettermchenrycounty.com.

Paid for by Neighbors for a Better McHenry County PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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