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Health & Fitness

Mike Donahue: Kane's Share of Tax Bill Small 'Like a Bad Tip'

Kane County's share of our total tax bill is 4.8%, which is like a bad tip at a two-bit coffee shop.

My old pal, Joe “Cap” Mackenzie, got in my face the other day and said, “Why is it that my property values are going down but my property taxes are going up?  You guys on the County Board need to put a stop to it!”

I said, “I would if I could, my friend, but Kane County’s share of your tax bill is less than five percent. That's like a bad tip in a two-bit coffee shop.”

Incensed by my flip response Cap fires back, “You politicians don’t give a *%#& about us taxpayers! Next election I’m going to vote for the guy who says he’ll stop increasing my property taxes while my values are going down!”

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I said, “I’m sorry, Cap, I don’t mean to be dismissive. But I don’t think anybody who runs for the County Board can really say that.”

“What??? I’m gonna run you out on a rail with an attitude like that!!!” Cap bleated.

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“Now, Cap, calm down,” I said. “Let me explain. Even if we eliminated Kane County government altogether we’d still have to pay 95.2% of our property tax bill, which is almost all of it, anyway.”

Red face, hands on his hips, Cap was incredulous. So far as he was concerned he made his check out to Kane County for the full amount so we had darn well do something about it, pronto.

I could see Cap was in need of further explanation so I pulled out my own property tax bill to illustrate the point.

I showed him that my total property taxes for 2010 were $7,895. Kane County’s share, including the pension levy, was only $381, or 4.8% of the total, a rate customarily considered to be a bad tip if the service was good.

Cap spat back, “Service? What service? What do I get from you guys for my ‘bad tip’?”

I said, “Well, off the top of my head in 2010 the State’s Attorney prosecuted 4,000 cases, the sheriff ran 8,000 bad guys in and out of his jail; Court Services had 3,000 more bad guys on probation; the Coroner investigated 2,600 deaths; Emergency Management responded to 700 severe weather incidents; the Development Department issued 1,300 building permits; the Recorder recorded 92,000 documents, the Regional Office of Education oversaw 122,000 students; the Transportation Department maintained 315 miles of highway, the County Clerk ran the elections; the Assessor assessed 191,000 pieces of property; and the Treasurer collected $1.1 billion in taxes off that property, 95.2 percent of which was sent off to other taxing bodies. I’m sure there’s a lot more but that’s all I can think of right now.”

Not persuaded, Cap shot back, “Don’t confuse the issue with all these facts! What are you going to do to lower my taxes???”

I said, “Cap, I’m going to make sure that Kane County continues to provide services more efficiently next year than it did this year and I’ll do the same every year I'm on the board year after that. Also, I’m going to send you the phone numbers for all those people who charge the other 95.2 percent on your tax bill.”

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