By Marc V. Avelar
March 3, 2025
On February 10, 2025, Kane County officials held an informational meeting on the retail sales tax referendum at the Dundee Township meeting room in East Dundee. County Board Chair Corinne Pierog (D, Batavia), County Board Members Chris Kious (D, Algonquin), Jarett Sanchez (D, Carpentersville), Cherryl Strathman (D, Elgin) and Deborah Allen (D, Elgin) were present. Several elected officials were present in the audience, including County Treasurer Chris Lauzen (R, Aurora).
After Board Member Kious reviewed the information from the presentation deck, and after taking questions from the informed electorate in the audience, it is very clear to this independent-minded discerning voter a “NO” vote is the only way possible vote on this April 1 referendum.
The County Board Asking for Too Much!
The County is asking for 0.75 to be added to everyone’s sales tax rate through a “Special County Retailers’ Occupation Tax for Public Safety” as documented in State Statute (55 ILCS 5/5-1006.5). According to County staff projections, the approved referendum will raise $51 million annually, with collections of the tax beginning July 1 and the county receiving the first month’s revenues in November.
In spite of the minimizing by various board members and staff of the impact this increase in the sales tax would bring, I’ve lived for 30 years in Algonquin within Dundee Township in a municipality divided between two counties. Like the village of Huntley, McHenry County is where the majority of Algonquin village residents live. The sales tax rate in the McHenry County portion of Algonquin & Huntley is 8.25%, while the retailers south of the county line charge 8.00%.
If the referendum is approved, the Kane County portion of my hometown would have an 8.75% sales tax rate, opposed to 8.25% in McHenry County. While the difference in tax rates won’t dissuade consumers from purchasing items like clothes or sit-down meals in Kane County, big ticket items like furniture, appliances and even expensive parts for auto repairs would be more expensive in Kane County.
That is too big a risk for my community, and in my honest opinion, all Algonquin residents living in the 23rd County Board District. I’m voting “NO!”
The County Board Failed to Ask for this Retail Sales Tax in 2022, 2023 & 2024
The County Board first floated the idea for a public safety sales tax referendum during the summer of 2022. This was initially discussed due to the implementation to changes in the SAFE-T (Safety, Accountability, Fairness, Equity Today) Act, most notably the Pre-trial Fairness component of the SAFE-T Act.
At the August 3, 2022, County Board Executive Committee, I addressed the Committee when the County was pushing to place the referendum on the General Election ballot that year. The cued video including the presentation deck can be viewed here and is just over 5 minutes.
Outside of the dates, many of the points brought up in the deck are still valid today. While the Executive Committee did recommend pushing the referendum to April 4, 2023, the County chose to cancel the 2023 referendum citing lower turnout in an April Consolidated Election opposed to a November General Election in even-numbered years.
So why didn’t the County ask for this referendum in 2024, particularly with the high turnout expected for the presidential election? It’s 2 ½ years later, and the County Board failed to lead. Another reason I’m voting “NO!”
Who/Where are the Proponents Outside of Most Elected County Officials & Staff?
As discussed several times in my presentation in 2022, the proponents pushing for a “Yes” vote on April 1 are completely unknown. Organized opposition groups are already working to defeat the referendum, both the “People of Kane County” Political Committee, as well as the Kane County Republican Party are openly against it. But there are no “Vote Yes” signs and it’s within 30 days of the April 1 election, with balloting beginning on March 7.
As I addressed the County Board earlier this year concerning proponents, “let them come forward and let them take the heat!”
No one appears to be willing to do this outside of the informational meetings. Yet another reason I have to vote “NO!” and I ask my fellow voters across Kane County to do the same.
Marc Avelar lives in Dundee Township and served as an elected trustee for the village of Algonquin in the late 1990s. In 2022, Avelar was appointed to the Dundee Township Mental Health Board & serves as president of the Board for the past 2 years. The opinions are his own.
