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Details emerge in Lantz case
McHENRY COUNTY TAX INCREMENT FINANCING DISTRICTS
Court documents shed light on baby remains By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia. com
Crystal Lake created TIF districts to help build the Three Oaks Recreation Area, which is being paid for using home rule sales tax dollars, not TIF-generated property taxes.
CREATION OF THE TIF By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Northwest Herald file photo
McHenry County TIF districts used for Three Oaks Recreation Area, road improvements, developer agreements
McHENRY COUNTY TIFs Below is a breakdown of some of the active tax increment financing districts in the county.
It was the mid-1980s, and heavy snow collapsed the roof of the downtown Crystal Lake Jewel grocery store. Vacancies were common across the area. And a brand-new economic development tool called a tax increment financing district had just been created by the Illinois Legislature. The tool worked by disInside tributing property taxes differn Legislator files bill ently in certain on TIF-related bonds. areas set up by PAGE A3 their local municipalities after a public hearing process and a joint review board with other affected taxing entities, including school districts, park districts, townships, community colleges and the county. The taxable property value that existed before the creation of the tax increment financing district, commonly shortened to TIF district, would continue to be split up among the taxing entities like normal, but any taxes collected on new value would be diverted to a special fund to be used on projects and initiatives within the districts. Crystal Lake gave it a try. They added public parking, improved the streetscape to make it more pedestrian friendly and worked with a developer to transform the former Jewel grocery store into the Brink Street Market, which houses multiple small businesses at the corner of Williams and Brink streets.
See TIF, page A5
TAX INCREMENT FINANCING DISTRICT
CREATED IN
SURPLUS/DEFICIT ( ) MAJOR PROJECTS
CARY ROUTE 14
May 1997
$557,292
CARY STATION CRYSTAL LAKE VIRGINIA STREET CRYSTAL LAKE MAIN STREET CRYSTAL LAKE VULCAN LAKES FOX LAKE FOX RIVER GROVE ROUTES 14, 22
Sept. 2006 July 2005 Nov. 2005 Jan. 2006 Feb. 2004 May 1998
$39,843 ($1,655,849) $291,914 ($14,908,369) $246,211 ($2,343,473)
FOX RIVER GROVE DOWNTOWN
March 2012
($238,223)
HARVARD ARROWHEAD INDUSTRIAL PARK
Dec. 2004
($3,412,636)
HARVARD ROUTE 14 AND AIRPORT ROAD HARVARD DOWNTOWN
June 2005
($441,481)
Feb. 2000
($233,506)
HUNTLEY DOWNTOWN HUNTLEY SOUTHERN DISTRICT
Jan. 2013 Jan. 1993
N/A N/A
MARENGO DOWNTOWN MARENGO EASTERN CORRIDOR MARENGO NORTHSIDE (ENDED FEB. 2013) MCHENRY DOWNTOWN
March 2011 March 2011 August 2007 April 2002
($44,322) ($43,884) N/A ($11,880,256)
April 1997
WOODSTOCK
($437,286)
Property purchase and demolition, Jandus Cutoff Road engineering and design N/A Streetscape beautification project Intersection improvements Three Oaks Recreation Area N/A Redevelopment reimbursement agreements with Dominick’s, Walgreens and others; infrastructure and streetscape improvements Property acquisition (to be used for parking, Village Hall expansion) Loans to construct industrial buildings, bridge and other infrastructure improvements Development of site, road improvements Infrastructure improvements for residential construction, purchase property, Ayers Street improvements, facade renovations Property acquisition Road improvements, water and sewer extension Marketing opportunities Marketing opportunities N/A Riverwalk Townhomes, parking lot, property acquisition, Riverwalk construction Facade improvements, streetscape, Old Courthouse, Main Street improvements
Note: The total surplus or deficit of a tax increment financing district includes all outstanding costs the district currently has to pay back, including reimbursement agreements that don't have to be repaid if the value isn't produced over the life of the district.
WOODSTOCK – More details about the case against former McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz over the remains of an infant emerged from court documents filed Monday. Lantz is charged with two counts of official misconduct. She’s accused of failing to dispose of, bury or donate for medical research the remains of a baby known as “Baby Doe” or “Baby R e i n ert.” The Marlene Lantz human remains were discovered in January, after more than 20 years in the coroner’s office, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors have been reticent to speak publicly on the case, but new light was shed on exactly what was found in the morgue at the coroner’s office in a motion seeking to have the remains buried. According to the filing, the mummified remains of a baby boy were found in a sealed box discovered on Jan. 21 in a cooler in the morgue. They were discovered by staff of current Coroner Dr. Anne Majewski. Majewski took over as coroner after Lantz retired in November 2012. During their investigation, police learned that in March 1992, a woman had miscar ried in the bathroom
of a restaurant that is today an IHOP in Crystal Lake. The autopsy describes the baby as a “male infant weighing 3.5 pounds with an estimated gestational age of 7.5 to 8 months.” According to the filing, the infant was wrapped in a plastic bag, and placed inside a cardboard box in the coroner’s office. Organs were in a separate plastic bag. Lantz also was charged with forgery, for allegedly signing a death certificate five years later that states the baby was buried. Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs is asking a judge that the remains be buried. “The body of Baby Doe also known as Baby Reinert has been in a cardboard box in a cooler in the morgue since 1992 and deserves a burial,” Combs wrote in the motion. Combs had no additional comments when reached late Monday. Lantz’s attorney, Mark Gummerson, said he objects to burying the remains at this juncture. “Now they want to rush to bury [the remains] when, according to them, it’s been in there under the new coroner since Nov. 30, 2012,” Gummerson said. “I don’t see why it has to be expedited. It very well may be evidence.” The matter is set to be heard before McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather at 9 a.m. March 11. Lantz was coroner from 1988 to her retirement in 2012. She was chief deputy coroner for eight years before that.
“I don’t see why it has to be expedited. It very well may be evidence.” Mark Gummerson Marlene Lantz’ attorney in objecting to the assistant state’s attorney asking a judge for the remains to be buried
Crystal Lake property owners challenge tax bills in lawsuit By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – A number of Crystal Lake business and property owners are challenging their 2013 property tax bills in McHenry County court. About four dozen Crystal Lake plaintiffs filed a lawsuit seeking a refund on their 2013 taxes collected for the city and elementary and high school districts. Filed late last year, the
lawsuit alleges the three votes City Council members cast in December 2013 to approve the levy were not enough to pass it. Therefore, the lawsuit claims the levy is not only void but illegal. The property taxes were paid in 2014 by all plaintiffs, but it was done so “under protest.” The Crystal Lake City Council has six aldermen and Mayor Aaron Shepley, who votes on all matters. In this interest, Shepley broke a 2-2
tie to approve the levy. Councilmen Ralph Dawson and Jeffrey Thorsen voted against the levy. The lawsuit claims four votes were needed to pass it. In a response filed by Aaron its attorneys, Shepley the city pointed out that it’s a home rule community, and
not bound by the traditional voting limits of the Illinois municipal code. “[The] complaint is based on a series of fundamental misunderstandings of the governmental form and authority of the city,” the city’s response read. “These misunderstandings … undermine the very foundation of the complaint.” As for the Crystal Lake school districts, the lawsuit claims that both the high school and elementary school
districts overtaxed despite having significant assets and cash on hand. Elementary School District 47, in some line items cited in the lawsuit, levied three times more than its annual expenditures, the complaint states. District 155 could have gone without a levy all together, the lawsuit claims. “Because District 155 had ample funds to pay for all of its 2013 and 2014 costs without any levy whatsoever, the 2013
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