By state statute, a delay in any one of the county’s 15 townships postpones tax bills being sent to all the county’s taxpayers…

Late assessments mean late delivery of property tax bills, and any postponement in tax collections means Kane County loses the revenue it would have collected as interest if it could deposit the $900 million it expects to receive on time.

County Treasurer David Rickert calculated that the county loses $120,000 every day the tax bills are late…At this point, the process is weeks behind.

“[Dundee Township Assessor Dan McMahon] is absent from his office for months at a time,” [Dundee Township Supervisor Sue Harney] wrote in a Jan. 16 supervisor’s report…”He should be able to complete required tasks … if he works full time.”

She wasn’t the only one to criticize the assessor’s penchant for spending time outside the office. Township Commissioner Paula Lauer said McMahon, an elected official who makes about $65,000 annually, wasn’t even in Illinois much of the time.

“He’s in Florida for several months out of the year,” she said…

McMahon, who told The Courier News he was speaking from his cell phone in Florida during an interview this week, begged to differ.

He said he spent about 30 percent of the year at his home in the Sunshine State but that he was able to do his work for the township via cell phone and computer…

McMahon said there are no rules governing how many hours he has to be in his township office, and that he doesn’t consider his elected position full time.

“I’m not a full-time assessor,” he said. “The salary doesn’t cover that. Assessors in townships my size should be getting $80,000 and a car. I don’t get $80,000 or a car.” (source: Elgin Courier News 2/10/07)

I think voters in the next election will make sure he gets $80,000 and a car, and I know where they’re going to shove it.

And remember that illegal immigration referendum that was supposed to go on the ballot?

It is unclear whether a proposed advisory referendum supported by opponents of illegal immigration will make it onto the April 17 ballot.

Backers of the referendum succeeded in getting just fewer than 1,400 signatures to petitions to place on the ballot a question asking if Elgin should apply for a program that allows police officers to act as federal immigration agents.

But whether that number is sufficient remained an open question late Tuesday.

State law requires anyone seeking to get an advisory referendum on the ballot to obtain signatures equal to 8 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the city in the last election, state and local election officials have said. But finding out how many votes were cast for governor in Elgin is not as easy as it might seem

Officials at the Kane County Clerk’s Office declined to say how many signatures are needed to get an advisory referendum onto the ballot.

“We can’t do the math because if we’re wrong we’ll be the headlines in your paper,” said David Bruun, the director of elections. (source: Elgin Courier News 1/31/07)

David Bruun, our director of elections, is the disbarred lawyer, convicted felon and old friend and appointee of Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham. Cunningham’s inept handling of past elections made front page headlines throughout Illinois, but he’s a very smooth talker and funny guy so among Kane voters he manages to get away with anything.

According to comments posted on the Capitol Fax Blog, “It is fairly well known that Mr. Cunningham spends an inordinate amount of time in Seneca, LaSalle County where he has business interests, and has been criticized as a “non-residentâ€? for the past few years.”

Filed under: kanecounty, politics.
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