By Benjamin Barr On April 4, Bull Valley will ask an important question of its residents – should Home Rule authority be enacted? While home rule means a lot of things, it most importantly grants government the authority to raise taxes without a voter referendum. In a state featuring the second-highest property taxes and the […]
Voters in the April 4 consolidated election will decide whether the village of Bull Valley becomes a Home Rule community. What is Home Rule? Illinois Home Rule is the constitutional grant of authority to local governments to self-govern, provided the General Assembly does not explicitly limit that authority or maintain the exclusive exercise of that […]
Voters in Bull Valley will be asked in the April 4 election to approve home rule authority that would give the village more flexibility to raise money for a number of projects. Village President Emily Berendt said becoming a home rule community would help to realize the desire for self-determination and local control that drove […]
The City Council will hold a public hearing next month on a proposal to increase the sales tax in Woodstock. The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, in the council chambers at Woodstock City Hall, 121 W. Calhoun St. When the proposal first was floated this spring, city officials discussed enacting […]
As Woodstock officials weigh whether to increase the city’s sales tax rate, local entrepreneurs are divided over how a hike would impact their businesses. A proposal to raise the sales tax by one percentage point means Woodstock shoppers would pay 8 percent on general merchandise, the joint-highest rate in McHenry County, according to data from […]
The city of Woodstock will have slightly lower budgeted expenditures and slightly higher revenues in the next fiscal year if the City Council approves the budget presented to them March 21. In all, the proposed budget calls for the city to spend $32.04 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year, which begins May 1. In 2016-17, […]
Woodstock shoppers might pay more in sales tax in exchange for a property tax cut. The Woodstock City Council voted unanimously March 7 to reduce the city’s property tax levy 10 percent, a move that will lower the tax bill on a $150,000 house by about $94 and cut the city’s revenues by $924,000. A […]
The Woodstock City Council re-adopted and amended the city code Jan. 17 to include Woodstock’s new status as a home-rule municipality. The action had little practical effect on the city’s business, as the Illinois Secretary of State certified Woodstock’s home-rule status Jan. 10. But re-adopting the city code, which contains all of Woodstock’s ordinances, protects […]
It turns out Woodstock is a little larger than the U.S. Census Bureau initially thought. The final tally from a special census completed in September shows the city with a population of 25,528, which is 171 more than the Census Bureau’s preliminary estimate. That represents an increase of 758 people from the last regular census, […]
Woodstock’s population is 25,357, according to the preliminary results of a special census, a figure that will give the city home-rule status. Numbers compiled by the United States Census Bureau estimate Woodstock has 587 more residents today than it had in 2010, when the regular census showed the city with a population of 24,770. If […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
