Lake County Gazette

Barrington Village President Karen Darch, vying for an appointment to an unexpectedly vacant seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, has increased property taxes collected by the village by more than one-third since 2010, according to an analysis by the Lake County Gazette.

The total property tax levy of Barrington, population 10,327, has risen from $2.7 million in 2010 to $3.9 million in 2017, or 36.1 percent.

Adjusted for inflation, median home prices in Barrington have been largely unchanged over the same period, remaining around $430,000, according to Zillow.com

Barrington has increased its total annual spending over the same period, from $30.7 million to $32.1 million per year. It has run budget deficits in four of the past seven years, village budget documents show.

Darch, a popular four-term village president who won 72 percent of the vote in her last re-election campaign, is hoping to impress fiscally conservative Lake County Republican voters, as she lobbies to fill the 51st District seat of the disgraced Nick Sauer.

Sauer, 35, resigned recently after an ex-girlfriend accused him of using nude photos of her to “catfish” other men. He was just finishing his first term in office.

Sales tax hike on the ballot

Darch, 63, also currently supports a controversial proposal to raise the city’s sales tax by 1 percent and use the money raised— estimated to be between $850,000 and $1 million per year— to build more public facilities, like parking garages and sidewalks. 

The sales tax question is up for referendum this November. If it passes, the combined sales tax rate will rise from 11 to 14 percent in the Lake County portion of Barrington and from 9 to 11 percent in the Cook County portion.

Darch served as a village trustee from 1995 to 2005 before being elected village president. She is now serving her fourth term.

A lawyer, she’s a Connecticut native who attended the College of William & Mary and University of North Carolina Law School, where she met her husband, Doug. They have six adult children. 

Doug Darch is a partner with Baker & McKenzie in Chicago, representing companies with labor and employment issues before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  He also shares different political views than his wife, having voted Democrat in five of his last six primary elections.

Darch lives in the Lake County portion of Barrington, in one of four Cuba Township precincts including the village, which also stretches into Cook, McHenry and Kane counties.

Other candidates angling for the appointment include Ela Township Trustee Chris Bos of Lake Zurich; Helene M. Miller-Walsh of Mundelein, a multimedia producer and the wife of former U.S. Congressman and current radio talk show host Joe Walsh; and Casey Urlacher, mayor of Mettawa and brother of Chicago Bears Hall-of-Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher.

Bos has been endorsed by state Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods).

The 51st District includes parts of Barrington, Lake Zurich, Hawthorn Woods, Long Grove, Kildeer, North Barrington, Lake Barrington, Tower Lakes, Deer Park, Mundelein, Libertyville, Green Oaks, Vernon Hills and Lake Forest.

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Barrington: property taxes up, home prices are flat

Barrington city leaders have raised taxes 36 percent over the past eight years. But home prices in the village are flat.

Year	Property Tax Levy	CHG	Median Home Price	CHG
2017	$3,687,654	-7.4%	$430,000	2.7%
2016	$3,981,697	0.8%	$418,610	3.0%
2015	$3,951,214	2.1%	$406,362	-0.9%
2014	$3,870,905	2.2%	$409,860	7.0%
2013	$3,788,788	3.5%	$382,928	1.6%
2012	$3,660,983	2.0%	$377,004	-5.5%
2011	$3,589,741	33.0%	$398,940	-7.3%
2010	$2,698,936		$430,492
	TOTAL	36.1%		0.7%

Source: Village of Barrington; Zillow.com