OREGON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Ogle County Board unanimously approved a resolution opposing House Bill 1176, a potential state law that would increase county publishing responsibilities when it sends out tax bills.

The resolution passed Tuesday said the Ogle County Board joined the Illinois County Treasurers’ Association in speaking out against HB1176, due to "the cost it will bring upon the Ogle County taxpayers."

HB1176 would require the county treasurer to publish every TIF (tax-increment financing) project for each taxing body on a separate page of the county tax bill. The Ogle County Board believes it would cost the treasurers’ office additional workload, printing cost, and potential postage cost with no form of reimbursement from the state.

The county's resolution said it believes the responsibility of posting of TIF information should be up to the municipality in control of the TIF district.

TIF districts are established by municipalities to encourage and help fund developments. After a TIF district is established, it grows due to increment funds generated by property value increases following development. For example, the City of Rochelle has four TIF districts and uses it to help fund improvements by developers allowed under TIF statutes.

"We are opposed to HB1176 as it puts an additional unfunded mandate upon the citizens of Ogle County and will cause additional non-reimbursed duties upon our county treasurer, county clerk, and assessment office," the resolution said.

Rodeos

During the public comment portion of the meeting, the board heard from two people regarding rodeos taking place at 16989 E. Ritchie Road, a property in Ogle County south of Rochelle. Jodie Wiederkehr of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), an animal activist group, asked the board to revoke a special use permit for the venue to host events and asked Ogle County State's Attorney Mike Rock to prosecute those committing what she called animal abuse.

Representatives from SHARK have spoken at Ogle County Board meetings in the past, objecting to what takes place at the Mexican-style rodeos, namely an event called "steer tailing" where a steer is forced to run along a wall and a contestant runs up alongside them and grabs the steer's tail and pulls them around.

SHARK has been in contact with Ogle County Board members, Rock and Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle in the past, providing video evidence of what it believes to be animal abuse.

"The law is being broken," Wiederkehr said. "We've made all of you aware that beating, abusing, cruelly treating and tormenting animals violates the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act. The special use permit should be revoked. The law will be broken again this Saturday near Rochelle. This isn't culture. This is illegal animal abuse that needs to end."

The property at 16989 E. Ritchie Road where rodeos have been held in the past has also seen previous police and EMS response for issues such as fights and reports of shots fired.

Ogle County Board Chairman Bruce Larson (R-Stillman Valley, District 5) responded to the public comments at the end of the meeting.

"In the events we heard public comment on tonight, the county does not take a position on anything unless it comes as a resolution through our ethics and governance committee," Larson said.

Townships

Board Member Lyle Hopkins (R-District 8, Polo) asked board members and county residents to continue to be vocal against township consolidation in bills that the state is currently considering after the county board passed a resolution opposing those bills last month.

Senate Bill 2504, Senate Bill 2217 and House Bill 2515 were introduced by the 113th Illinois General Assembly in March 2025 asking for the consolidation of township government. Townships in Illinois provide services including road and bridge maintenance, property assessment and general assistance. In Ogle County there are 927 miles of road and 199 bridges currently maintained by 24 townships. If townships were consolidated, those services would be provided by the county.

Due to their size, Flagg and Byron Townships would be the only two in Ogle County that would remain after potential consolidation.

Hopkins has been supervisor of Pine Creek Township for 50 years.

"In Pine Creek Township, we've only levied one third of the maximum amount for property taxes," Hopkins said. "We're charging a third of what we could be charging. Our equipment is good, our roads are good, and we have good help. I'm also a taxpayer and I don't want to pay any more taxes. So, I don't want to see the levy raised."

Sealcoat

The board unanimously approved resolutions for seal coat work in 2025. The low bid for sealcoating was awarded to Steffens 3-D Construction for $699,511.04. The board appropriated $400,000 for the work from its motor fuel tax fund and $300,000 from its federal aid matching fund for the county's portion of the project.

The board also approved a resolution awarding bids for sealcoating in various townships within the county to Helm Civil and Steffens 3-D Construction. The funding for the work will be provided by each township. The county secures sealcoating of streets in municipalities within it to receive a lower overall price.