By: Diane Benjamin
h/t a reader
Below is a screenshot from Corey Beirne’s campaign website: https://corey4mcboard.com
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Know why Corey said “tax rates” instead of “taxes”?
Because he voted to raise your property taxes last year!
Let’s look at part of a property tax bill in his district:
Paid in 2026:
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Paid in 2025:
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Hey Corey: The McLean County rate went down. So did your employer’s – Unit 5! City of Bloomington’s where your wife is alderman, Abby Scott, increased the rate leading to more money than they expected in reserves. (Of course the are spending it, no refunds)
Two rates went down while taxes went up.
Just these 3 lines on a tax bill for 2026 totalled $7,158.35.
In 2025 they totalled $6,867.92.
Total increase with the Beirne family in charge or benefiting:
$290.43 – in just one year.
Remember Unit 5 saying pass the 1% Sales Tax and we will lower your property taxes?
Corey Beirne is promising to lower your “rate”. Obviously the “rate” is immaterial when the Assessed Value keeps increasing.
For 2025 the Net Taxable Value of this house was $100,192.
For 2026 the Net Taxable Value of this house was $108,239.
Total tax bill in 2025: $8,090.42
Total tax bill in 2026: $8,422.76
Corey Beirne knows he is misleading voters.
This is his house.
Voters can’t afford the Power Couples, they all voted to raise property taxes:
The City of Bloomington’s tax rate actually increased from 2025 (.904080) to 2026 (.961620). That’s because his wife Abby, whose campaign platform included property tax relief, voted to increase property taxes 14%. The tax rate increased because that increase was a lot more than the increase in market value of properties.
I modified the story
I was following that too last year. Every single republican member of the county voted for it too. Every one. Shaking my head.
If the campaign on lower taxes, let me know
On Beirne-Scott’s other Facebook page, he wrote a long post about walking through District 10, campaigning for re-election, and meeting people along the way. His descriptions are telling: “a diverse spectrum of political ideology; some moderate and hardcore progressives, but lots of hardcore MAGA folks.”
That is how he sees his constituency: progressives on one side, scary MAGA folks on the other. Not fellow citizens of McLean County. Not taxpayers. Not neighbors. Just people to be sorted, labeled, and judged through national politics.
In the past, when Beirne-Scott has used the word MAGA, he has paired it with words like “bigot,” “chunderhead,” and “conspiracy theorist.” He calls them unintelligent. (I have the receipts.)
The point here: in this post, he singles out people who believe in “MAGA ideology” and says, “That’s OK, MAGA deserves smooth roads and access to healthcare too.”
Even the chunderheads and bigots should get smooth roads? How generous. You’ve got the chunderhead’s vote, Beirne-Scott.
Here is how Corey describes his “takeaway” from a local campaign walk: “it’s yet another example of the MAGA stranglehold becoming increasingly marginalized. It’s falling apart from within but it’s still there and still a factor. The good news is that people are realizing that you can’t get by on outrage and violent threats.”
That is the problem. Corey Beirne-Scott cannot separate local service from national political warfare.
So what exactly are your political aspirations, Beirne-Scott? To break the “stranglehold” of MAGA, or to serve the people of McLean County? Because from here, it looks like your hatred of MAGA is not a side issue. It looks like the mission. And McLean County deserves local leaders who see residents as people first—not political enemies to be managed.