Dist. 303 tax levy goes up 2 percent

St. Charles Unit District 303 on Monday night locked in a lower tax abatement than projected, setting the final levy increase for the next school year at 2 percent.

The board, with a 5-2 vote, approved an abatement that will return $1.03 million to taxpayers, which the district will cover out of its reserves. The owner of a $300,000 home will pay about $118 more to the school district next year as a result of the levy increase.

Initial discussions focused on an abatement that would limit the tax increase to 1 percent or 1.5 percent. But, as it turned out, the district's estimate of the Consumer Price Index for the coming year was way off.

Tax cap laws limit the district's ability to raise its levy without a referendum to 5 percent or the CPI, whichever is less. The staff budgeted with a tax levy based on a 2.1 increase in the index. The actual CPI came in at only 0.8 percent.

That means the district will reap much less money for its education fund, the main account that pays most of the district's bills, such as salaries. For the majority of the school board Monday night, that meant not voting for as large an abatement as originally advertised to taxpayers.

The promise of an abatement came after the district set its 2015 tax levy at a 3.18 percent increase over 2014. That number was set to capture all new property coming onto the tax roll.

But, as in recent years, the board also promised to abate a portion of the levy that pays off the district's bond debt. That abatement has returned about $4.5 million to taxpayers the district would have otherwise collected in recent years. The only question left for the 2015-16 budget going into Monday night was how much would the abatement be.

In a reversal of fortune for taxpayers, board members Jim Gaffney and Corinne Pierog, who both railed against a 2 percent property tax increase last August, voted in favor of the change.

Gaffney said with the CPI coming in so low, he doesn't believe the district has any other choice.

"We hate to do it to them," Gaffney said of the impact to taxpayers. "But we're doing our darndest to keep this thing intact. The reality is it costs money to educate."

Pierog said she heard from a lot of taxpayers who are at their financial limits, just like last year. But this year, with the CPI low and school funding possibly seeing some changes at the state level, she said a 2 percent increase is "the right decision."

"I think it would be fiscally irresponsible to not vote for (the tax increase)," Pierog said.

Board members Ed McNally and Judith McConnell were the "no" votes. Both have spoken many times about keeping tax increases as low as possible.