U-46 board authorizes tax levy increase
The Elgin Area School District U-46 school board Monday night approved increasing the property tax levy for 2016, while abating some taxes this year.
An estimated $309 million total in property taxes is to be levied for 2016 - representing an overall 1.63 percent increase over the previous year's extension when the district levied roughly $304 million in taxes.
Officials anticipate having roughly $4 million in excess funds this fiscal year - levied to pay principal and interest on bonds. School board members decided to abate those taxes to provide taxpayers some relief.
School board member Jeanette Ward said while she supports abating taxes, it provides temporary relief. She said she could not support permanently increasing the levy.
"This levy is also to support a budget that greatly expands operations for the full-day kindergarten program, which I did not support," she said.
She and board member Cody Holt voted against the resolution for a levy increase.
"The taxpayers of DuPage, Kane and Cook counties are some of the most overburdened taxpayers in this nation," said Holt adding, he would rather support freezing the property tax levy in future.
The state property tax cap limits how much school districts can increase the levy based on the Consumer Price Index, which for 2016 is 0.70 percent. New construction value is added, which increases the final extension amount but brings the increase over the previous year to 1.39 percent.
Proposed corporate and special purpose property taxes to be levied for 2016 are $266,951,621 - representing a 1.90 percent increase over the previous year. The estimated property taxes to be levied for debt service and public building commission leases for 2016 are $42,190,425 - a decrease of .04 percent over the previous year.
Tax rates are set by county clerks once the equalized assessed value (EAV) of properties within the district are determined. The EAV won't be known until about April for Kane and DuPage counties and September for Cook County. Levies must be filed by the last Tuesday in December for property taxes to be collected next year. Calculating the maximum allowable levy and the final tax rate won't be done until late summer.