Carpentersville trustees might freeze property taxes

Carpentersville residents could see a dip in the village's portion of their property tax bills next year, thanks to rising property values and the desire by elected officials to keep the tax levy flat.

Trustees this week gave a preliminary thumbs-up to collecting $13.2 million in property taxes for 2017 - roughly the same as the previous year. They are expected to vote Dec. 5 on formally adopting the levy, as well as the 2018 budget.

If approved, the frozen levy, paired with the village's highest anticipated equalized assessed value since 2010, will likely cause Carpentersville's tax rate to drop from 2.6 percent to about 2.37 percent, Finance Director Hitesh Desai said.

In early discussions, village officials favored adopting a flat levy instead of a second proposal to collect an extra $500,000 for future capital projects, Village Manager Mark Rooney said. With the latter option, he said, the village would have seen a smaller property tax rate decline.

"With everything the state was doing and with the rest of the economy, (trustees) wanted to be as thoughtful and considerate of the taxpayers and residents as they could," he said.

The proposed 2017 levy includes a roughly $8,000 increase in public pension contributions, Desai said, but those costs are canceled out by a reduction in the village's debt service levy. Carpentersville is also expected to maintain a $7.5 million corporate levy, despite increased maintenance and personnel costs, he said.

The village's EAV, which has increased annually since 2014, is expected to reach $556.6 million, representing a nearly $50 million jump over the previous year. Desai said the growing property values have greatly contributed to the village's four-year trend of lowering the tax rate. "That is a very good sign," he said.

Carpentersville has also seen a jump in sales tax revenues, largely because of a new Walmart Supercenter that opened in June 2016, Rooney said. But it won't be long before officials will need to start considering new revenue sources to stabilize future finances, replace equipment and fund a capital improvement plan, he said.

"We've made up the difference of increased costs by sales tax improvements, but that will not be sustainable long-term," Rooney said. "We're going to have to (find) new funding for those projects in the out years."

The village board is expected to hear an overview of the proposed levy and budget its Tuesday meeting. A public hearing is scheduled Nov. 28.