Tax bills go down in Dist. 214, up in Dist. 25

Citing the economy, the District 214 school board slashed its tax levy increase next year from 6.3 percent to 2.8 percent on Thursday night. The district will still collect $181 million in property taxes next year but will transfer $3 million worth of reserves to make up for the lowered levy.

"I made the decision to lower the levy because of the challenges residents are facing," said Superintendent David Schuler. "This will only happen for one year. The economy can't be like this forever. It's a historic time."

Because of the amount of new construction in the district, the owner of a $300,000 home will actually see a $57 decrease in their next tax bill with the new levy, Schuler said.

The 2.8 percent is the lowest school district levy increase in the area, he added.

Across town, the Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 school board voted to stick with their 5 percent levy increase bringing the total levy from $56 million to $61 million. About 50 people attended the meeting at Ivy Hill school and most didn't approve of the increase. It will have the owner of a $300,000 home paying an additional $62 in taxes for the elementary school district.

"That's it?" yelled Arlington Heights resident Doug Duszynski after the District 25 vote. "Why even come if you're not going to listen to our questions?"

District 25 board member Ken Nielsen defended the board's levy increase.

"No one likes taxes, included yours truly," he said. "But I'm willing to pay my share. We're trying to be fiscally responsible and I think you're getting a pretty good bang for your buck."

In Arlington Heights, 40 percent of a resident's tax bill goes to District 25 and 23 percent does to District 214. The village gets about 11 percent, and both the library and park district get 5 percent.

Originally, District 214 wanted a 6 percent increase. School officials announced the lowered levy right before Thursday's board meeting.

"I appreciate what you've done; you took a page from Arlington Heights," said Dick Johnston, of Mount Prospect. "But you still have to look at contractual salaries and look at every line item in our budget in light of where we're at."

About 80 percent of a school district's budget pays for salaries and benefits.

Every December school boards approve their tax levies, which is the amount of money districts can raise through the property tax. The fiscal year for schools starts on July 1, 2009, and ends June 30, 2010.

On Monday, the village of Arlington Heights backed a 0.32 percent levy increase. Last week, the Arlington Heights library board reduced its levy increase from 4 percent to zero.