Schaumburg lowers tax levy, drops stickers

Schaumburg officials Tuesday fulfilled two promises made to taxpayers last December: to lower the new property tax levy to the degree possible, and to eliminate the village's $20 vehicle stickers.

Trustees voted to set a tentative levy of about $22.7 million, 4.4 percent lower than the property tax's first year.

They also approved the elimination of the village's vehicle sticker requirement on May 1, 2011 though people who move to the village before then still will need to buy them for their vehicles.

Tied into the village's new property tax is the elimination of a user fee for garbage pickup, which costs the owners of single-family homes about $190 per year.

The elimination of both the garbage pickup fee and the vehicle stickers should make the new property tax a near break-even for residents who own a $250,000 home and two vehicles, Village Manager Ken Fritz said.

During the first year of the property tax, the owner of such a home would have paid the village about $289, he said.

Because residents are giving up some fees in exchange for the property tax, the biggest net gain the village is seeing from the tax is from businesses.

Businesses' share of the total property tax levy is about 60 percent, Fritz said.

The fact the levy is being reduced in its second year, however, is evidence the village is keeping its word to look at property tax as a last resort to make up for shortfalls in other revenues, he said.

Among the revenues that showed signs of improvement in 2010 were sales and hotel taxes, Fritz said. Officials hope these and other revenues will continue to improve in 2011.

Resident Pete Dombrowski on Tuesday questioned how the village can ever reach its goal of one day eliminating the property tax again if garbage pickup is now paid for by it.

Fritz said paying for garbage pickup through a property tax would always be to residents' financial benefit, even if it were the only purpose of a very small property tax, because businesses have the heavier burden.

After Tuesday's approval of the tentative levy, there will be a first reading of the formal levy ordinance Oct. 12 and then final approval Nov. 9.

Lowers: Garbage fee now tied into property tax