Naperville Dist. 204 taxes going up 3 percent
The typical Indian Prairie Unit District 204 will see a property tax increase of about $82, based on the amount of taxes the district plans to collect next year.
That figure is based on the average value of a home in the district $347,000 and anticipates a tax bill of $5,297.
The school board this week approved a tentative property tax levy of about $222.4 million, not including the bond and interest portion of the levy that amounts to about $28.4 million.
The levy request is a 3.48 percent increase compared to last year, but the district expects the final property tax levy to come in at closer to 3 percent higher because of the state tax cap, which limits tax increases from year to year. The figures will be finalized in DuPage and Will counties in April.
The Consumer Price Index for this year is set at 2.7 percent. State law requires local governments to cap their property tax increases to the CPI or 5 percent, whichever is less. However, the district requested a higher levy to capture taxes from new property in the district. That new property is expected to generate the extra .3 percent of the levy increase, or $1.3 million.
District 204 has been operating under what it calls an austerity plan. During the past two years, $28 million has been slashed from the district's budget. Per pupil, the district spent $10,020 last year, or 10.5 percent less than the state average and 16 percent less than the average DuPage County school district.
The austerity plan was implemented primarily as a result of state education cutbacks and the failure of the state to pay the district money it owes.
The state of Illinois owes District 204 $1 million from last year and $4 million this year. Officials anticipate the figure will climb to $8 million by the end of December. “The state is still a mess and we think that further cuts are very much a possibility,” said Dave Holm, assistant superintendent of business and finance. “Honestly, no one wants taxes to increase, but at the same time, we have to consider the state of the state and we have to realize that any reduction in those taxes would require a reduction in programs as well.”