Kaneland announces tax request

The Kaneland school board proposes to require property owners to pay $39.79 million in taxes to operate the schools next year.

It expects, however, to ultimately receive only $37.9 million, once the state property tax cap is applied.

And it announced Monday those property owners will likely be spending another $756,906, for a total of $8.9 million, on taxes to repay money the district borrowed for building, repairing and expanding buildings.

The board agreed to publish the request Monday night. It will vote on the levy at its Dec. 12 meeting. Levy requests must be filed with the clerks in Kane and DeKalb counties by Dec. 27. The property taxes will be collected next spring and fall.

The operations portion of the levy is subject to Illinois’ property tax-cap law. This year, the district is limited to a levy increase of 1.5 percent over last year’s actual extension, for existing property. The cap does not apply to new property. The board intends to ask for 3 percent more, just in case it has underestimated the value of new construction in the district. The county clerks won’t publish the district’s equalized assessed valuation until the spring; taxing districts calculate their levies using estimates.

Julie-Ann Fuchs, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, believes the value of property in the district will likely drop by 6 percent compared to last year.

Since a high of $898.5 million in 2008, the district’s equalized assessed valuation has dropped 10 percent, to an estimated $808.1 million.

The total tax rate is estimated to increase by 51 cents to $5.8951 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation. Whether a property owner’s tax bill goes up, down or remains the same will depend also in part on how the value of their property has changed. Fuchs estimates that the owner of a home with a market value of $200,000 could expect to pay $3,930 to the school district.