State grant leads to property tax relief for District 211

At its Feb. 14 meeting, the High School District 211 Board of Education approved a motion authorizing the district to file for an abatement to the 2018 property tax levy that will reduce total local property taxes by almost $2 million.

The reduction is due to a nearly $1.3 million grant District 211 received through the Illinois State Board of Education's Property Tax Relief Grant. As a recipient of the grant, the district must also reduce the levy by an additional $700,000 on top of the grant.

District 211 Chief Operating Officer Lauren Hummel said that homeowners will directly benefit from this levy reduction and will pay less property taxes to District 211 than would have otherwise occurred without the grant.

The reduction in the levy will decrease the local property taxes received by the district by nearly $2 million. While approximately $1.3 will be covered by the grant, Hummel said the remaining funds would be recovered from various sources.

"The remaining $700,000 difference would be made up from local funds," Hummel said. "What we are proposing is that when we sell the 62-acre property, we would use proceeds from the sale to make up the difference, or use district reserves to offset the reduction for one year."

According to the current real estate contract, the sale of the 62-acre property is scheduled to be finalized at the end of June.

Hummel said following the board's approval at the Feb. 14 meeting, the district filed an abatement with the Cook County Clerk's office, which will then issue a Certificate of Abatement to the Illinois State Board of Education. The certificate will serve as proof to the Illinois State Board of Education that District 211 has reduced its levy, qualifying the district for the grant.

She added that this grant is a benefit for both the district and the communities the district serves.

"Any time you can have close to a $2 million reduction in the amount of taxes levied on the community is certainly positive for the taxpayers," she said.

"And this will not have any impact on any programs or services for students, so that is a great thing. This is just a really positive way to have an impact on the community's tax bills while continuing to provide exceptional opportunities for our students."

The impact of the grant will take effect at the time of the fall 2019 property tax bill.