Tax break in Dist. 203, for now

Naperville Unit District 203 taxpayers will get a break next year.

The school board on Monday approved a measure that will let the average homeowner skip the first $80 payment toward facility improvements.

In February, voters approved a $43 million tax increase to help fund $114.9 million in renovations to numerous schools in the district. The plan called for the extra money to be collected for each of the next 20 years.

However those figures were based on an expected consumer price index of 2.5 percent, which turned out actually to be 4.1 percent.

That means the district is already collecting enough revenue through its regular property tax levy to pay the $690,746 in interest on its building bonds.

While District 203 taxpayers won't have to pay the first referendum payment, they'll still have an average of a 4.1 percent increase in the school portion of their tax bills, consistent with the rate of inflation.

The district's tax rate is actually going down. It is projected to be $3.87 per $100 of equalized assessed value compared with $3.93 last year.

But tax bills for most will still go up because property values are expected to go up about 5.8 percent. Assessments are based on the past three years, so the downturn in the real estate market won't fully be recognized in assessments for several years.

The district's proposed levy is about $193.1 million, an increase of 5.9 percent over the previous year. It is the maximum amount allowed by law, but Dave Zager, assistant superintendent for finance, said he expects the total to be slightly less once actual revenue from new construction is known.

"Right now we're in pretty good shape financially," Zager said.

"We have revenues that exceed expenditures. We might be able to consider abating the debt service levy several years into the future besides our current year."

He doesn't expect revenues to exceed expenditures until 2013-2014 based on current projections and said the district could probably get by through 2015 with reserves. He figures it will be another five to eight years before the district needs to hold another referendum to ask taxpayers for additional money to cover operating costs.

District 203 will hold a public hearing on its levy at its Dec. 15 meeting.