Palatine passes balanced budget with no property tax increase

Palatine village council members this week approved a balanced 2026 budget with no increase in the property tax levy.

The $152.3 million budget passed at Monday’s council meeting is lower than the $158.7 million spending plan approved last year. About $75.4 million of the budget will fund general operations, which includes $27 million for the fire department and $29.1 million for the police department.

The council also approved a $22.5 million property tax levy. Village Manager Reid Ottesen said it will mark the seventh consecutive year without an increase in the levy.

“If you go back to 2010, our property tax levy has gone up by a grand total of 2.45%,” he said.

The levy amount was achieved through $3.2 million in abatements.

“Everybody has heard and lived through the inflation that we've had for the last four years,” council member Scott Lamerand said. “The village lived through that same inflation, but yet we're able to offset our costs.”

It has done that, he said, through investing in technology, infrastructure, roads and personnel.

For the second year, the village is not levying a tax to pay off debt. Lamerand compared that with about 16 years ago, when the village was spending $8 million to pay interest on its debt.