Carpentersville tax rate expected to drop despite planned levy increase

Carpentersville officials are considering a 1.28 percent tax levy increase, but residents may actually see a dip on their property tax bills.

The village board is expected to vote Dec. 6 on a proposed $30.6 million operating budget for fiscal year 2017, which begins Jan. 1. Trustees will also decide whether to adopt the proposed tax levy hike.

If the measure is approved, Carpentersville would collect about $13.2 million in property taxes for 2016 - $166,341 more than the previous year, according to village documents.

Residents, however, likely won't feel the effects of such an increase, Finance Director Hitesh Desai told trustees during a budget presentation Thursday.

The village's equalized assessed valuation, or EAV, is expected to rise to $512.5 million - the highest it's been since 2011. In turn, Carpentersville anticipates its tax rate will decline from 2.93 percent to 2.57 percent, meaning the village's portion of residents' tax bills will be lower than in previous years.

"The residents were promised that if the EAV comes back (up), we'll try to bring the rates down," Desai said. "That's what's happening here. ... It's a very good sign."

The tax levy increase is the result of an expected $375,860, or 10.88 percent, rise in public pension contributions, Desai said. Those costs are partially canceled out by a $209,519 reduction in the village's debt service levy.

Additionally, Carpentersville is proposing keeping its corporate levy flat at $7.5 million, Desai said, despite increases in health insurance and personnel costs.

"We are constantly looking at every avenue that may save the village and its taxpayers money," he said.

The proposed 2017 budget includes a projected $98,503 surplus in the general fund, according to village documents - an improvement over the $861,587 deficit budgeted for fiscal year 2016.

Carpentersville is expected to see slight increases in its three largest sources of revenue: property taxes, sales taxes and income taxes. Because of the state budget impasse, however, Village Manager Mark Rooney said officials are wary of the reliability of money distributed by the state.

The village's budgeted operating costs include $11.7 million for the police budget, $6.7 million for fire department expenses and $4.3 million in general services.

"The village continues to provide excellent services from all of our departments at a minimum financial output," Village President Ed Ritter said in a statement. "(We're) carefully monitoring every expense while striving for maximum efficiency by every staff member."