Naperville property taxes expected to go down

Without significant changes to Naperville's fiscal year 2013 budget city taxpayers can expect to pay about $23 less on the city portion of their annual property tax bill.

During Monday's budget workshop, a majority of council members preliminarily approved a 2.75 percent reduction of the 2011 property tax levy, half of the estimated 5.5 percent drop in the city's equalized assessed valuation.

The estimated tax rate agreed to Monday is 76.09 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value, compared to last year's rate of 73.90 cents.

At that rate the owner of a typical $375,000 Naperville home can expect to pay $972.26 for the city's portion of their property tax bill, down from the $997.65 they paid last year on the approximate 12 percent of the property tax bill paid to the city.

The total proposed levy, $47.8 million is about $1.36 million less than last year, despite the increased rate, a trend Finance Director Karen DeAngelis attributes to an approximately 15 percent decrease in the taxable value of property expected for the three years from fiscal year 2012 through fiscal year 2014.

The decreased levy is expected to increase the city's fiscal year 2012 budget gap to a total of $1.9 million. City manager Doug Krieger said finding the $1.9 million will be difficult but not impossible.

“In today's economy, I haven't been comfortable for about three years. As for the $1.9 million, I will tell you that I don't have a whole bunch of ideas in my back pocket that (staff) and I can sit down with tomorrow and nail down,” he said.

“The city directors and staff, over the last three years have done a great job of scrubbing the budgets clean. Based on that performance, I think it is something we can do.”

The city's next budget workshop is scheduled for Dec. 12, with others scheduled in January and February and the final workshop being held in mid-May.