District 128 property owners could see taxes cut by $9 million if abatement approved
Feeling flush financially, Libertyville-Vernon Hills High School District 128 officials may lower the total taxes they'll collect from property owners in 2015 by about $9 million.
The tax abatement would be the largest in the district's history, said Yasmine Dada, assistant superintendent for business.
"This is substantial," Dada said. "No other school district has abated such a substantial amount."
As with most government agencies, the school district gets most of its revenue from property taxes. The district has an estimated $125 million surplus, however, so it doesn't need as much new tax revenue as originally planned.
"All board members feel they are responsible to the community," Dada said. "If we feel we have a surplus, we'd like to return it back to the taxpayers."
The proposed $9 million abatement consists of reductions of $6.2 million in money for bond and interest payments and $2.8 million in money headed for the district's operating fund, Dada said.
The district abated about $4 million in 2013 and $2 million in 2012. There wasn't an abatement for this year's tax bill.
If approved by the school board, the abatement will be noticed on the tax bills property owners receive in March 2015.
Because of the proposed abatement, a typical homeowner should see their taxes to the district decrease by about 8.5 percent from this year's bill, Dada said. They will not receive checks or other forms of refunds, she said.
The board could vote on the proposal Sept. 22 in a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at Vernon Hills High School.
The school board approved an $84.5 million budget for the current fiscal year in August. That total was reached after about $1.5 million in cuts to supplies, staffing, maintenance and other potential costs.
At several public meetings this summer, a small group of Libertyville residents complained about rising tax bills and pressured officials to cut spending.
One of them, Frank Berardi, called the proposed $9 million abatement "a nice number."
"It sounds like ... it will make a difference to our taxes," he said.
The budget cuts and the proposed tax abatement weren't responses to the complaints from Berardi and the other critics, Dada said. Still, she and other district officials have said they were glad the residents spoke up and participated in the discussions.
"They asked a lot of good questions," Dada said. "It was a very open and frank discussion."