Raising Kane forest preserve levy could favor taxpayers, hurt commissioners

Increasing the Kane County Forest Preserve District's tax levy may have more of a political impact on commissioners than a financial impact on taxpayers.

A pending increase in the district's tax levy may be the first cracks in recent pledges to keep the amount of property tax money collected by both the county and forest preserve district frozen. The forest district doesn't receive the sales and income tax dollars the county does. As such, commissioners are finding it more difficult to hold up that end of the pledge. Riverboat gambling proceeds kept the district from increasing its tax levy the past two years. But a growing number of commissioners want to end the reliance on what they see as a dwindling revenue source.

Numbers presented Tuesday indicate taxpayers would win even if commissioners decide to increase the tax levy. But any action other than a total freeze would reduce the savings taxpayers are in line to receive.

Ken Stanish, the forest district's finance director, showed commissioners that the owner of a home with a market value of $233,000 paid $39.75 in property taxes to the district this year.

If commissioners keep the tax levy flat, that same homeowner would pay $37.62 to the district next year, a decrease of $2.14. That's the best scenario for taxpayers, but it leaves money on the table for the district. It's cash that could be captured in one of two ways.

First, commissioners could increase the tax levy enough to capture $120 million in new property growth. That would rake in about $64,000 in new money for the district. But that owner of the $233,000 home would pay $38 in property taxes to the district. That's only a decrease of $1.75 from what he or she paid this year.

In the second scenario, commissioners could raise the levy to account for new construction and for inflation.

The Consumer Price Index is expected to be 0.8 percent for the coming budget year. That strategy would pull in about $116,000 in new money for the district.

The owner of the $233,000 home would pay $38.30 in property taxes to the district in this scenario. That's a decrease of $1.45 from his or her current bill.

"Keep in mind that is just for an average house that remains with a constant (equalized assessed value) in the county," Stanish told commissioners Tuesday. "Some are going to increase in EAV. Some are going to go down ... or increase. Everyone is different."

While taxpayers seem to win in any of the three scenarios, politically, any vote to raise the tax levy may be viewed as a vote in favor of a tax increase.

That didn't scare commissioners Mike Kenyon and Becky Gillam. Both spoke in favor of at least increasing the tax levy to capture the new construction.

"Unless we have a bond issue, this is our only source of revenue except for our user fees," Kenyon said. "If we want to keep operating, we have to provide for the services the people deserve. You can't compare us to a town or the county because we don't have revenue sources like them."

Only four commissioners were present to view the tax levy proposals Tuesday. The full commission must take a vote on both the levy and overall budget before any numbers are locked in. A final vote must come by the end of November.