District 64 will conduct a public hearing on its 2015 tax levy at the start of its regular Board meeting on Monday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Jefferson School (multipurpose room), 8200 Greendale, Niles. The Board will adopt a final levy later in the meeting.
The Board at its November 5 meeting adopted a tentative 2015 tax levy that is 4.53% greater than the 2014 tax extension, although the impact on existing property taxpayers will be far less.
“District 64 always adopts a higher tax levy to leave enough room to capture all new property Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) coming onto the tax rolls for the first time,” according to Luann Kolstad, Chief School Business Official.
“This practice of levying a higher amount benefits existing local taxpayers, because it ensures that the District can take advantage of all ‘new’ monies it is entitled to receive,” she added.
The 2015 levy request of 4.53% means that District 64’s existing EAV property tax pool will only increase a maximum of 0.8% as allowed by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), while leaving 3.73% available to cover any new property added on.
District 64 anticipates receiving about $62.6 million in property taxes for its tax-capped Operating Funds through the 2015 levy.
“Because of the timing of when tax levies are due in Cook County, local school boards must levy based on an estimate of new property, knowing that in the end, the County Clerk will always trim the levy to ensure that the increase in total taxes collected is within the tax cap limit for the year,” she noted.
In 2014, for example, District 64 levied a 4.63% increase but received only a 1.9% increase in its total levy including new construction. In 2013, the Board approved a tax levy request of 4.98%, but received a final increase of 2.5% including new construction.
“But no matter how large the levy request is for 2015, District 64 will only receive a 0.8% increase linked to CPI as allowed by the tax cap plus the taxes associated with new construction,” she noted.
The levy presentation from November 5 can be viewed conveniently via “on demand” video from the District 64 website.