Taxpayers throughout the Fox Valley will be ponying up significantly more for public schools next year as school boards from Elgin’s U-46 to Naperville’s D203 crank up their requested levies significantly, reflecting in large part the spike in inflation experienced during 2022, which shows few signs of lessening.
The latest district to drop the hammer is St. Charles District 303, whose Board, citing skyrocketing labor costs and supply chain challenges, voted Monday evening to raise its levy by 5.95% for the coming year.
This was merely the last in a slew of increases in the Fox Valley’s major school districts.
West Aurora District 129 came in with the largest hike, announcing a 7.4% increase. Naperville District 203 boosted its expected levy 7.01%. Indian Prairie District 204 and Elgin’s U-46 came in with 5.62% and 5.5% increases, respectively. Geneva posted a comparatively small increase, coming in at 3.24%.
The “good” news, if it can be called that, is that most of the increased levies are at rates equal to or lower than the appreciation of property value in the region, which has been estimated in the 7% range.
Little Relief In Sight
According to the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, Illinois governments will take $4 billion more from commercial, residential and other property taxpayers by 2026 at the present rate. Illinois’ total statewide property taxes are currently on pace to rise from an estimated $36 billion to $40 billion by 2026.
Illinoisans already pay the second-highest property taxes in the nation.
Future tax increases are anticipated to fall primarily on residential and commercial property owners. Nearly $2 billion in additional taxes will fall on homeowners, while $1.8 billion will fall on commercial properties. The remainder will fall on farms, railroads and mineral properties.
Translated for the state’s median homeowner, the property tax hike is conservatively estimated at more than $2,100 during the next four years.
Potentially exacerbating this upward trend might be Amendment 1, the so-called “Workers’ Rights Amendment,” passed in a referendum in the November elections. The Amendment gives significantly expanded power to public service unions (e.g., teachers, fire, police, etc.) in the state, raising fears of increasing labor and pension costs in the future – costs that are largely funded by property taxes.
