The Examiner U-46 News FeedLatest tax levy amount formally ratified by U-46 By Seth Hancock
The Board of Education in School District U-46 finalized a property tax hike with unanimous votes on a certificate of tax levy and its accompanying resolution at its meeting on Monday, Dec. 13.
The certificate, which must be filed with county clerks by the final Tuesday in December, represents the corporate and special purposes levy which is set at $300.2 million, a 2.5 percent increase from $292.8 million. The total levy, including debt service which was included in a Nov. 1 vote, is set to increase 2.2 percent from $335 million to $342.4 million, and it’s the largest increase allowed under law.
The Nov. 1 votes, also unanimous, included the determination of tax levy and accompanying resolution.
“The certificate lists the levy amounts requested for each fund,” Dale Burnidge, director of financial operations, said of the item approved Dec. 13.
The Nov. 1 items list the amounts, including debt service, while providing a determination of how the district got its numbers, which includes Consumer Price Index (1.4 percent) and Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV). The district projects EAV to rise from $5.4 billion to $5.6 billion, but the levy sets an EAV of $5.7 billion as a defensive measure used “to insure receipt of all property tax dollars to which the District is entitled,” the determination states.
While the corporate and special purposes levy ask is $300.2 million, U-46 expects $297.9 million to actually be obtained.
The funds included in the certificate are the educational ($191.6 million), operations and maintenance ($40.3 million), special education ($37.5 million), transportation ($9 million), social security ($6.1 million), tort ($5.4 million), municipal retirement ($5.3 million) and fire prevention and safety ($5 million).
The increase in the levy as well as spending, a $61 million increase in the budget approved earlier this year, comes despite enrollment continuing to decline for the seventh straight year.
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