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The Examiner U-46 News Feed

U-46 tax levy set to rise, enrollment declining


By Seth Hancock
  The ball is now rolling on an increase in the property tax levy in School District U-46 as the Board of Education approved two measures at its meeting on Monday, Nov. 6.
  By 5-2 votes, Phil Costello and Jeanette Ward voting no, the board approved the determination of the levy as well as a separate resolution on the 2017 tax levy. Jeff King, chief operations officer, said the official vote on the tax levy increase will be taken on Dec. 4.
  The increased levy in the proposal is the maximum allowed under the law with an $8 million increase from $307 million to $315 million.
  Ward noted the forecasted declines in enrollment that the district expects within the Fiscal Year 2018 budget which shows expected student population dropping by around 2 percent a year for the foreseeable future eventually falling to 36,360 by the 2020-21 school year while at the same time the district plans to spend more and tax more each year.
  “U-46 is also set to receive close to $13 million in additional dollars from the state of Illinois,” Ward noted and said: “We should be reducing the property tax burden correspondingly…. Instead we are increasing total spending by $6.5 million from last year and correspondingly the tax levy (increase).”
  The district also plans to use an abatement process for the third straight year which is designed to effectively keep the levy flat, but Ward called that process a “sleight of hand” as the district is “in fact increasing the levy extension in a permanent manner while we abate back the money on a temporary basis, and that’s disingenuous to the taxpayers.”
  Costello asked about a property tax freeze bill currently making its way through the Illinois General Assembly and if it would affect this current levy if approved, which King said it would, and Costello said that would possibly makes these levy discussions a “moot point.”
  However, Costello said he shares similar concerns on the budget as Ward which is why he voted no.
  “I have concerns about the budget, the overall size of the budget, the direction of the budget and some of the down the road implications of that budget,” Costello said.
  Those votes represented Costello and Ward doing their job of holding the district accountable and being responsible to the taxpayers according to Joel Rio who spoke during public comments at a special board meeting on Monday, Oct. 30.
  Rio said that his family moved to the district 22 years ago and has seen his income and sales taxes rise while the Cook “county government took a run at a ridiculous beverage tax and tried to package it as a health concern.”
  “Property and income taxes are at such high levels that it’s stagnating our real estate markets,” Rio said. “Homeowners who want to sell their property find it hard because nobody wants to take on the tax burdens. Businesses don’t want to be in Illinois because they know that the current financial environment is not sustainable. Politicians for far too long have kicked the can down the road. It’s long past time to be responsible.”
  Rio noted the declining enrollment yet the board approved the FY2018 budget which was in deficit, $517.9 million in expenses and $509.1 million in revenue.
  “The financial well is not bottomless, and this family is tapped out,” Rio said. “Citizens of Illinois are tapped out and our patience is tapped out.”
  However, the board’s majority and administration claimed the district does not spend enough despite the fact that expenditures have continued to rise year after year through declining enrollment. Board members Traci Ellis, Sue Kerr, Veronica Noland, Melissa Owens and Donna Smith all voted for the tax increase.
  Kerr claimed “we’re not a big spending district in terms of per capita spending” and said she wanted to look at “things to improve the education” such as reducing class sizes which “costs money.” She also blamed the Elgin Math and Science Academy charter school as a need to increase taxes.
  Ellis asked if there was a penalty “if we don’t maximize our levy? Is there some reduction in state aid?” Dale Burnidge, director of financial operations, said “that was part of the previous (funding) formula” from the state and U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said the new funding formula is “means tested.”
  However, there has never been a penalty under the common understanding of the word as district’s were never penalized for not increasing their tax levies, it simply meant they did not take more money from the taxpayers.
  King said: “If in theory we went with a zero increase in the levy, the state is not going to make up that difference.”
  Owens claimed “we are not doing the full service to our children, what we could be providing them” claiming “we haven’t gotten back to the level we were at in 2008” when she claimed services were cut.
  That claim comes despite the expenditures rising per student well beyond the rate of inflation as well as the district expanding operations last school year with full-day kindergarten district-wide.
  From budget information on the district website, the FY2008 budget spent $422.1 million while enrollment was at 40,186 in the 2007-08 school year meaning the district spent $10,504 per student then. Under the current budget of $517.9 million in spending and 39,377 enrollment, the current figures on the Illinois State Board of Education report card, U-46 spends $13,152 which is a 25.2 percent increase in spending per student.
  Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, the district should only be spending $11,850 today meaning its spending $1,302 over the rate of inflation per student.
  King said the board will have to “make a decision, probably in this next year,” which could include more debt or running deficit budgets.
  Kerr said: “We don’t know how reliable Springfield will be on getting that money to us. If the last 10 years is any indication, I don’t have a huge amount of faith in them.”
  “The state borrowed very heavily to try and pay some of the backlog of bills,” King said and added he doesn’t “see how they are going to balance their budget.”
  Sanders, who admitted U-46 has “been overtaxing its residents,” said “the prudent thing would be to increase the levy, take advantage of the levy, abate what we can” until the district knows if the new state funding formula will be sustainable.
  Also approved on Nov. 6 was $12.5 million in itemized bills with a 7-0 vote.

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