No Property Tax Increases In Budget Approved By Evanston City Council

EVANSTON, IL — The Evanston City Council Monday evening unanimously approved a 2024 budget that avoids an increase in the city's property tax levy.

In his first proposed budget as city manager, Luke Stowe initially suggested a 7.8 percent increase in property taxes as a way to close a $10.5 million budget hole.

Hefty pay hikes in union contracts with city workers, the closing of the spigot of federal coronavirus relief money and the addition of more than 15 new jobs all contributed to the projected deficit.

The approved 2024 budget contains a 17.55 percent increase in the water rate, a 1-cent-per-gallon increase in gasoline taxes and a 7.5 percent increase in solid waste rates.

Other budget-balancing efforts include: moving $1.5 million of money from the "Good Neighbor Fund" that Northwestern University offered to incentivize last month's approval of the rezoning of Ryan Field to allow concerts, saving $3.7 million by keeping 4 percent of positions unfilled and using $10.5 million of reserve funds.

If Evanston's budget stays on its current course, city officials will use up the more than $50 million in remaining general fund reserves by 2027, budget officials have forecast. But the construction of a new Ryan Field next year could help cover the city's growing structural deficit, with one-time permit fees that could exceed $10 million.

New spending this year include $400,000 for a community responder program for an unarmed response to 911 calls and the hiring of a landscape architect, a tree preservation coordinator and a food service coordinator to expand food at park facilities.

This year marks the fourth straight year the city has kept its share of the property tax levy flat, having used pandemic relief money to stave off increases since 2020. Meanwhile, the city's budgeted spending has increased by nearly 40 percent since 2019.

And just because councilmembers avoided increasing the city's share of the tax levy does not mean Evanston residents will not wind up paying higher property tax bills for 2024 — the owner of a median home valued at $400,000 will wind up paying nearly $420 more on next year's taxes due to hikes by other taxing bodies.

The tax levy collected for the Evanston Public Library — technically a separate public body from the city though its budget requires City Council approval — increases by 9 percent in the new budget. That comes out to about $25 to the property tax bill for the average homeowner.

And the boards of Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School District 202, which combined make up two thirds of residents' property tax bills, both raised their property tax levies by 5 percent — the maximum allowable by Illinois law.

District 65's tax hike comes out to an additional $262 per year for the average Evanston home. ETHS's increase comes out to to $132 per year for the average homeowner.