School Dist. 202 To Hold Public Hearing On Tax Levy: Plainfield

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 plans to ask the Will and Kendall County clerks for $201,675,896 in local property taxes (including bond and interest) through the district’s 2019 levy – about $4,384,570 or 2.2 percent more than last year’s levy. District officials project that the district’s total tax rate will fall from $5.50 per $100 of equalized assessed value (EAV) this year, to about $5.35 per $100 of EAV.

This will be the fifth straight year the district’s anticipated property tax rate is expected to drop. The tax rate has fallen 15 percent since 2014-15 when it reached $6.26. The actual tax rate cannot be determined until after the district’s EAV is finalized early next year.

The Board of Education will hold a public hearing on the proposed levy, as required by law, at its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, December 16, 2019 at the District Administration Center, 15732 Howard Street, Plainfield. The Board is expected to vote on the proposed 2019 levy later during the same meeting.

The tax levy is the school district’s official request for its share of local property taxes. The tax extension is the amount of local taxes the district receives from the counties it serves. The official extension will be calculated after the district’s final equalized assessed value is set next April.

The proposed 2019 levy request is about 4.7 percent higher than the 2018 extension of $192.6 million (including bond and interest). However, the proposed 2019 levy is about $4,384,570 more than the 2018 levy of $197 million.

Although the proposed 2019 levy is 4.7 percent higher than last year’s extension, district officials expect this year’s actual tax extension to be only about 2.1 percent higher than last year’s extension.

Governments routinely request more money than is needed to ensure that they capture their full share of taxes. This process is called a “balloon levy.” If governments ask for less than what they ultimately are due, they lose any funds greater than what was requested.

The state tax cap law limits the amount of new revenues the district can levy each year to either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 5 percent, whichever is less. For the 2019 levy, the CPI will be 1.9 percent.

Therefore, when the levy process is complete District 202 will be able to increase its local property tax revenues by only 1.9 percent (plus the value of new construction). New property values can fluctuate between now and when final numbers are received.

Of the total amount of the proposed 2019 levy, about $172.8 million, or about 85 percent will go to the districts’ operating funds -- Education, Operations and Maintenance, Transportation, Working Cash, Illinois Municipal Employees Retirement Fund, Special Education and Tort.

School District 202 serves the communities of Joliet, Crest Hill, Lockport, Bolingbrook, Plainfield and Romeoville, as well as areas in unincorporated Will and Kendall Counties.