Top Stories Sat, May 18, 2024
Since the last 19 years, Ryan has called Naperville home. He has lived in several different houses. First, with his wife alone and now with two of their teenagers.
Ryan, who asked that his last name be withheld, said he was used to a gradual increase in his annual tax bill. Ryan was surprised when he saw the bill for this year.
Ryan owed $22,374.60 for the tax year 2023. This is $4,313,28 higher than the total of $18,061.32 from the previous year — or an increase of almost 24%.
Ryan was not sure of the cause. Was it the schools or something else? Was it his property value?
He said, “I mean we love Naperville.” “But the tax is a bit high.”
This month, property tax bills went out. The first payment is due at the beginning of June. All DuPage County and Will County property owners receive their annual tax collection in the spring. The bill shows the last year’s taxing bodies and the new amount assessed, but there is no explanation of the increase or decrease.
The total is a combination of the tax collected by each body based on the value of an asset. The money is used to pay for the services they offer and their employee salaries.
In Naperville, multiple government units will take in more revenue from property taxes in 2023 compared to 2022. The reason is that costs have increased and property values have increased in recent years.
It’s not easy to calculate how much money each municipality needs, and how much the residents will have to pay. The complicated process is influenced by factors such as location, tax rates, and assessments. Together, these factors determine why, for example, a taxpayer named Ryan pays thousands more in property tax than he paid a year earlier, but another person’s bill is not as high or even higher.
There are many taxing districts in any community. Each year, they add their own charges to the bill. Naperville residents may have to pay taxes for the following: Naperville Park District; Indian Prairie School District; Naperville School District.
Each of these organizations had to determine how much revenue from property taxes they would need to capture in 2023 to fill their coffers. The county where they are located must be notified and a tax levied set.
However, districts cannot impose whatever tax they like at any rate. Levies are linked to inflation.
Property Tax Extension Limitation Law in the state, which has been in place since 1992, limits taxing authorities to either a 5% rise in property tax extensions or whichever is less, the Consumer Price Index of the prior year. Prior to recently, CPI was not high enough to meet the upper limit of the law.
Inflation has been high in recent years and taxing authorities have increased their levies to the maximum 5%. They’ve taken full advantage.
Naperville Park District, Indian Prairie 204, and Naperville School District all imposed increases close to the 5% cap or even at it. Taxing bodies say the increases were needed to keep up with increasing costs.
Michael Frances, Naperville’s chief finance officer, said that inflation is also a factor. It affects not only our wages but also our service costs, materials and contacts. “The school district is no different than anyone else in that it exhibits inflation.”
Frances estimates that the tax extension of Naperville D203 for 2023 is around $292.7 millions. This is an increase of about $18,8 million in tax revenue from residents compared to the previous year.
The district extension between 2019 and 2023 has increased by 17.3%.
Naperville Park District has seen its extension increase by 14.7% in the same time period. The park district increased its extension between the 2022-2023 tax years by about $1.25million, or 4.86%.
Sue Stanish is the finance director of the Naperville Park District. She echoed the need for Naperville D203 to keep up with the CPI. This was especially true with the high inflation that occurred during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic.
She said, “It’s the inflation.” “It’s just more expensive to do all the things we do here.” “All of our costs, from our employees to our vehicle equipment, grass seeds, fertilizer and our contractual services.”
Stanish said that charges and program fees are the district’s other main source of revenue. Property taxes, he added, were one. Stanish says that capturing as much tax revenue as possible is vital to the district’s operation.
Matt Shipley is the chief business officer for Indian Prairie D204. He says that they face a similar problem. He said that property taxes account for 76% of district revenue. State and federal funding provides the remaining 24%. Shipley stated that the latter source has not kept pace with inflation and is putting pressure on property tax levies to deliver.
He said, “That’s our reality.” We are very dependent on the property tax as our primary source of income.
Indian Prairie’s 2023 total tax year extension was $357.4 millions, or about $16.5million — or 4.84% more — than the previous year. The district’s extension is up just shy of 16 percent over the last five tax years.
Shipley stated that Indian Prairie would like to “be in a situation where we may not need to take the entire amount” allowed by PTELL, but the district has “not been immune from significant increases… relating to CPI.”
Shipley, Stanish, and Frances all said that it is difficult to determine how these tax increases will affect individual taxpayers. They say that you cannot just look at the actions of taxing authorities, but must also consider how local township assessors determine property values.
The district’s overall tax rate is determined by weighing its revenue goals against the value of all taxable properties within the district. This rate is then applied to all taxpayers whose property values will vary depending on their location and house size.
Take Naperville, whose latest property tax rate was 0.6463. If you apply the same rate to a $300,000 home versus a $1 million home, it will produce a different result. If your home’s value increased in 2023 even though tax rates decreased — as they did in the city of Naperville slightly in 2022 — then you may still pay more.
According to the DuPage County Clerk’s Office, overall, assessed values for DuPage County increased by 5.1% between 2023 and 2023. Will County’s total assessed value increased by 7.7%.
Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy urged taxpayers, after considering all factors, to think about their bills in terms of “all that we do as a community.”
He said, “We educate together our children.” “We provide parks, recreation and leisure.” We provide libraries. Which of these items would you like to eliminate from your bill? Which of these services would you prefer to not have?
He said, “You could live in an island and follow only your own rules and laws.” “You wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else and these things would not appear on your tax bill.” You wouldn’t get any of these things. “You choose where to live and what it will cost you for all of the services that come with it.”
tkenny@chicagotribune.com
Source: Chicago Tribune