Kaneland school board approves tax levy for next year

MAPLE PARK – The Kaneland School District Board of Education unanimously approved a tentative operating tax levy for the 2020-21 school year that totals $50.1 million at its meeting on Oct. 26.

The levy, the largest source of revenue for the district, is the amount of money in each operating fund a district can request to pay bills for the next school year. District Associate Superintendent Julie-Ann Fuchs, who presented the agenda item, cited the levy is 74% of the district's operating revenue in the budget.

The district receives payments in June and Sept., which sustains throughout the next fiscal year. By mid-December of this year, the board is scheduled to approve the final levy.

The district is estimating it will receive 3.2% more – $1.5 million – from the 2020 levy than from the 2019 tax extension.

The Equalized Assessed Value is the value for individual and total properties within the boundaries of the district. The EAV, a critical component of the overall tax cap formula, is estimated to rise 3.5% for this year, the sixth consecutive year of growth. The EAV is estimated to be over $920 million.

The district estimates two tax rates – operating and bond and interest rates – combined will equal 6.69, a 12 cent difference from last year's total rate.

"Remember, that this is only the school portion of your tax rate on your property tax bill," Fuchs said. "It's not your whole tax bill; it's a portion."

As outlined in the publicly-available memo, property in Illinois is assessed at 1/3 of its fair market value. For example, a home worth $200,000 would have an assessed value of $66, 667. The total tax rate for 2020 is estimated to be 6.69% per $100 of EAV. An estimated tax bill concerning the school district for a $200,000 home would approximately be $4,461, approximately $20 more than in 2019. However, the memo notes, if a home value increased, a new assessed value would be needed to calculate the tax bill.

A full, comprehensive breakdown of the tax formula and its components can be found here.

In his Superintendent comment section of the meeting, Dr. Todd Leden indicated the district will roll out COVID-19-specific information to communicate to the district on the latest updates, metrics and data concerning the spread and more.

The district is expected to have weekly conversations with the health department on the trends and impacts to communicate to the community on Mondays.

"What we want to be able to do is be completely transparent," Leden said. "As we've noted every day this year and I've shared it each week with the board, we also want to do that weekly with our community. So, that they understand the impact; they understand what positivity rates mean and cases, how many teachers are out...so, we will share that with additional data also."

The board also received brief audit reports for the entire district and the Fox Valley Career Center, which is expected to be formally approved in a consent agenda next month.