The DeKalb County Board has not yet decided what the county’s 2025 property tax levy will be, but documents show that officials plan to continue a tax philosophy they’ve used in recent years.

The 2025-2026 DeKalb County property tax levy could be an estimated $28.2 million, with a rate of about 0.73, according to a draft budget document.

Interim DeKalb County Administrator Derek Hiland said the County Board asked him to present three options. One option would set the actual tax rate to the equivalent of what property owners paid last year, another would leave the tax rate the same, and a third would increase the tax by the legal limit.

“That [third option] was a nonstarter with our County Board members,” Hiland said.

The second option would leave the tax rate the same as last year, although taxpayers still may see an increase in how much they’re expected to pay if their home value went up from 2024.

“There’s an assumption that everyone’s property values went up a portion,” Hiland said. “If they left the tax rate the same as last year, meaning the rate doesn’t change, you’re getting additional increases based upon just everyone’s property values going up in that time frame.”

County officials estimate that the value of existing property in DeKalb County has increased by an average of 9% over the past year, according to county documents.

Although the County Board has not taken a final vote on the 2025 (payable in 2026) property tax, Hiland expects the board to opt for an option that would reduce the tax rate proportionally to the estimated property value increases.

He said the idea is to keep the county’s portion of the 2025 property tax bill the same as the previous year’s.

“The rate would be adjusted backwards to say whatever you paid into your county portion of the tax bill would remain constant from last year to this year, to the best that is possible,” Hiland said.

The average property value increase could vary by township, but countywide officials hope the changes balance out.

While the tax philosophy keeps with the paradigms of the county’s last administrator, Hiland said the county still had to balance its budget.

“Initially, when we started, we were a couple of million dollars short-funded,” Hiland said. “Ultimately, what the board decided to do, and what’s being presented now for adoption in December, is to actually lower the rate from last year – to have the average taxpayer in DeKalb County, or any taxpayer in DeKalb County, essentially pay the same amount they did the previous year.”