The Sycamore Community School District 427 Board of Education has voted to increase the district’s annual property tax levy by 3.88% to about $46.9 million, district records show.

The school board voted 6-0 on Nov. 25 to increase the property tax levy extension request, but reduce the tax rate to an estimated 5.09% – down from the 2024 tax rate of 5.28%.

School board member Beth Marie Evans said she was happy that taxes could go down.

“I’m happy that many people will be seeing a decrease this year, so that I can vote yes, because otherwise I would vote no,” Marie Evans said. “When it comes to taxes, down is always better.”

School officials said taxpayers could owe the district a smaller amount than last year on their 2025 property tax bill, which will be due in 2026, but the tables shown to board members assumed property values did not change.

School officials assumed a 2.9% consumer price index when they made their property tax levy recommendation, according to district documents. They also estimate that $10.5 million worth of new construction has been added to the amount of property the district can tax.

Sycamore schools predominantly balance their budget through taxes. Assistant Superintendent Nicole Stuckert said 75% of the district’s revenues come from tax dollars. She told the board that how much a Sycamore property owner pays to the district on their next property tax bill in 2026 isn’t entirely dependent on the district’s tax rate.

“Even though your home value is going up, the actual tax rate itself is going down,” Stuckert said. “So, depending on if your actual home percentage goes up, some people will see a decrease in your tax bill. Again, it’s just all dependent on what your actual home value is.”

Stuckert said residential property makes up 74.1% of the district’s taxable property. Board President Michael DeVito

“In cities where they have $500 million data centers going in, it’s just an insane amount of opportunity that comes in,” DeVito said. “In Sycamore, we had $10 million of new growth last year. And so what does Sycamore have? It doesn’t have a $500 million data center.”

DeVito said he hopes the city can “fill in” some of the unfinished neighborhoods, but acknowledged that residential growth can strain district and city resources.

“That’s kind of a falling sword,” DeVito said. “What we really need is new commercial, industrial, manufacturing growth to help subsidize the amount of taxes that we as residential homeowners pay.”