DeKalb District 428 adopts $67.5M property tax levy for 2022

DeKALB – DeKalb District 428 hopes to collect an estimated $67.5 million in its 2022 property tax levy, payable next year after the school board approved the final levy for DeKalb residents at a recent meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, the school board held a public hearing to give taxpayers an opportunity to ask questions or make comments regarding the levy.

Under Illinois law, public hearings must be held in advance of property tax hearings to allow for the public to weigh in. In this case, the hearing was also meant to advise DeKalb residents that the district was requesting an amount over 5% compared to 2021.

No members of the public gave remarks or raised questions about the district’s levy during the meeting.

Similar to other DeKalb area municipal governments, District 428 officials said the tax levy collection means more property tax revenue for the district due to significant increased development over the past year.

Property values are expected to rise across the county.

A homeowner who owns residential property valued at $150,000 in 2021 is expected to see a decrease in their share of the district’s levy, according to school board documents. That taxpayer may owe $117, or 3.9%, based on a 6.62% increase in the existing 2021 property EAV assessed by DeKalb Township.

District officials said the school board’s decision will help fund the district’s operations for the coming year. Public school districts usually account for the largest portion of property taxes owed on a resident’s tax bill.

In a memo to the administration, Cindy Carpenter and Armir Doka, the district’s directors of business and finance, stressed how important it is when estimating to capture the full percentage of change between the equalized assessed evaluation and new property.

The district has recently noted $50,123,152 in new growth EAV from Ferrara Candy, Amazon, Meta/Facebook and Wehrli Custom Fabrication, according to school board documents.

In a related action, the school board approved an application for a property tax relief grant from the state.

The district is anticipating a property tax relief grant allocation amounting to $5.7 million and a required abatement of $6.07 million with $324,877 from operating funds will help make the decrease in the levy possible, documents show.

The district may not be alerted of the final grant amount until late January or early February 2023, after which point, the district will then have to file an abatement resolution to the DeKalb County Clerk and forward the certification to the Illinois State Board of Education, according to school board documents.