St. Charles residents will see slight property tax hike on next year's bills

St. Charles homeowners will see a property tax increase of $24 in 2024 or about $2 a month for the owner of a home valued at $300,000.

City Council members approved the 2023 property tax levy at the Dec. 4 meeting.

Before the vote, the council held public hearings in which several council members disagreed over the need to raise taxes before voting to approve the levy, which will be reflected in residents’ tax bills during the 2024 calendar year.

City Finance Director Bill Hannah presented the levy to council members at an Oct. 16 Government Operations Committee meeting. Hannah said one reason for the increase is the required city contributions to the police and firefighters’ pension funds will be increasing by $294,481 and $270,120, respectively, for a total increase of $566,601 over last year.

The city’s total annual debt service on the city’s general obligation bonds for the 2023 levy year is $9,852,931, down 3.1% from 2022. That combined with this year’s estimated property tax levy of $14,612,813 gives a total estimated 2023 tax levy of $24,465,744.

After discussion between council members, the levy was approved in a 6-4 vote. Alderpersons David Pietryla, Bryan Wirball, Ron Silkaitis and Steve Weber voted no.

Wirball was the main voice against the levy, saying there should have been a budget meeting preceding any vote to raise taxes and pushing for the use of other funding to offset the pension funds. He cited concerns for seniors and residents on fixed incomes.

The City Council’s next budget meeting is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2024.

“Raising taxes is not a long-term sustainable model,” Wirball said. “I don’t know how anyone can justify this without looking at the budget. ... To me, that’s not doing our financial due diligence.”

Silkaitis said he was not in favor of asking the taxpayers to fund police pensions after spending more than $200,000 on nonbudgeted projects such as the First Street Plaza and road repairs earlier in the year.

“We could have used some of that money to cover this tax increase,” Silkaitis said, “But we didn’t. We did those things, which is fine, but to now ask the public to pay for something we didn’t budget for, I have a problem with that, so I’ll be voting no on this increase.”

Alderpersons Paul Lencioni, Ryan Bongard and Jayme Muenz were the main proponents for the levy, arguing that if the levy is not approved now, pensions could become a bigger problem in the future.

Muenz criticized Wirball’s notion that the city needs to “get creative” with its funding models, saying a solution has to be more tangible than that statement.

Lencioni said while he agrees with Wirball on the need for more frequent finance and budget meetings, he would be voting differently. He added he believes the council has been slightly irresponsible in the past decade by not raising taxes to fund other projects.

Bongard said he understands the objection to the timing, but said if council members are not going to support the levy than they have to decide what other services and spending should be rolled back.

“Whether we choose to do this now or kick the can down the road to next year, we’re going to be in the same spot if not a more difficult position,” Bongard said.