Oswego decreases property tax rate by 3%

Oswego property owners will see a 3% decrease in the village’s property tax rate next year.

At the Dec. 12 Oswego Village Board meeting, trustees unanimously voted to approve a $1.71 million property tax levy, which represents a 3% decrease in the village’s tax rate applied to properties within the village.

That is the largest tax levy rate decrease for the village since 2015, when the decrease was 4.6% and the lowest tax rate since 2009. Illinois property taxes are paid one year in arrears and payments made in 2024 will be applied towards 2023 taxes.

Trustees had been eyeing a 2% decrease in the tax rate. But during the meeting, village trustee Tom Guist pushed for a 3% decrease.

“I kind of feel we’re in a position to do more than that right now,” Guist said. “With the financial position of the village, I think this is a time that we can do a little bit something more for the residents.”

The village has been using the tax levy to cover the annual police pension contribution amount. The pension obligation for this year is about $1.7 million.

Oswego Finance Director Andrea Lamberg told trustees the 3% decrease in the village’s property tax rate would still cover the police pension amount and would provide an additional $28,000 towards the police pension.

Other village trustees as well as Village President Ryan Kauffman backed the proposal.

“We are in a great financial position to reduce the village’s property tax rate,” Kauffman said in a statement after the meting. “We know that property taxes across all Oswego’s units of government are a burden for our residents. The Village Board wants to take whatever steps we can to reduce that burden.”

The village’s current property tax levy is $1,654,800. The village’s overall equalized assess value, or the total value of properties within the village, increased about 6.91% over the previous year, in part because of new development within the village.

Because property values increased, a home valued at $281,900 this year would have been valued at $263,680 last year. Because of increased property value, the property tax increase year over year is $5.05.