The Coal City Unit 1 school board approved a $34,901,092 tax levy on Wednesday in anticipation of additional revenue related to the GE-Hitachi spent nuclear fuel property.

According to a news release, the district filed an assessment complaint with the Board of Review regarding the property, and by levying for the full amount now, the district preserves its ability to capture additional funds if the property’s assessed value increases.

The school board can adjust the levy downward once the Board of Review makes its decision.

“Although the 2025 levy represents a 19% increase over last year’s levy, the district expects that the tax bill on a $200,000 home will remain approximately the same in 2026 as it was in 2025,” according to the release. “This is because a tax bill is determined by both the levy and the district’s Equalized Assessed Valuation.”

According to the release, a favorable EAV for the GE-Hitachi property would raise the district’s EAV, and an increase EAV helps offset the levy increase and could result in a reduced tax rate for the district’s taxpayers.

The district filed its complaint with the Grundy County Assessor’s Office back in November. It’s the third straight year that the district has challenged it.

Superintendent Chris Spencer told the Morris Herald-News back in November that the experts the district consulted believe the property is worth somewhere near $219 million. It’s the only storage for spent nuclear fuel in the country.

Spencer said the spent fuel was supposed to go to Yucca Mountain, Nevada, but that project never came to fruition. The waste continues to sit in Coal City’s backyard.

Yucca Mountain is about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, and has a five-mile tunnel that was part of a project to store nuclear waste. However, that project met opposition and the state of Nevada’s official position is that the Yucca Mountain site is a bad place to house nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel.