Marengo votes to increase property tax levy

Marengo voted to raise its tax levy by just under 5% at its meeting on Monday, meaning a $150,000 home could see a $25 increase in the city’s portion of their property tax bill, officials said.

The actual final increase will be calculated by the McHenry County Clerk’s Office, which will determine how much the city is allowed to collect under the state’s tax cap that limits how much local governments can increase their property tax levies by each year.

Increasing the levy was originally discussed at the city’s Nov. 14 meeting, according to city material. Almost every line item in the city’s budget is expected to stay flat, except the city’s police pension, which will receive the entire increase in property taxes.

That increase, totaling a little under $85,000, will bring the 2022 levy total to about $1.78 million, up from about $1.7 million last year, according to city material.

As has been the case with many other taxing bodies this year, creating the upcoming budget amid record inflation and rising expenditures has been a challenge, Assistant City Manager Nick Radcliffe said. He said the city has been seeing similar challenges to those of other governments in coping with increasing costs.

“I wish it was smooth sailing,” Radcliffe said. “With everything going on in the world, it’s just something we’re going to have to get creative on looking into different revenue sources.”

Despite the unique challenges this year, the 4.99% increase request is a typical one for Marengo, though it typically receives about half of what it asks for each year due to the cap, Radcliffe said.

The city’s pension costs have been climbing, going up from a little more than $100,000 annually to nearly $700,000 annually over the past 20 years, according to city material. The city has been able to meet those requirements “by maintaining staffing levels at a bare minimum and keeping operating expenses mostly flat year over year.”

In 2007, the city made a verbal agreement with the Police Pension Board to increase its contribution to the pension fund by a minimum of 10% annually, according to city material.

Governments across the state are limited this year to increasing property tax levies by 5% plus new growth, despite inflation by some estimates totaling over 7%, according to city material. If the city requested 5% or higher, it would need to hold a public hearing.

A 6% levy increase compared to the 4.99% being requested would net the city about $5,700 more.

Marengo’s share of residents’ property tax bills in 2021 was about 12.3%, according to city material.

“We’re going to continue investigating other potential revenue sources,” Radcliffe said.