Dixon Public Schools conducts truth in taxation hearing

DIXON — Dixon Public Schools conducted a truth in taxation hearing and approved a nearly $17.8 million corporate and special purpose property tax levy request for Lee and Ogle counties during the board of education’s regular December meeting.

The increase over the previous year was 4.98%.

No one addressed the board during the hearing portion of the meeting, which was held on Dec. 15 at the district offices.

The board also approved the abatement of property taxes on two bonds, instead will allocate county facility sales tax proceeds to cover the taxpayers’ share on those two items. This reduced the tax burden by $2.3 million.

District business manager Marc Campbell gave the presentation to the board and said that while the district was not required to host the Truth in Taxation hearing because the tax levy was less than 5% of the tax year extension, the district did so because the Ogle County portion represented a 6.91% increase.

Broken down by fund, the request was $11.732 million for educational purposes, nearly 2 million for operation and maintenance, $290,000 for Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, a little more than $795,000 for transportation, $198,000 for working cash, $198,000 for fire safety, $159,000 for special education, $1.3 million for liability insurance, $340,000 for Social Security and $198,000 for leasing.

A worksheet summary provided by Campbell showed that the 2020 total extension after accounting for tax increment financing and the bond abatements was at $15.3 million for Lee County and $1.6 million for Ogle County.