Story posted Thursday, November 12, 2009
Holding The Line...For Now
Tax Levy Request OKd
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
Elk Grove Village trustees gave tentative approval to village staff to prepare a 2009 village property tax levy of $8,755,230.
A public hearing is scheduled for next month when trustees are expected to adopt the levy.
Last year's levy will be $8,755,283, which is $53 more than this year's proposed levy. A tax levy is an amount of money requested by the village from the county to pay for day-to-day operations.
Mayor Craig Johnson said this would be the third year in a row the portion of the tax levy the village controlled was either frozen or reduced.
"I don't know how long we can keep doing this," said Johnson.
Last year, Elk Grove Village tapped $2 million in reserve funds to cover budget deficits as real estate transfer taxes and sales taxes came in significantly under what was projected.
What is not in the village's control is the property tax line item dedicated to police and firefighter pensions. Johnson said the village did not have figures from the state on what that might be, but he expects that line item to increase by 4 to 5%.
Johnson blamed Springfield for the increases in pension obligations from things like reducing the required number of years of service from 35 to 30 years and changing surviving spousal payments from 50% of a pension to 100%.
Johnson said 80 to 85% of the village budget pays personnel costs and services only account for a few hundred thousand dollars. He said it is more important in tough economic times to keep service levels up and said efforts are being made to cut personnel costs where possible.
Unlike other communities, Johnson said Elk Grove Village's tax levy is set strictly by dollar amount, meaning the amount a tax bill might go up or down is more dependent on the number of properties the levy is spread across than the assessed valuation of an individual home or any state modifiers.
Johnson did not have a full accounting of how many properties were in the community but said it tends to be fewer in hard times.
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