Journal & Topics Media Group

Dist. 62 School Board OKs 8.95% Tax Levy Hike


Des Plaines Elementary School Dist. 62 board members approved a tentative property tax levy increase of 8.95% for the 2022 levy year.

A tax levy presentation was made by Dist. 62 Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Mark Bertolozzi at the Monday, Nov. 14 school board meeting. “This year with the CPI having been 7%, we are kept at 5%,” Bertolozzi said. “I’m looking to ask for 8.95% which would get us to $87,709,000.”

“I need to ask for a little bit more because some of our funds have been subject to statutory limiting rates, those rates are affected by the EAV (Equalized Assessed Valuation).”

Dist. 62 is limited to a 5% increase over last year’s levy, while the additional 3.95% is “a direct result of the addition to the base EAV of projected new property, which does not contribute any additional tax increase to the current tax payers,” levy documents say.

“There is an inverse relationship between the tax rate and EAV,” Bertolozzi said in a followup with the Journal. “Since EAV is down this year in our district, levying more dollars will help the district be sure to receive all the available levy monies in funds with a limiting rate.”

The $87.7 million mark indicates what the district would need to fulfill necessary department funding. The majority of those funds, $64.8 million, would go toward education, while operations/maintenance would receive $9.9 million, $8.35 million would go to debt service abatement, $3.5 million for transportation, $1.6 million for Social Security, $1.6 million for retirement funds (IMRF), $890,000 working cash, $729,000 for immunity and $1,000 for life safety.

A public hearing on the levy is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 19. Dist. 62 must file the levy with the county clerk prior to Dec. 27. The levy would then be approved by Cook County for 2023 implementation.

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