Schools
Batavia School Board Listens to Protests, Then Votes for 13% Tax-Levy Hike
Tax advocate says it's time for residents to vote in new School Board members.
It might be interesting to see the result of a referendum asking residents whether Batavia School District 101 should apply the nearly $7 million windfall from the Premium Outlet Mall TIF toward education or to lower residents' property-tax bills.
But that's not how democracy works at the local level.
Voters elect School Board members to make those decisions, and the board decided unanimously Tuesday to move forward with a 13 percent tax levy increase, despite about an hour of passionate protests from residents seeking tax relief.
"We have a plan here where we can lower people's tax bills in Batavia and improve education," School District Superintendent Dr. Lisa Hichens said in her opening remarks.
Because some of the windfall will be applied to debt reduction and other areas, the average resident's property tax bills will go down about $28 next year despite the levy increase, school officials said. That's based on a home with a market value of $230,000.
Lower the Levy organizer Sylvia Keppel estimated that the savings to the owner of a $240,000 home would be about $400 if the district chose to maintain the levy at or near the this year's level.
According to an article in the Daily Herald, at least 14 people spoke against increasing the tax levy to $73 million and three spoke in favor of it.
The windfall was made possible when the tax-increment finance district that includes the Aurora Premium Outlet Mall expired, which allows the district to tax on the full value of the property rather than value of the property when the TIF was created.
The district argued that it needed to recoup that property tax value or lose it, since each year's levy is based on the previous year's extension.
"The district loses out not only on the dollars to which it was entitled in that particular year, but also dollars that it would have received in future years by building on that amount," the district website argues in an FAQ page on its website. "It is vital that BPS101 capture all new growth with each year’s levy in order to collect sufficient funds to preserve services."
Some of those services include "7.5 teachers and 3.5 instructional coaches dedicated to enhancing instruction and improving student achievement" that's already approved in the district's FY13-14 Capital and Staffing plan.
Batavia resident Yvonne Dinwiddie and others suggested that the board ask taxpayers via referendum whether they would support the levy increase, saying that if they made their case, "generous residents of Batavia" would support it, the Daily Herald story said.
An article in the Kane County Chronicle said Batavia school officials made an argument based on comparisons to neighboring School Districts. The owner of a $315,000 house in Geneva School District 304 will see a $300 tax increase next year, while the owner of a $300,000 home will see a $295 increase in St. Charles School District 303.
Given the School Board's vote on Monday, Keppel said taxpayers need to make their positions clear in upcoming School Board elections.
"It was made obvious by the levy vote that the only way to get a much needed tax break in Batavia is to elect members to the school board who have a serious intent to reduce taxes," she wrote on lowerthelevy.com. "We have already begun recruitment for the next School Board election in 2015. There will be three seats up for election."
