District 304 Levy Hike Should Cost You About $280

Increase will help keep schools funded and pay down debt, administrators say.

The property tax levy School District 304 Board of Education members approved Monday will cost the owner of a $288,000 house a maximum of $280 extra in property taxes next spring, Assistant Superintendent Donna Oberg told the board. The levy plan will capture the most new property tax revenue allowed by the tax cap law, then apply excess funds to the district’s bond debts, which will lower the amount by which the debt service levy will increase, Oberg explained. The plan produced the lowest anticipated tax hike of five levy options board members considered, she noted. “This option is the best use of our funds for us,” Oberg said. “I think our most sound financial option is to keep the fund balance at $15 million and abate the excess to the…

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Bob McQuillan

12:37 pm on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I also said that the taxpayers who voted for the referendums and those that did not vote at all put us behind the 8-ball. The $79,000,000 referendum in 2007 passed by 100 votes. This is not the board's problem, it is our problem and we all need to help solve it. Congrats to Donna Oberg, Kelly Nowack & Bill Wilson for listening to the community and coming up with option #5. The board needs to be …   more ›

Council Quick Story: City Holds Line on Tax Levy

The Geneva City Council bucked the staff-recommended levy total Monday night, passing an ordinance that asks for essentially the same levy number as last year.

In a lot of ways, Monday night's City Council vote to hold the line on the 2011 tax levy was as much symbolic as it was an indicator of how much cash you'll have in your wallet next year. When it comes down to it, the difference between the amount OK'd by the council and the amount previously recommended by staff translates to about $10 a year for the owner of a $300,000 home. For the city itself, it means about $72,000 less to play with in next year's budget. But for the aldermen who voted on the levy—and for a lot of residents feeling the pinch of a down economy—it meant much more. "Where I come from, ($72,000) is not a drop in the bucket," said Russell Lefevre, a Keim Circle resident who adressed the council Monday night. "Drip by drip…

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Rick Nagel

7:18 pm on Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Hi, Les! I explained some of that in a follow-up story. The city's general levy did go up a small fraction, but it's very close to last year's. The tax rate will go up because the city's EAV has gone down. So the owner of a $288,000 home will see about $38.40 increase for the city's part of the tax bill. Here's a link to the follow-up story. http://geneva.patch.com/articles/rick-nagel-politics-…   more ›

Geneva City Council to Hold Special Meeting on Tax Levy

The Geneva City Council likely will take a final vote on the tax levy at a special meeting Monday, Dec. 12, following the regular Committee of the Whole meeting.

The city of Geneva will hold a special meeting Monday, Dec. 12, to take a vote on the city's tax levy. Last week, the levy vote ended in deadlock twice, with Mayor Kevin Burns casting the tie votes. In the first motion, the council took a vote that would have kept the tax levy at the 2010 level. The second motion was to increase the levy by about 2.4 percent. Both ended in a 5-5 tie. The next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is Dec. 19. Here's the agenda for the special meeting, which can be found on the city of Geneva website. GENEVA CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA Electronic versions of City Council Meeting packets will be available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format the morning of the meeting athttp://www.geneva.il.us/agendas/cc.pdf. To …

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Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: School Board Is Seeking Your Input on 4 Tax Levy Options

Bob McQuillan: Your school property taxes will increase next year, so you should let School Board members know which options you think are best for the community.

To the Editor: At Monday's Geneva School District Board meeting, the 2011 tax levy was presented and a resolution was passed considering the amounts needed to be levied for the tax year 2011. The entire presentation is linked below, but here are the highlights: The tax levy consists of the following elements: So where does all this leave us? No matter what the district decides, your property taxes will increase. The School District will levy about $2,838,401 more than last year ($1,367,542 for debt and $1,470,859 for the education fund). In an attempt to reduce the amount of the overall increase, the district does have several options to choose. These would include combinations of the following; take the full 1.5 percent levy amount, don't…

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Bob McQuillan

12:35 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011

The link to the Tax Levy presentation is : https://www.geneva304.org/d304_finances/documents/2011_11.14TaxLevyPresentation.pdf The link above is for the 2012 Budget Presentation   more ›

School District Looks at 4 Options for 2011 Tax Levy; Tax Increase Is Coming in Every Scenario

Assistant Superintendent Donna Oberg lists four options. A property tax increase for a home valued at $288,000 would range from $307 to $403 in any of the four options.

  Per Illinois statute, the district is required to file a tax levy by the last Tuesday in December. The levy sets forth the maximum receipts that can be received from property taxation in a given year. The actual levy rate is determined in the spring in the assessment process. While the levy is filed by fund, it is limited in aggregate by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Act (PTELL). New property (construction) must be levied higher than anticipated in order to capture all new growth as it comes on the tax books because, once lost, it can never be recaptured. The district’s levy request for the 2011 tax year will be adopted at the December 12, Board of Education meeting. The total levy request for 2011 is $77,844,981, representing a …

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COW Quick Story: Geneva Ready to Raise Tax Levy, Spend $500,000 for Software Upgrade

Two big-ticket issues receive split votes Monday night.

The city of Geneva's Committee of the Whole faced up to a number of big issues Monday night, voting to recommend increasing the city's tax levy and paying more than a half-million dollars for a new, citywide computer software system. The COW voted 6-1 to recommend approval of the levy and 5-2 to recommend approval of the new computer software system. The full City Council has the final vote, but since the COW is made up of the same group of aldermen as the City Council, the recommendations usually stand. First Ward Alderman Sam Hill voted against both agenda items. On the computer software issue, he was joined by 2nd Ward Alderman Richard Marks. If approved by the full council, the city's total levy will go up from $6,261,929 in 2010 to $6…

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