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Your Tax Dollars
When tax time rolls around and your taxes go up, it is natural to want to know where your tax money is going. Property values (Equalized Assessed Value) statewide have increased which means that homeowners were assessed higher taxes overall. Therefore, municipal agencies which receive funding from your property taxes, may have received more funding this past year. However, it is important to note that the tax rate levied by your Park District has actually decreased! It may not take the sting out of a higher tax bill, but the distinction is important because it demonstrates the commitment by this Park District to be fiscally responsible and aggressive in seeking other funding opportunities to improve services to its residents.
Although not all of the Park District's expenditures are funded from property taxes, it may be helpful to understand how the District levies (or requests) its allowable allocation from homeowner's property taxes.
Tax Levy Process
The tax levy enables the Park District to receive money from property taxes paid. It is the act that defines the amount of money for which the Park District is asking, and is determined by the Board each November. The public is invited to a Truth-In-Taxation hearing before the final levy ordinance is approved at the Board's December meeting. Once the ordinance is formally adopted, it is filed with the County Clerk's office. Taxes are not actually collected and disseminated to the Park District until the following year.
However, a park district does not always get the amount it levies. Once the levy ordinance is filed, the county clerk appropriates, or extends, the amount requested by the park district's levy ordinance for billing and collection subject to statutory limits. This means that the county clerk will only extend the funds that are legally permitted. The type and amount of tax funds vary in park districts.
The key elements in determining the amount of funds collected and distributed by the County Clerk's office are:
- Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) of the home
- Amount levied for each fund
- Maximum statutory tax rates set by the government (ceiling limitations)
- Tax Cap provisions
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Current News and Highlights
It is important to note that the tax rate levied by your Park District has actually decreased! It may not take the sting out of a higher tax bill, but the distinction is important because it demonstrates the commitment by this Park District to be fiscally responsible and aggressive in seeking other funding opportunities to improve services to its residents.
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