Public Hearing Set on 2006 Proposed Tax Levy

Board of Education Presentation (pdf)
(includes History of EAV, CPI, Levy Extensions, and Tax Rates)
2006 Levy Proposal
Levy Extension History

The Board of Education set a public hearing on the proposed 2006 tax levy for 7:30 p.m. November 8 at Hawthorne Elementary School. The tax levy is the amount of money the District raises from property taxes and is used by the County Clerk to determine the District 200 tax rate within the limits allowed by the tax cap and authorized by voters. The tax rate has declined more than 60 cents in the last five years.

The District is seeking a 15.51 percent increase in the levy in an effort to collect all the property taxes available under the tax cap legislation.  Typically, however, the District receives much less due to the tax cap’s restrictions, which limit increases to 5 percent or the CPI, whichever is less, plus any new construction growth. Last year, for example, the District approved a 10.71 percent increase in its levy and actually got a 4.56 percent increase.  Over the last eight years the District’s actual levy increase has ranged from a high of 5.11 percent in 1997 to a low of 2.73 percent in 2002. The District is required to identify the amount of money it needs from property taxes by December, months before the assessed value of property in the District is known.  The levy request, therefore, is made based on projected, not actual, increases in property values.