Glencoe District 35 projects share of property taxes will increase by $109 for $15,000 tax bill

Homeowners in Glencoe will see a hike in District 35’s cut of their property-tax bills, as the school district is anticipating a 2.3 percent increase in its 2020 levy. 

The D35 Board of Education unanimously approved the district’s 2020 levy during its Thursday, Dec. 3, regular meeting with a requested 5.59 percent increase; however, officials are expecting the actual increase will 2.3 percent, the maximum allowed by the CPI.

Jason Edelheit, the district’s director of finance and operations, said that increase will result in a $109 uptick on a $15,000 property-tax bill.

Since the new property growth portion of the levy formula is not yet known, the district estimates the levy amount and requests a higher amount than it will actually receive to ensure it captures funds provided by the levy.

Last year, the district requested a 4.4 percent increase but received a 1.9 percent increased, according to district documents.  

“We purposefully estimate very high in the new growth number so we’re able to capture any new growth within the levy,” Edelheit said “If you do not levy enough to capture all of that new growth, those funds are gone forever; there’s never an opportunity to recapture that new growth, so that’s why we’re extra cautious in estimating that figure.”

District 35’s 2020 levy, with the 5.59 percent requested increase, totals $28.75 million. Calculated with the 2.3 percent increase, the levy will be $27.86 million — a $626,435 increase over its 2019 tax extension.

When including the amount for debt service, the levy totals $30.1 million. 

According to the district, a vast majority of levy revenues will be distributed to its education fund ($24.51 million).

The levy is the district’s primary source of funding, and the subsequent revenue it generates funds the school’s operations for the following year.