Expect LTHS To Tax To The Max: Official

LA GRANGE, IL – The top finance official for Lyons Township High School expects the school to increase its property tax levy by the state's maximum of 5 percent for the second year in a row.

Under state law, a public body can increase the property tax levy by the rate of inflation up to 5 percent.

As of December 2022 – when the inflation rate is gauged for tax purposes – it was 6.5 percent.

Technically, the levy may go up by 7 percent, but the two additional percentage points would be the result of new property value.

The 5 percent increase would bring an estimated $3.8 million more for the school, Brian Stachacz, its director of business services, said in a memo to the school board last week.

He said more information for determining the levy increase would be available by the end of October.

The board is expected to approve next year's tax levy in December.

In Illinois, schools are heavily dependent on property taxes, even more so for wealthy ones such as Lyons Township. More than 90 percent of Lyons Township's income comes from property taxes, according to state records.

As with many schools, Lyons Township's board increased the property tax levy by 5 percent last year.

Many municipalities are able to avoid such increases because their income is more diversified.