LA GRANGE, IL – With inflation surging, the Lyons Township High School board this week decided to increase the property tax levy to the maximum allowed under state law.
That is expected to bring the district an extra $3.6 million, for a total of $76.8 million.
In Illinois, school districts, particularly wealthy ones such as Lyons Township High School, are heavily dependent on property taxes.
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In 2021, more than 90 percent of the local high school's income came from local sources, the vast majority from property taxes, according to the Illinois Report Card.
According to the school, the owner of a $480,000 house is expected to see a $143 rise in the school's part of the property tax bill next year.
Find out what's happening in La Grangefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Under an early 1990s state law, 5 percent is the tax cap as long as inflation rises 5 percent or more, which it has.
In the last few years, Lyons Township High's tax levy increases have been 1 or 2 percent, based on the consumer price index.
The high school is far from alone in increasing to the maximum under state law. Both Elmhurst School District 205 and Hinsdale High School District 86 have done so.
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