District 207 Increases Tax Levy to $106 Million

The Maine Township High School District 207 approved a 2011 tax levy of $106 million over the objections of two board members, who wanted to reduce the proposed levy by about $2 million.

Doing so would keep taxes for homeowners at about the same level they were last year, according to his calculations, said board member Edward Mueller, but the slight increase from the previous year would allow the district to recoup money for new growth in the property tax base. This year, much of that growth came from the new Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.

Mueller’s proposal was supported by board member Eric Leys. At the board's Dec. 7 meeting, the two cast the only votes against the proposed levy, which includes about $1.4 million to pay off bonds and $104.7 million to pay operating costs, which would represent a 3.4 percent increase.

Earlier:

The levy is the amount of money the district is asking the Cook County Assessor to collect for it in 2012. The amount of taxes actually collected – called the tax extension – is limited to what was collected in 2011, increased by the consumer price index and taxes from new property like the casino. Since the school district wants to collect all the money it can, it asked for a bit more than it is likely to be able to receive, according to Mary Kalou, the district’s assistant superintendent for business.

District 207 includes in Des Plaines and Maine South and Maine East High Schools in Park Ridge.

Including money from new growth in the tax base, Kalou expects the tax extension to increase to about $105.3 million, or 2.7 percent, according to materials she prepared for the school board.

This year’s increase in the consumer price index was 1.5 percent, which means that is about the increase most homeowners should see on the tax bills. She estimated that the levy would increase taxes on a home that has a total $6,000 tax bill about $22.50.

In November, when the proposed levy was first presented, Mueller suggested reducing it to the amount collected last year, effectively putting a freeze on property taxes. Leys was the only other board member to support that proposal as well.

At the time, Mueller said, he was trying to break a pattern of the school district trying to get as much money as possible each year and then finding ways to spend all of it. School administrators pointed out that doing do would mean forgoing an extra revenue from the casino forever, because each year’s tax extension is based on the prior year’s tax extension, plus new growth. If a school district doesn’t ask for enough money to cover what it can from new property the year it comes on the tax rolls, it loses access to that money in subsequent years.

The board voted on the final levy after a public hearing at which nobody spoke.

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