City Approves Flat Property Tax Levy for Seventh Year in a Row

Submitted by the city of St. Charles

Here is more on the tax levy freeze from the city of St. Charles:

A lot of things have changed since 2009: Blackberry is no longer a popular phone choice, the number of Facebook users jumped from 360m to 1.55b, and a dozen eggs will cost you 50 percent more, to name a few. One thing that hasn’t changed in the last seven years—the City’s tax levy. And we’re pretty proud of that.

Responsible financial stewardship has kept the City’s operating tax levy flat since 2009. We’re continuing that streak as aldermen unanimously approved another frozen operating levy at the Dec. 7 City Council meeting.

The city’s portion of your property taxes is less than 10 percent of your entire property tax bill. On a $300,000 home, that means $928 pays for a full year of city services, including Police, Fire emergency services, street maintenance and 24-hr snowplowing, planning, engineering, economic development, and more.

State Budget Update

There is good news out of Springfield. While there still is no state budget, recently passed legislation has allowed funds the state collects on behalf of local municipalities to be released to those municipalities. Withholding these funds would have created a sizable hole in the budgets of many cities and towns—including the City of St. Charles.

For more information, contact the City Administrator’s Office at cao@stcharlesil.gov or 630.377.4422.