DuPage County Approves 2018 Budget With No Property Tax Increase

WHEATON, IL — DuPage County approved its 2018 budget Tuesday, marking the 10th year in a row without an increase in property taxes. The county says it had difficulty avoiding a property tax rate increase this time around, since the Illinois General Assembly kept "more than $3 million in tax revenue that is usually returned to the County to fund services for [its] residents," DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said in a release Tuesday.

In 2018, DuPage County will work with a budget of $439.6 million, a nearly $6 million increase over last year's budget of $433.8 million.

DuPage County's budget includes a spending plan that will focus $55.6 million on road construction, stormwater maintenance, and drainage. Another $100,000 will be dedicated to fighting the county's ongoing opiate epidemic.

To account for the lost tax revenue, the county cut costs across its departments, with the general revenue fund took a significant hit, DuPage County Finance Committee Chairman Paul Fichtner said in the release. Fichtner added, "Our General Revenue Fund provides money for critical areas of service including public safety, senior care, the subsidy for our DuPage Care Center and other essential components for the operation of County government.”

Personnel may also be impacted, as DuPage County's 2018 budget has a head count of 2,178, nearly 100 less than it did in 2010.

The DuPage County 2018 Budget will go into effect on Dec. 1.

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