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News
School district tax levy shows 4.98% increase : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisSchool district tax levy shows 4.98% increase
| Final board vote expected after public hearing Dec. 17
| by Lyle R. Rolfe
| 11/29/2012
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The Oswego School District Board scheduled the district's proposed 2012 property tax levy for a public hearing during a meeting Monday evening.
The hearing will be held on Monday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. in the community room at Oswego East High School.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Paul O'Malley presented the tentative levy to the board.
O'Malley said it shows a 4.98 percent increase over last year's levy and totals just over $126 million, including Bond and Interest payments.
The 2012 levy will generate property tax revenues for the district to operate in calendar year 2013, which splits the current and following fiscal years.
The levy is the main source of revenue for the school district. At least 20 days prior to the final adoption, school districts must approve an estimated or tentative tax levy to determine whether the levy will be more or less than a five percent increase over the 2011 tax extension. This action was taken Monday night.
If it were more than five percent, the district would have been required to advertise it in a newspaper and hold a public hearing before adoption, he said.
O'Malley said they ask for more in revenues than they expect to receive to capture the new growth that has occurred in the district over the past year along with any reassessed property. Regardless of how much they request, the county clerks will give the district only what it is entitled to, he said.
All taxing bodies do this to be sure they receive the full amount they should receive, O'Malley added.
The 65 square mile school district is located is portions of Kendall, Kane and Will counties.
If they ask for less than they are entitled to receive, county clerks will give them only that amount with no chance to ever recoup what they missed, O'Malley said.
In the spring, when final equalized assessed valuation and new construction figures are known, county clerks determine tax rates and extensions of the taxes levied within the constraints of the school district's tax rate limitations and the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), more commonly known as tax caps.
This year's cap is based on a three percent Consumer Price Index for the 12 months ending December 2011, up from last year's 1.50 percent CPI. All Oswego School District funds except the Bond and Interest Fund, have been subject to the tax cap since 1998.
The levy for 2012, which totals $93,275,900, is up from last year's $88,853,655.
The levy includes: Educational, $62 million; Operations, Buildings and Maintenance, $12 million; Transportation, $4 million; Municipal Retirement, (the retirement fund for the non-certified staff members), $1.3 million; Social Security, $1.3 million; Special Education, $12,575,900.
There were no levy requests for the following funds: Facility Lease, Fire Prevention and Safety, Tort Immunity, and Working Cash.
The Bond and Interest fund, which is not affected by the tax cap, totals $33,121,972. This fund is used to make annual payments needed to retire outstanding General Obligation bonds issued by the district for capital projects including bonds that were reissued at lower rates.
With Bond and Interest added, taxpayers will be asked for a total of $126,397,872 to operate the district next year.
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