After years of tax increases that some homeowners thought were downright offensive, many local governments in Cook County are playing defense.
With the possibility of a property-tax cap on the horizon, they have abandoned the double-digit tax rate increases of some past years for more modest increases.
Homeowners in Chicago, for instance, will pay only about 2 percent more under the tax rates for Cook County taxpayers released Thursday.
Of course, not everyone is being frugal. And the price of funding local government is still going up faster than just about everything from the price of a car to a gallon of milk.
In the northwest suburbs, tax increases generally came in two sizes: little or moderate to knock-your-socks-off wallops.
For example, many municipalities increased their tax rates modestly, such as Palatine, 1.56 percent; Mt. Prospect, 3.09 percent; Elk Grove Village, 3.48 percent; Des Plaines, 7.55 percent; and Arlington Heights, 8.53 percent.
In fact, some municipalities reduced their property-tax rates, though the cuts were small: Hoffman Estates by 2.7 percent, Streamwood by 2.2 percent, Barrington by 2.1 percent and Hanover Park by 1.5 percent.
But some municipalities, townships and library and park districts seemed to go for broke with double-digit increases: 43 percent in Schaumburg Township’s town fund and 25 percent for its general assistance levy; 26 percent by the city of Rolling Meadows; 25 percent in the village of Inverness; and 20 percent in South Barrington (in addition to a 23 percent tax increase by the park district there).
Tax rates in the major school districts in the northwest suburbs generally had modest increases from 6 to 7 percent.
One reason for this year’s tax increases is last year’s triennial reassessment. The benefit of that reassessment was that it increased property values for many homeowners in prosperous suburbs, but those new values can translate into bigger tax bills.
Like the tax system in Cook County, the reasons for the often smaller increases are complex.
Credit some election-year frugality on the part of Cook County officials, who are actually asking for about 14 percent less money this year. The county’s take makes up about 10 percent of the typical tax bill.
Also responsible is a complicated new law intended to eliminate the sudden jolt felt by any homeowner who saw their bills skyrocket after a reassessment.
Bill Vaselopulos, director of the tax extension department for the Cook County clerk, said the law had the effect of spreading the increases caused by reassessments over two years. The first ones to witness the impact of this experiment are homeowners in the north and northwest suburbs.
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And then there is the fear struck in the hearts of local government officials worried they may face the same taxing restraints as their counterparts in the collar counties.
In November, voters in Cook County will be asked whether property-tax caps that would hold annual tax increases to 5 percent or the level of inflation should be imposed. The referendum is purely advisory, but it might be difficult for state lawmakers to continue resisting overwhelming support for the caps.
State lawmakers from Cook County managed to keep caps out of the county in 1991 when they agreed to a deal that instead changed the way taxes were to be calculated in Cook County. In return for supporting caps for the collar counties, Cook County legislators agreed to a plan that in effect imposed a one-year freeze on assessments by forcing governments to calculate their tax levies based on the prior year assessed valuation.
The jury is still out on whether this has really brought any kind of tax relief. State Sen. Aldo DeAngelis (R-Olympia Fields), a chief proponent of the legislation, insisted the law has helped taxpayers because it meant local governments weren’t able to tap into $300 million in higher assessments that would have helped them raise more revenue.
“Quite a few referendums passed last year because taxpayers saw their tax bills didn’t go up because of prior year assessed valuation,” DeAngelis said.
In the northwest suburbs, many school district and municipal officials say they fear a tax cap.
“We’re conscious of it,” said William Kritzmire, superintendent of Schaumburg Township School District 54, the largest elementary district in Illinois with 17,000 pupils, which will have a negligible tax increase of 0.3 percent this year. “And we think it will pass in an advisory referendum. If you ask anybody if they think their taxes should be frozen, wouldn’t they all say yes?
“We hope (the tax cap) doesn’t happen in Cook.”
Rita Athas, executive director of the Northwest Municipal Conference, composed of 35 municipalities and five townships in northwest and north Cook County, said the municipalities generally keep their tax increases under 5 percent a year.
But not in Schaumburg Township.
Senior Trustee Joseph Folisi said the 43 percent tax increase there stems from a plan to build a new township building in historic downtown Schaumburg. The new building, which will alleviate current overcrowding at the existing office in Hoffman Estates, is projected to cost more than $2 million and offer 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of office space, Folisi said.
The tax increase would raise $700,000 and would stand in effect for at least until next year, Folisi said. The township plans to use $600,000 in reserves, too, he said.
“The increase looks big, but because we don’t levy much to begin with, it won’t be that much,” Folisi said. “The effect on the homeowner will probably be $5 each.”