The Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved a $347 million property tax levy for 2024.
The levy, which is for taxes payable in 2025, is roughly a $15.1 million increase over the 2023 levy, which property owners paid this year.
Assuming an average home price of $450,000 within the district, the average homeowner will see a property tax increase of $231, or approximately 3.4%, over this year’s tax bill, according to District 204 Chief School Business Official Matt Shipley.
That means the average homeowner will pay a property tax of $7,032 to the district next year, assuming a home price of $450,000.
The property tax levy, which represents the total amount Indian Prairie School District 204 is set to receive from all property owners in the district, was increased by the rate of inflation as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index plus new construction, which is the maximum amount the district is allowed to raise its operational property tax levy under state law, Shipley said last month when he presented the tentative tax levy to the district’s Board of Education.
The Consumer Price Index for 2023 was 3.4%, and the district is anticipating an additional 1.1% increase because of new construction, he said at the time.
District administration has reviewed current and future budgets, along with current reserves, to make sure the district is asking for only enough revenue through the property tax levy to cover services, Shipley said on Monday. The district continues to see cost increases at or above the Consumer Price Index, specifically in the case of salaries, health insurance benefits and transportation costs, he said.
Despite the increase in the levy, the district’s property tax rate is estimated to fall to its lowest since 2011, according to Shipley.
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“This is the result of many years of annual increases at or below the Consumer Price Index, a strong local residential property market, the gradual reduction of our bonded interest levy and sustainable budget practices,” he said.
The quadrennial reassessment in 2023 saw significant increases in property values in the district, particularly residential values, which shifted the tax burden more toward residential properties and away from commercial or industrial properties, Shipley previously said.
The levy is also expected to be adjusted down by the counties collecting property taxes on behalf of Indian Prairie School District 204 once the final new property value figure is determined.
Property tax accounts for nearly 80% of the district’s funds, with the rest coming from the federal and state governments. Federal and state funding is inconsistent and is not keeping up with cost increases, which is why the tax levy increase is needed, Shipley previously said.
Even the state recognizes that Indian Prairie School District 204 is underfunded, based on the Illinois State Board of Education’s Evidence-Based Funding Distribution Calculation, which says the district has only 85% of the local funding it needs to adequately educate its students, according to past reporting.
Voters recently approved a proposal by the district to sell up to $420 million in bonds, but these funds can only be used for improvements to the district’s facilities, not for operational costs.
The tax rate that goes to pay off the district’s loans is expected to stay flat even as the district issues bonds because it will only take out new debt when it pays off old debt, officials said. District staff have previously estimated that all bonds issued before the recent referendum should be paid in full by the end of 2026.
The Indian Prairie School District 204 board approved the district’s $435 million operating budget for the 2024-25 school year back in August. The budget was $12 million higher than the year before, but the district still needed to make cuts because of expiring COVID-19 era pandemic relief funds, officials said.
That budget is expected to be amended early in February 2025 to account for the bonds recently approved by voters. Also in February, Shipley is set to present a five-year budget forecast to begin the budgeting process for the next school year.