Property taxes for Collinsville Unit 10 residents will increase next year, the question is if the cause will be increased property value or an increase in tax levies from governing bodies.
Photo by Roger Starkey
The School Board approved a tax levy increase of 4.9902 percent at its Nov. 18 meeting. The Collinsville Township board is set to discuss a possible 5 percent increase at their Tuesday, Nov. 26 meeting.
A tax levy increase does not mean a direct tax increase. If the value of property increases is greater than the total of the levies by the taxing bodies, more money will be distributed to the taxing entities, but the tax increase will not be a result of their actions. According to Unit 10 Director of Business Affairs Uta Robison, property values are not expected to increase in 2013.
The increase for Unit 10 will be primarily consumed by the TORT fund, which will be levied “slightly more than needed to increase the ending fund balance,” according to a document prepared by Robinson for the Nov. 18 School Board meeting. The result is likely to be an increase of between $19-26 per $100,000 of assessed home value.
The School Board shifted expenses into the TORT fund in recent years to address a lack of state funding, President Gary Peccola said. Expenses in the fund have also increased recently due to higher insurance premiums after hail storms damaged many school building roofs in the spring and state mandates to increase security measures, Superintendent Bob Green said.
Some salaries that would be paid from the underfunded Education fund were shifted to the TORT fund. The fiscal year 2014 budget calls for $320,500 in salaries to be paid from the fund.
“A few years ago we did a risk management study to see what salaries could be shifted to the TORT fund,” Peccola said. “We have resisted the urge in the past to do this, but our backs are against the wall.”
The State of Illinois is reimbursing the district at 89 percent of what it should, Green said. “Whether the State will ever pay this back remains to be seen,” Green said.
The district made several cuts last year to control expenses and are “down to the bone,” Peccola said. Any further cuts would come at the expense of the students.
“I keep going back to the State,” Peccola said. “They are underfunding education, plain and simple. They have to be intelligent enough to realize that this is impacting the children of the state.”
The district received $2 million less from the State the past two years and there are rumors that an additional $750,000 will be cut this year, Peccola said.
Treasurer Ron Throm said all other options were exhausted. “I didn’t see any way to get around it,” Throm said.
