Joliet to consider property tax hike
JOLIET -- Homeowners face higher city taxes next year if a proposed hike in the property tax rate goes through.
City staff has proposed a 20 percent hike in the tax rate and elimination of a past abatement that gave property owners a break.
The impact, they say, will be an increase of about $200 on the city's portion of a property tax bill for a $250,000 house.
City Manager Thomas Thanas noted that the proposed tax rate was preliminary and could be changed as the city council works on the 2010 budget.
"This is the upper limit of what our suggestion would be," Thanas said as he presented the suggested rate hike at a Monday workshop meeting of the city council.
Council members, who in past years resisted any suggestions that they increase the tax rate, voiced no opposition to the proposal.
This year, the city is facing an end-of-year budget deficit estimated at $14 million. The proposed tax hikes would raise an additional $8.6 million for the city.
The council votes tonight on whether to accept the estimated tax rate and levy, which still could be changed later.
The council also will vote on a proposed Dec. 1 public hearing for the tax levy, which would set a timetable for a final decision.
Now, they are looking at a rate of $133.20 per $10,000 of assessed value, a 20 percent increase.
Also, staff is proposing that property taxes now cover a 2002 bond issue for street improvements that always has been paid with gaming taxes. The bond payment for 2010 is more than $1.1 million.
The rate would be used to generate a tax levy -- a figure that represents all property tax dollars collected by the city -- of $44.3 million. That's a 24 percent increase over this year.
But property taxes also have been one of the fastest growing sources of revenue for the city as sales taxes, building fees and gaming revenues dry up.
Mihelich said the city has cut about $7.5 million of expenses out of its budget this year, but, "It's still not as much as we need to offset decreases in revenue."
