Lake County approved its budget for 2022, as well as an estimate for its new property tax levy, both of which have been increased from the previous year.
Despite the increases, officials estimate that most homeowners will either see their property taxes for the county stay flat, or slightly decrease. The total property tax levy for the upcoming fiscal year is estimated to be a little under $163.5 million, with the average $250,000 homeowner expected to pay a little less than $496 in property taxes next year, officials said.
Still, due to new growth in property values in the county, the levy will increase by more than $892,000 when compared to last year, which is about a 0.5% increase. That increase gave pause to Board member Dick Barr, who was the lone board member to vote against the estimate.
Barr said over time, the county has seen lower-income areas experience property value growth, which has caused their tax bills to go up. Using new growth puts more of the tax burden on those homes, he said. Barr was also the lone member to vote against the budget at the meeting.
“I do appreciate all the hard work staff did, and I know there were a lot of tough choices,” he said. “But I contend we do not have a revenue issue; we have a spending issue.”
While she voted in favor of it, Board member Ann Maine said new growth comes with a cost, which includes additional services that need to be provided. Board Member Julie Simpson said she would have preferred if the levy had not increased at all, but said she thought using new growth was a good way to go about funding programs and services that the county has been eying.
“We saw so many worthy budget proposals that we just simply had to say no to,” she said. “The money has to come from somewhere. There is no magic money.”
At this point, the exact amounts for the levy are not yet known, as the assessed value of the properties is not yet final for 2021. As a result, the final rate will be known in the spring of 2022. The county’s share of residents’ tax bills is expected to be about 7%, officials said.
The budget for 2022 was also approved, with the official total coming in at $602.8 million. This total is about $43.6 million more than last year’s budget and includes new equipment, staffing changes and pay increases. Officials added in a release that the new budget is balanced, with the increases coming from many of the county’s revenue sources returning to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. The new fiscal year begins Dec. 1.
Board member Paul Frank, who heads the county’s Financial and Administrative Committee, thanked the staff for their work on the budget, and gave a few highlights of what is included in it.
“We are investing in our human resources in this budget, in our (information technology) security systems, in election operations, in the judiciary and our justice systems,” he said. “It’s a budget we should all be proud to enact today.”
Before the vote, County Board Chair Sandy Hart hit on the difficulty of creating the budget, praising staff and noting that several items and services the county wanted to include did not make it in.
“Many difficult decisions needed to be made,” she said. “Programs that we believe in, we could not fund.”
