The Lake Zurich Village Board approved a property tax levy extension at its meeting earlier this month, a move that means property owners in the village will pay more for the village’s portion of taxes to help cover the rising costs of goods and services – and fund pension obligations.
Trustees approved the property tax levy extension ordinance in addition to some cost abatement measures at the Nov. 20 board meeting. The increase will mean income of $11 million from property taxes, or an increase of 8.5% over last year, and will be used to cover $5 million in police and fire pension fund obligations plus meet inflation.
The vote came after a required public hearing drew no comments either opposing or in favor of the measure.
Trustees also approved four tax abatement ordinances to be paid for by other revenue streams and won’t affect taxes.
Besides fire and police pension obligations, the village will also use the levy to pay for a special recreational plan already broadly popular among trustees. The plan will raise about $207,000 to upgrade public park and recreational facilities for disabled users.
Lake Zurich Director of Finance Amy Sparkowski said, “there are no new categories in our property tax extension.”
“So when we look at the consumer price index, which is an indicator that products and services will get more expensive, it’s just those same line items we expect will get more expensive in cost and therefore we’re adding that to the levy request,” she said.
Trustee Marc Spacone praised the plan, saying it requires the town to budget with prudence since officials cannot legally just simply raise the levy to cover the entire rising cost of goods and service.
“We need to absorb those costs as we go through our budget,” Spacone said. “Because of the [state law] we’re required to tax at a lower amount than what the CPI was.”
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
