Will County Gazette

The Beecher school board recently held a public hearing on their property tax levy.

The Beecher school district held a public hearing on its 2022 tax levy at a Dec. 12 board of education meeting. The district has held truth in taxation public hearings every year to allow for transparency and communication with the public. However, this year was the first year it was truly required to do so, as this was the first year that they requested the 5% maximum. This is also the first year that the tax cap law of 5% or CPI has come into effect, as CPI was 8.4%.

The district had to submit its projected request to the county assessor before the last Tuesday in December. The county will then determine how much they will actually receive and give it to them in the extension, and requests are not guaranteed. Last year, the district received $11.079 million, and this year they are requesting $9.412 million, a 15% decrease. Taking into account aggregation, or debt repayments, it is actually a 5.65% increase.

"We have to give them cold, hard numbers, which you guys have in your packets," Beecher Community Schools Superintendent Jack Gaham said at the meeting. "Those numbers are then used off of the EAV to determine the actual rate. So when it's 5.65%, I’ll be 100% honest with you, it's $3 rounded up here, $10 right up there. That's really all it is. It is not thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars at 0.65%. I assure you, your taxes at the end of this year, going into next year, will be under 5%."

The reason for the drastic change in the levy is that the district has finished all its bond payments, which means $1.16 less on its tax bill. If there was no change in a home’s perceived EAV, they will actually see a 21% decrease in their tax bill in regards to the school district. This follows a trend of rate decrease for the past several years in the district. 

The district will collect this tax extension in 2023.